From the end of June 2013 to November 2014, the visual artist Alain Bublex embodies the transformation of the station of Montpellier Saint-Roch into two new works and a monumental trompe-l’œil
Alain Bublex created two new images of the Plug-in City series (2000) based on shots taken from the Montpellier Saint-Roch railway station. These original works are presented at FRAC Languedoc-Roussillon in the personal exhibition of the artist ” Une nuit sans sommeil” (from 8 June to 28 September 2013), thanks to the patronage of VINCI Construction France. One of them, reproduced in a monumental format in trompe-l’œil, with the support of SNCF Gares & Connexions, symbolizes this station in full transformation in the heart of town.
VINCI Construction France builder of the new station and patron of the 2 original works Plug-in City (2000) – Montpellier Saint-Roch joining the FRAC LR collection
VINCI Construction France is the main actor of the Montpellier Saint-Roch project, and is the patron of the acquisition by the FRAC LR of the two original works Plug-in City (2000) – Montpellier Saint-Roch created by Alain Bublex. In line with its commitment to the construction sites of the MuCEM in Marseille, the Musée des Confluences in Lyon and the Cité des Savoirs and Sport pour Tous in Pierres Vives in Montpellier, designed by architect Zaha Hadid and inaugurated in 2012, The company pursues its work of builder for the most audacious contemporary creation.
Download the Communiqué de presse entreprisecontemporaine® “Alain Bublex, Plug-in City (2000) – Montpellier Saint-Roch”
Download the Dossier de presse du FRAC LR “Alain Bublex, Une Nuit sans Sommeil”
Alain Bublex was born in 1961 in Lyon, he lives and works between Paris and Lyon. This former automotive designer works on architecture and means of transport. He has made major exhibitions in France and abroad, such as Habiter 2050 in 2010, for the inauguration of the children’s mezzanine at the Center Georges Pompidou in Paris.
First look
This huge image covers the partition that masks the 2nd phase of the works of Montpellier Saint-Roch station. It is a trompe-l’oeil, which plays with our senses. Behind, we hear the construction site, the workers who are busy, the place that transforms itself out of sight. In front of us, it is a fantasy view of the mutations of the station that is offered to us.
Second look
This work, created especially on the occasion of the works at the station, is part of the Plug-in City (2000) series, realized by Alain Bublex. The artist uses Algeco modules to reactivate an architectural project dating from the 60s. The bright colors of the modules invite us to look at the station with our child’s eyes, like a construction toy.
A look at history
Alain Bublex continues the work undertaken by Peter Cook, an English architect member of Archigram, who invented the first Plug-in City in 1964. His project: a modular city made up of standardized and interchangeable cells connected to one another. The objective: to adapt to the immediate needs of the inhabitants. A project never realized.
A look at our society
Bublex in Montpellier, it is an artist of the city in motion in a city in full mutation, where the project of the New Saint-Roch just begins to emerge. A 15-hectare district that reinvents urban life, combining housing, shops and offices, with the new station as a nerve center, technical and human prowess.