Discover the Unexpected is a project created by Emily Eldridge as part of the SCAD Alumni Atelier in Lacoste, France during the summer of 2023. SCAD (The Savannah College of Art & Design) is an art and design university based in Savannah, Georgia in the United States; and its satellite campus in Lacoste, France is located in The Luberon Valley of Provence. 

This art installation is intended to interact with the historical medieval architecture of the village of Lacoste without destroying or altering any physical spaces. The installation consists of two parts: a Main Installation and Illustrative Wayfinding. Both are placed at various points on the same street in the village.

For the Main Installation, giant wooden cut-outs of flowers give the impression of sprouting from the grey cement and stone. Placed in a ground-level niche of a building, the site-specific location was key to providing the perfect setting for this unlikely "garden".

The Illustrative Wayfinding uses playful phrases in French and English, and lends a light-hearted mood to a walk down Rue Basse in Lacoste. Cut and painted wooden shapes are strategically placed around the street to allow visitors to easily interact with the pieces. Signs are also installed on higher windows, balconies, and windowsills to encourage the eye to move around and to play with scale and the architecture of the street.

CREDITS

Curation and Production: Eleanor Twiford and Seasant Chan at The Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD)

Photos: Courtesy of SCAD and Emily Eldridge