At the turn of the 20th century, Leo Tolstoy said, “Great works of art are only great because they are accessible and comprehensible to everyone.” In an admirable effort to bring art to the masses, Hérault Arnod Architectures has unveiled a museum truck for the MUMO association and the Centre Pompidou, born of a collaboration between the architects of Hérault Arnod and artist Krijn de Koning. The result is a truck that allows a large exhibition space for the artworks on display, hung in the conditions of a small museum.
The truck museum will travel throughout France and abroad to reach a wide variety of audiences, particularly those who are not used to visiting museums. The latest study by the Ministry of Culture shows that, in addition to a general decline in museum attendance in France over the last ten years, certain social categories and people living in rural areas rarely go to see an exhibition. The truck museum is especially designed for them – children and adults who are not used to going through the doors of cultural institutions.
The arrival of the truck in village squares, parking lots, parks, or any other public space is greeted with fanfare. Small wonder, as it evokes fairground architecture on wheels. The side drawers of the truck come out, with several panels unfolding horizontally and vertically to form a front porch. The staircase is then put in place.
The illuminated sign (that was folded in the space between the trailer and the tractor) is attached to a telescopic mast that rises and pivots above the truck. The basic volume of the vehicle is transformed and opens up, offering an open and welcoming space in the transition between the interior and the exterior.
The museum is comprised of three spaces: The loggia, the exhibition room, and the alcove.
The loggia opens to the outside like a theater stage and can be used for various purposes. Its primary function is to welcome the public in an elevated space before entering the exhibition room, located on the same level. It is a sheltered area where discussions with the mediators take place, and where groups await their visit of the exhibition, all under cover. The creations of children in the workshops can be exhibited there.
The loggia can also be used as an outdoor stage for performances or concerts. It can be closed off by a screen and transformed into an open-air cinema (rear projection from inside the loggia).
The exhibition room is the core of the facility. It is a refined space for showcasing the works, where the technical elements are carefully tucked away to eliminate visual disturbances.
The team endeavored to create hanging conditions identical to those of a museum, without any apparent device. Paintings are fixed directly into walls equipped with a damping system to absorb the vibrations of the truck and protect the artworks. In the center, three white pieces of furniture on a square base serve as a pedestal for objects and storage, and incorporate ventilation grills.
The alcove is a raised space that extends from the exhibition room. It is narrower, and its volume is less suitable for hanging works on the walls. It is a transformable space that can serve as a projection room with seating, as a host space for sculptures, or as a work in itself, conceived by Krijn de Koning.
The work of Krijn de Konning: Furniture and color
Beyond its functionality, the truck museum is a pictorial and sculptural work. The color palette on each side of the truck was defined by Krijn de Koning.
The interior color of the loggia is revealed when it is unfolded: the bright red contrasts with the green facade, highlighting this welcoming space that opens onto the public space. Inside, the alcove is also a colorful space. Its faces are different shades of green that contrast with the white of the exhibition room.
The contrast in color between the different spaces accentuates the difference in status: the colored rooms are spaces in movement that are mutable and reconfigurable. The exhibition room, entirely white, is a place to pause, concentrate, contemplate, and be soothed.
The color of the furniture is yet another extension of this color research work. The seats are made of parallelepipeds with surfaces painted in different shades of red for the elements that are part of the loggia, and in different shades of green for those intended for the alcove. In the loggia, they provide visitors with seating while awaiting their visit. The volumes can also be mixed, creating random compositions outside, thus enabling the public to attend a projection or a performance in the loggia.
The colored volumes are arranged vertically at the back of the alcove, collectively forming a checkerboard of colors with a variety of nuances that can be configured in different ways. These colored blocks can be mixed and matched as needed, in unexpected arrangements that create different compositions each time.
Photography by Cyrille Weiner.
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