Following La ligne de plus grande pente (the line of the greatest slope) for the French Pavilion at the 1970 Venice Biennale of Art, Claude Parent organized experimental spaces referred to as “praticables” for exhibitions traveling between the French Maisons de la culture. In Nevers in 1971, Amiens in 1972 and in Douai the year after, the architect offered visitors the opportunity to test the dynamic potential of a space transformed by his Oblique Function. Ramps in wood, without furnishings and occasionally without guard-rails were built by the city services and exhibited outdoors or in exhibition halls. In Caen, however, the program was different in that it involved the creation of a structure on both levels of the foyer of the T.M.C. (Théâtre Maison de la Culture). A space dedicated to circulation and waiting areas, the program revealed itself to be particularly well-adapted to the utilization of the oblique plane, as can be seen with the situations in which the figures in the model have been placed.
Audrey Jeanroy
