Temple of Love by Gaëlle Choisne
ongoing practice-based research project on recycling, art and architecture since 2018
Temple of Love is a collaborative project elaborated by architect Moritz Maria Karl, art curator Thomas Conchou, and artist Gaëlle Choisne, seeking to develop artistic, architectural, and pedagogical practices through the prism of social, economic, and ecological considerations and responsibilities. It aims to develop innovative recycling practices within an architectural and artistic project that engages citizens and cultural workers alike to acquire new habits towards their immediate environment, raising awareness about plastic waste, and opening up new horizons for the reuse of such materials.
Temple of Love is an evolving ecosystem designed as thought in motion, and aims to produce sculptural architecture made with reused plastic materials, which can simultaneously be a space for encounters, meetings, exchange, craft-making, as well as artistic and pedagogical activities. Plastic, an essential element in the advent of mass production since the 1960s, invited consumers to imagine a new utilitarian and futuristic world of infinite production. In response, plastic pollution and the failure of this short-term vision now invite us to reflect on ways of reusing this highly environmentally harmful material.
Temple of Love has undergone various iterations, first as exhibitions: in Bétonsalon in Paris, during the autumn of 2018, then in Warsaw at the National Zacheta Art Gallery (PL) and in Los Angeles (US) at The Mistake Room, leading to knowledge production, skills sharing, collective experiences and experiments intersecting the fields of art, architecture, social activism, community organising and worldviews.
So far, this project has recieved the support of Fondation des Artistes, Fondation de France, Crédit Municipal de Paris and Perspektive Fund.
image courtesy of Gaëlle Choisne
3d renderings: Moritz Maria Karl