A teaspoon, in collective imagination, is a symbol of pleasure and gluttony. Combined with dessert, it is the perfect and gourmet moment everyone is waiting for at the end of the mealtime. The highlight of the show, in a way!

The installation proposes to divert this object from everyday life to make it a construction material, or rather a development material that will sublimate the floor of the courtyard. Collectif Œuvrer's installation proposes to work on the theme of paving.

The calade

The calade, or "standing ground", is an ancestral technique widespread in several regions of the South of France and in Italy. This technique of paving on the ground, composed of pebbles or dry stones laid vertically or on the edge, and tightened together, made it possible to create a road suitable for vehicles while facilitating the flow of water. The stones were generally laid dry, on embankment or sand, tightly pressed against each other so as to hold each other together. The remaining gaps were filled with smaller stones.

The installation proposes to revisit the know-how of "calade" paving by replacing the stone with an unusual object that feeds curiosity: a metal spoon.

A paved path of metal objects is installed in the courtyard, with various patterns inspired by the curved and elegant shape of spoons, and by the amazing Hôtel Sabatier d'Espeyran architectural design (Fabre Museum, Montpellier). By twisting this daily and familiar object, and making it a construction material, the installation aims to sublimate the courtyard’s floor and to highlight this endangered technique. Metaphorically, it is therefore greed that literally leads us to the pleasure and discovery of architecture.

The spoons are held in place by sand, and placed in a wooden structure to facilitate assembly and removal of the installation. Different devices are experimented with from the arrangement of the spoons, their textures (mat, shiny...), and their different sizes (large and small spoons).

Their precise arrangement allows them to form an aesthetic pattern on the ground that will recall this particular architecture. The spoons will form like metal scales glittering under the effect of the sun, also recalling the Mediterranean charactere of the City of Montpellier. In the past, to make a "calade", different local materials were used, from quarry waste to construction site remains and materials from demolitions. The reuse of metal spoons will now make it possible to question and reinterpret this disappearing tradition and to highlight the principle of reuse.