Mécaniques des Roches (Mechanics of Rocks)

2010

ammonite fossil, perspex, brass, wood

80 x 120 x 40 cm

In the display stand Mécanique des Roches are placed, side by side, an ammonite, a natural spiral form, and a sheet of altuglas, a minimalist modern material, cut out according to the the partitions of the “pans de verre ondulatoire” ( a specific bow-window system) designed by the composer Iannis Xenakis for Le Corbusier’s architecture in the Dominican monastery of La Tourette at Evreux-sur-l’Arbresle (1954-1957). The progression of the spiral of the ammonite shells is the equivalent of that of the Fibonacci curve, a mathematical sequence tending towards the golden ratio. The Modulor, a measurement grid drawn up by Le Corbusier for his architecture, is also based on the arithmetic of the golden ratio. To design the “pans de verre ondulatoire”, Xenakis used the Modulor proportion system.