Albert School of Business & Data, Paris, 2024. © Daniel Nicolaevsky
In an age of decarbonisation, which populations suffer from the lack of mobility in large cities?
The Song of the Asphalt addresses the tension between the promise of mobility offered by urban infrastructure and the reality of a periphery that is often left behind. Made of recycled tyres, symbols of movement and industry, the installation is nonetheless frozen in a silent stillness, reached only by a few distant echoes of the noise from the periphery. The plants emerging from its gaps recall the journeys of migrants who, like these species, are often displaced and must take root in new environments.
The work echoes the realities of the Parisian banlieues, where mobility is both a dream and an obstacle. Tyres, usually in motion, become barricades here. Between poetic and social reflection, the project questions the visible and invisible borders that fragment our territories and our lived experiences.
Technical details
Title The Song of the Asphalt (Le Chant du Bitume)
Year 2024
Medium Used tyres, green plants, steel structure, sound installation
Dimensions 400 × 280 × 300 cm
Concept Daniel Nicolaevsky
Assistance Casa 93 (Gitroina, Eva-Louisa and Loreny)
Sound design Alonso Martinez
Structure Ronan Masson
Co-production CUFA France
Presentations Albert School of Business & Data, Paris, 2024; Expo Favela Innovation Paris, 2024
Press
“On arrival, visitors to this first international edition were greeted by a structure made entirely of tyres, in a shape strongly reminiscent of the Eiffel Tower: an installation designed by the event’s artistic director, Daniel Nicolaevsky, symbolising how hard it is for the periphery to reach the centre (economic, among others) of big cities, whether in Paris, New York or São Paulo.”
Bpifrance Big Media, 2024, translated from French
“We worked with Casa 93, a solidarity fashion organisation born in Rio de Janeiro, in [Morro do] Vidigal, through a Frenchwoman, Nadine, who is here in France. Only with Black women from the periphery, lifting weights, puncturing tyres and cutting them up to make this four-metre-high installation, as well as all the road signs for the event, which refer to this wheel that goes around Paris and gives access, but sometimes also takes away the periphery’s access to the centre,” explains Daniel Nicolaevsky.
RFI Brasil, October 2024, translated from French
