{"id":38,"date":"2010-01-28T13:59:40","date_gmt":"2010-01-28T12:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reynalddrouhin.net\/wrks\/?p=38"},"modified":"2026-08-26T22:38:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T21:38:06","slug":"cite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reynalddrouhin.net\/wrks\/cite\/","title":{"rendered":"Cit\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Cit\u00e9<\/em> est une sculpture en bois br\u00fbl\u00e9 construite \u00e0 partir d’un protocole issu du r\u00e9seau Internet. Des adresses IP collect\u00e9es lors de connexions sont traduites en dimensions : chaque adresse d\u00e9termine l’\u00e9paisseur et la hauteur d’une tour monochrome dispos\u00e9e sur une grille de 16 \u00d7 16. La succession des passages produit ainsi progressivement une ville.<\/p>\n

La donn\u00e9e num\u00e9rique acquiert ici une pr\u00e9sence mat\u00e9rielle. Une adresse, normalement invisible et transitoire, devient architecture, volume et m\u00e9moire. Chaque tour conserve la trace d’une connexion, mais aucun corps n’appara\u00eet. La multitude des pr\u00e9sences individuelles engendre paradoxalement une cit\u00e9 d\u00e9shumanis\u00e9e, dense et silencieuse.<\/p>\n

Cette contradiction traverse l’ensemble de la sculpture. Internet a longtemps port\u00e9 l’imaginaire d’un \u00ab village global \u00bb, d’un espace capable de rapprocher les individus et d’abolir les distances. Cit\u00e9<\/em> mat\u00e9rialise cette promesse sous la forme d’une concentration verticale presque oppressante. Plus les connexions s’accumulent, plus la ville se construit ; mais plus elle se construit, plus l’individu dispara\u00eet derri\u00e8re l’architecture qu’il contribue \u00e0 produire.<\/p>\n

Le choix du bois br\u00fbl\u00e9 accentue cette ambigu\u00eft\u00e9. La ville semble \u00e0 la fois construite et d\u00e9j\u00e0 consum\u00e9e, monumentale et ruin\u00e9e, projet\u00e9e vers le futur et marqu\u00e9e par une catastrophe pass\u00e9e. Le noir ne recouvre pas simplement les volumes : il inscrit dans la mati\u00e8re une temporalit\u00e9 incertaine, entre \u00e9dification et effondrement.<\/p>\n

Pr\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9e par la maquette de Cit\u00e9 B.<\/em><\/a>, construite en carton noir puis d\u00e9truite par le feu, Cit\u00e9<\/em> prolonge cette recherche en donnant une mat\u00e9rialit\u00e9 durable \u00e0 la ville envisag\u00e9e. L\u00e0 o\u00f9 la maquette exp\u00e9rimentait sa disparition, la sculpture fixe provisoirement son architecture.<\/p>\n

Entre donn\u00e9es, r\u00e9seau et sculpture, Cit\u00e9<\/em> ne repr\u00e9sente donc pas Internet comme un espace abstrait. Elle donne une forme physique \u00e0 l’accumulation de ses connexions. La ville devient la m\u00e9moire monumentale de passages invisibles : chacun contribue \u00e0 sa construction, tandis que personne ne l’habite.<\/p>\n

\"IMG-1097\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cit\u00e9<\/a>, 2008-10, sculpture en bois brul\u00e9, socle en plexiglass, 79 x 79 x 158 cm. \"IMG-1099\"<\/a> \"IMG-1100\"<\/a> \"IMG-1107\"<\/a> \"IMG-1105\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
in situ 2024<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Cit\u00e9<\/em> is a sculpture in charred wood built from a protocol derived from the Internet. IP addresses collected through connections are translated into dimensions: each address determines the thickness and height of a monochrome tower placed on a 16 \u00d7 16 grid. The succession of visits gradually produces a city.<\/p>\n

Digital data acquires a material presence here. An address, normally invisible and transient, becomes architecture, volume, and memory. Each tower preserves the trace of a connection, yet no body appears. The accumulation of individual presences paradoxically generates a dense, silent, and dehumanized city.<\/p>\n

This contradiction runs throughout the sculpture. The Internet has long carried the image of a \u201cglobal village,\u201d a space capable of bringing individuals closer together and overcoming distance. Cit\u00e9<\/em> materializes that promise as an almost oppressive vertical concentration. The more connections accumulate, the more the city is built; yet the more it grows, the more the individual disappears behind the architecture they help produce.<\/p>\n

The use of charred wood intensifies this ambiguity. The city appears at once constructed and already consumed, monumental and ruined, projected toward the future yet marked by a past catastrophe. Black does not simply cover the volumes; it inscribes an uncertain temporality into the material, suspended between construction and collapse.<\/p>\n

Preceded by the model for Cit\u00e9 B.<\/em>, built from black cardboard and then destroyed by fire, Cit\u00e9<\/em> extends this research by giving lasting material form to the imagined city. Where the model experimented with disappearance, the sculpture provisionally fixes its architecture.<\/p>\n

Between data, network, and sculpture, Cit\u00e9<\/em> does not represent the Internet as an abstract space. It gives physical form to the accumulation of its connections. The city becomes a monumental memory of invisible passages: everyone contributes to its construction, while no one inhabits it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2008-10, sculpture en bois brul\u00e9, socle en plexiglass, 79 x 79 x 158 cm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":39,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[919,70,299,145,68,42,16,102,17,303,74,841,289,845,555,970,304,100,54,33,314,34,306,77,191,8,137,912,971,44,10,18,113,12,360,769,802,163,688,357,803,291,461,969,56,19],"class_list":["post-38","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sculpture","tag-absence","tag-accumulation","tag-anthropocene","tag-architecture","tag-black","tag-bois","tag-brule","tag-brulure","tag-cite","tag-collapse","tag-communaute","tag-connexion","tag-data","tag-densite","tag-donnees","tag-dystopie","tag-effondrement","tag-fantome","tag-feu","tag-fin","tag-fin-dun-monde","tag-fin-du-monde","tag-futur","tag-grille","tag-in-situ","tag-internet","tag-ip","tag-matiere","tag-megalopole","tag-memoire","tag-monolithe","tag-monolithes","tag-noir","tag-passage","tag-post-apocalyptique","tag-presence","tag-protocole","tag-reseau","tag-ruine","tag-science-fiction","tag-sculpture","tag-trace","tag-transformation","tag-utopie","tag-verticalite","tag-ville"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s72hz6-cite","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.reynalddrouhin.net\/wrks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/IMG-1107.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reynalddrouhin.net\/wrks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reynalddrouhin.net\/wrks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reynalddrouhin.net\/wrks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reynalddrouhin.net\/wrks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reynalddrouhin.net\/wrks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.reynalddrouhin.net\/wrks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1493,"href":"https:\/\/www.reynalddrouhin.net\/wrks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions\/1493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reynalddrouhin.net\/wrks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reynalddrouhin.net\/wrks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reynalddrouhin.net\/wrks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reynalddrouhin.net\/wrks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}