Régine Debatty interviews Marie-Luce Nadal, in an article entitled Machines to capture clouds and lightning strikes.
RD: You trained as an architect and yet, a lot of your work deals with atmosphere, clouds, wind, thunderstorms and other elusive elements. Where did you get this drive to engage with elements that look so uncontrollable, ephemeral and intangible? Surely, this is making your work more difficult!
MLN: I hail from a lineage of winemakers, individuals predominantly immersed in matters of roots and the earth. Nonetheless, in our custodianship of the land and the grapevines, we maintain a steadfast awareness of the skies above us. I recall my grandfather employing a technology to disperse clouds, particularly because hail, before the harvest, remains our most dreaded adversary, and hail, inevitably, descends from the very clouds. During my formative years, I was schooled in the art of deciphering the clouds in this specific region of France. The cloud formations here differ from those in other corners of the world, as you mentioned. As you aptly put it, I pursued a path in architecture. To me, architecture signifies a means of comprehending one’s surroundings more deeply. It imparts the wisdom of both embracing and accommodating the environment while simultaneously providing shelter from it. Architecture serves as a method for creating layers that distance you from your surroundings, thereby fortifying the boundary that separates you from your surroundings.
In many ways, a portion of my work still aligns with this endeavor to intensify that demarcation. I continue to perceive myself as an architect, whether through the fabrication of tools and machinery that enhance the divide between myself and the environment or the creation of objects and cabinets of curiosity that allow me to encapsulate the environment, facilitating my observations and fostering a heightened understanding.
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