Audace (Audacity), 2024. Site-specific installation. Solid wenge eggs / Solid padouk base / Inserted magnets. Photo credit: Evariste Bellow
Cappella Celesia
Audace (audacity) is the title of the site-specific installation created for the LCDF. A set of small ovoid elements in solid wenge rest in precarious equilibrium on a padouk base. A eulogy to audacity, in full Italo Calvino spirit. But also, a tribute to good design. In reference to the Christopher Columbus anecdote expressed below, an unusual egg can only remain upright when perched on one of the edges of its base, where a magnet is subtly concealed. Precarious stability, an ode to daring. In the face of this affront of imbalance and uncertainty, the object provokes interaction and dialogue. Through its form, symbolism, essence and finish, the object suggests a sensitive tactile presence.
The Egg of Christopher Columbus. During a meal in the presence of Christopher Columbus, some notables would have liked to play down the importance of the discovery of the New World by saying: "All you had to do was think about it". In response to this provocation, the explorer proposed a challenge to his guests. He asked them to make a hard-boiled egg stand upright in its shell. No one succeeded, except Christopher Columbus, who simply crushed the end of the egg and exclaimed: "All you had to do was think about it! You never go as far as you do when you don't know where you're going.
Daring to dare / The audacity to dare. Researchers commit themselves to a project that is only meaningful if it is daring, and therefore subject to doubts about its outcome. They have to face up to the unknown and the uncertain outcome of their explorations. Questioning the obvious, leaving the beaten track, bending over, stepping out of your comfort zone, risking an uncertain azimuth, taking chances, however slight, collecting false starts, counting failures. Stumbling means being forced to stop and see what lies beneath the surface. Putting yourself off-balance sometimes allows you to find balance. Daring is the reckless daughter of reason.
Fonds Erasme Edition 2024 / Limited edition of 200.
Thanks to the support of WBI Wallonia-Brussels International
Jean-François D’Or. Photo credit: Diego Franssens
Jean-François D'Or is an industrial designer who graduated from ENSAV La Cambre in Brussels in 1998. In 2003, he founded his own industrial design studio: Loudordesign studio. Since then, he has developed a solid and varied experience, collaborating with many design companies in Belgium and abroad. Taking into account business imperatives, user and market needs, his products aim to enhance our domestic environment. Exploring numerous materials, Jean-François D'Or enhances their beauty without ostentation. His objects, simple, unpretentious and logical, appeal as much for their evident and clearly understandable design as for their intrinsic poetry. In recent years, Jean-François has broadened his practice to include complementary fields such as installation, concert, performance, video and writing, in a transversal and experimental form.