For several years we have been present in the Kite Fetival at Berck sur Mer with single line kites. Then in 1998, It’s the “Fil d'Ariane” (Breadcrumb) initiated by Alain Chevalier. We have installed more than 1,000 bamboo decorated with strips of survival blanket and planted along a thread, near the sea This work had gathered several kite flyers, sculptors and artists. This breadcrumb was originally the current windgardens in which we have worked for several years.
This year we wanted to participate in this festival differently, incorporating kite aerial picture. A simple question but to photograph what? Inflatables kites? Already and not very original .... The sea? the beach? And if we made great patterns on the beach? The idea made its way, we seek some practical information on the Internet.
Going back in time, that is to say in the late '60s in the United States, Land Art is a contemporary art form in its own right, whose main objective was to make art out of museums. The early works, created in large areas, were designed from natural materials (soil, pebbles, rocks, stones, trunks, branches, leaves, water). These creations are ephemeral as they are subject to natural erosion of the elements and time.
The only trace that remains of these creations through photography, particularly aerial pictures.
New "Land Artists' now also use the sand and snow as raw material. As we knew, we are not innovative in this area, but further admiring the achievements that we discover, in particular the Californian, Jim Denevan.
For our first achievements on the sand we will be inspired by what he did. This time the aim is to see if we have the right tools, the right technique, if we enjoy doing it and what it the result with Kap. Saturday, it's cold and there is a good strong wind. We expect the low tide to be on a sand that can work, and as the beach of Berck is huge, we can be quite far from the crowd. We have little equipment: a tool to rake the sand, as Patrick cobbled up , line and anchorage point.
First we draw our motives and circles on the sand before raking. Jim Denevan is unreal ! He has no tracing instrument, unless if he has a GPS transplantation in the brain!
Seen from the ground, through the play of light and shadow, these designs take a different dimension.
The time to return to our base camp, Woki, to take the kite and the KAP system, the sun began to dry the top layer of sand and wind move it. Our motif is partly covered. We fly the kite, Sutton Flowform 16 "Becot", then hang our rig, a AutoKapbeak with a Picavet system and the Ricoh GX200. The release mechanism is via a mini-USB jack.
I draw the contours of our "fresco", but the wind is faster than me! We try a second drawing, always inspired by Denevan, a set of perspective and optical illusion. But our tool rake is not wide enough, we lose too much time .... And the sea will rise.
Satisfied with this first: we took a certain pleasure, aerial photos give us another view, essential for this type of activity. The pattern makes sense only view from the sky! We reiterate on Sunday, but we must to wait for the early afternoon, because tidal. The weather is so cold, there is less wind, but it comes from the sea!
This time we start with our KAP equipment, the same as yesterday. This new pattern is entirely composed of circles, we still trace with a fixed point and rope with different length for circles with different sizes. We lack a "pencil" that we could move without us bow, a kind of long handle with a "thing" at the end. Our friend Joel Goupil will study the issue (and I'm sure that when I write these lines, it is already in his workshop.)
We make a first series of photos by rising rig much higher. According to first shots, we must exaggerate the trace and widen the outer edges of the circles.
The sand does not react at all like Saturday. It is much more humid, there is less color contrast.
As Patrick explains at the curious what we do, I am busy to trace contours.
We take off again our kite and rig, and before we can shot the first pictures .... a buggy, running at full speed, through our circles! Of course it will be on the photo ... but I have to erase its traces if we want a picture "cleaner". The drawings are only available for a few hours but enough to take KAP.
Our assessment of this first experience: Very happy with us (we are never better served than by yourself!): To have done it and about result. This type of work makes sense with the aerial photo, and in our case by kite. Very pleased with the reaction of a small but very interested audience. So experience to renew with more tools.
A thought: How to integrate the "Sand Art" at festivals? Does he have a place in this type of event? How to involve the public? A priori not during the performance, though .. Or after by integrating them into the drawings to take part of the creation? To be continued!
Watch Jim Denevan transforms the beaches of Northern California into an expansive but ephemeral works of land art
