For we are where we are not
Workshop at Villa Noailles
Hyères (France)
January 20th-26th 2007
Villa Noailles is located at the highest point of Hyères, in the hills above the Mediterranean coast. The villa is designed by Robert Mallet-Stevens as a winter resort. A swimming pool, a gym, a squash hall and a bedroom in the open air form the symbols for fitness mania as well as the modern lifestyle of the 1920ties. The aristocratic couple Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles, who commissioned the villa, had also asked the architects Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier to design their country house. In the end they were more attracted by the elegant and sophisticated design of Mallet Stevens, whose experience as a set designer for films is betrayed by the garden wall: openings resembling film stills offer spectacular views of the surrounding landscape and the Mediterranean sea below.
The couple invited countless leading figures of the avant-garde to stay and work in the villa. Amongst them were visual artists, architects, interior designers, writers, musicians and film producers. Man Ray uses the house as a setting for this film Les Mystères du Chateau du Dé and Jean Cocteau uses it in his film Le sang d'un poète. Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel stay in the villa to write the script for l’Age d’Or. Gabriël Guévrékian designs the cubist garden that houses sculptures by Lipchitz, Brancusi and Giacometti. Eileen Grey designs a wall carpet for the villa. The Dutch avant-garde is represented by Theo van Doesburg, Sybold van Ravenstein and Mondrian.
Nowadays the villa houses a cultural institute that brings together architecture, fashion, visual arts and film.
‘For where we are we are not’, workshop at Villa Noailles is a collaborative project of the Dutch Art Institute (DAI) and the Academie van Bouwkunst (AvB).
Workshopleaders: Jord den Hollander (architect, filmer), AvB; Margret Wibmer (visual artist), DAI.
Projectleaders: Kyra Wessels (AvB) and Rik Fernhout (DAI).
Participating students (DAI): Carlijn Mens, Jolanda Jansen, Kevin Drager, Maciej Duchowski, Adamantia Nika and Pavlina Verouki.
Letter from Margret Wibmer >>>
Villa Noailles >>>
Academie van Bouwkunst >>>
Documentary movie showing the work of the participating DAI students >>>