Page 117 - ELEMENTS EUROPA (EN)

ELEMENTS EUROPA
printing introduces a range of shades of grey to darken certain
tones. When the first printing attempt of a predominantly red
door was presented, somebody asked me: “What needs to
be changed to maximise the result?” and my answer was “to
force distinction between close neighbouring values”. This was
operated on the occasion of the second attempt, probably
at the cost of increasing the quantity of allocated pigments
per tone and therefore increasing the printing time too – 41
minutes per proof. I was satisfied with the set doors, with the
printing as much as with my collaboration with the personnel
in all three companies, which helped with that achievement.
Staff members of all three companies involved showed a keen
interest in and respect for my work3. Pictograms still had to be
applied to the door – white over standard red for predominantly
red doors and over green for predominantly green ones? I
suggested blue for red doors and red for green doors. Better
have clear tone contrast rather than poor harmonisation!
The atmosphere round the eight lift shafts for delegations
and 6 VIP lifts was less serene. Pasting translucent films over
the lift cabin glass walls lit inside out was the initial idea for Dries Vercauteren – production of interior doors – De Coene Products nv,
the project. The architect preferred to have the lift shaft walls
covered with printed panels. The service provider imagined that
each one of the one thousand four hundred panels planned to
carry out my compositions would be monochromic and that
there would not be any need for anything else but choosing a
certain number of colours and defining their distribution. The
smallest panels show three to five figures/colours of various
dimensions and the largest thirty or so. My digital compositions
were executed with a drawing-and-photo processor software,
which reduces the number of successive gestures necessary for
defining a shape and a tint as much as possible. The printer tried
to impose a different one. My frescoes for Philippe Samyn in
the AGC European head office in Louvain-la-Neuve had already
been printed in much finer formats without having caused
any insurmountable problems. 72 dpi files in 1/1 scale of the
2.500 m2 shafts flashed on my computer screen panel by panel
enlarged 500 times to make cutting and assembly specifications
with relevant precision then in real dimensions to clean up all
imperfections resulting from unavoidable tone corrections
from coloured fields. It took two successive companies to
finish panel assembly in the shafts. I came round to agreeing
to a restoration procedure for defaults or damages spotted on
assembled panels. The idea would be to spray paint the entire
FRONT SCENE AND BEHIND THE SCENE 113
damaged surface, regardless of how damaged it was, in an
almost identical colour to the tone initially printed, the outlines
of painted surfaces being clear and dribble-free guaranteed –
these interventions would be under control4.
NOTES
1 - Ceilings:
Felt production and dye: Filzfabrik Fulda GmbH & Co KG, Frankfurter Strasse 62,
36043 Fulda, Germany.
Installation: Servio N.V. Brugsesteenweg 545, B - 8800 Roeselare.
2 - Carpets:
Production: Golden Halicilik, A0SB 1002 SOKAK NO 17 35620 Cigli-Izmir, Turkey.
Representative in Belgium: Albert Daubechies - Decortex c/o m daubechies sprl,
Av. Franklin Roosevelt 242, B -1050 Brussels.
3 - Doors:
Johnny Maris and Yorick Muller – production of digital prints on high pressure
laminate (HPL).
Abet Laminati S.p.A. Viale Industria 21, Casella Postale 47, 12042 Brescia,
Italy / Abet nv, Streekbaan 244, B-1800 Vilvoorde, Belgium.
Europalaan 135, B-8560 Gullegem, Belgium.
Koen Luyckx – coordination of digital prints, production door frames
and installation of interior doors.
A.T.A. bvba, Hoge Mauw 820, B-2370 Arendonk, Belgium.
4 - Lift shafts:
Francis Beaudet – project coordinator for ThyssenKrupp Ascenseurs,
Avenue de la Métrologie 10, B-1130 Brussels, Belgium.
Sylvie Raedschelders – panel printing by Publisor, Industrieterrein Jagersborg 1343,
B-3680 Maaseik, Belgium.
Panel assembly by Brussel et Sanpa, Witbeekweg 9, B-3680 Maaseik, Belgium.
Extract from the colour chart for the ceiling felt.