The history of the VGDA

It's on the site of the old "boat" factory of Renault, on the Seguin Island, that the Very Great Democratic Administration saw
the light of day.

Little by little, since 1993, the construction of a building that resembles a huge clock, it is finding a more solid form and function, through various expositions, publications and actions.
In the beginning, the idea is to mark the south of Paris with the last of the Great Works. After the National Library of France, the Bastille Opera House, the New Louvre and the Park André Citroën, the Very Great Democratic Administration came in to being. This administration is in some ways a meta-structure, a bachelor machine, that takes care of itself and of the administration in general. A little like the police of the police takes care of the police, the VGDA takes care of the administration.
Such names as: the Superior Council of the Administration could have even been chosen, but it was not.

Democratic, twelve letters for twelve floors, of which the "e" is the only one repeated (but are é and e really identical?) gave it shape, and function of the building.

The work has begun at the Villa Arson at Nice in 1993 where Niek van de Steeg had an artist's studio.

Following the work that has begun on the Pavillion à Vent and of his exposition on the Manège des Douzes, one of the eight containers of this building in movement was creates to contain the development (in some ways an exposition) of the VGDA.
Instead of building the container of the Pavillon à Vent with its real materials, it was interpreted, instead, in its natural grandeur, en reused cardboard containers.
At the beginning, as shown in the exposition "Les mystères de l'auberge espagnole" at the Villa Arson, were built the four first panels.

Seen on a life-sized model of a fragment of the container of the "Pavillon à Vent", liberally interpreted in corrugated cardboard salvaged from different distribution centers near the Villa Arson.
It consists of four panels mounted one on top of the other, with the help of a "low-tech" system and four different images on the inside.
The bottom panel, the foundation of the construction, is made up of wrapping of separate pieces for Renault automobiles, on which is mounted an alloy plaque announcing the planting of the first panel of the VGDA.

Then, the second panel consists of champagne bottle wrapping on which we find the first image of the building, traced in a composite construction material from the cobbled entrance of the VGDA. (The current plan is to tear apart the existing Renault factory buildings on the island to create a mixed rock.)

The third panel is built of cardboard wrapping from different kinds of appetizers with, on the back, a model of the Boulogne Biancourt area, the Seine, the Pont de Sevres, the future VGDA metro station on the RER C line.

And the last, entirely made from whitebread boxes, display the VGDA logo.


It's on the site of the old "boat" factory of Renault, on the Seguin Island, that the Very Great Democratic Administration saw the light of day.
Little by little, since 1993, the construction of a building that resembles a huge clock, it is finding a more solid form and function, through various expositions, publications and actions. In the beginning, the idea is to mark the south of Paris with the last of the Great Works. After the National Library of France, the Bastille Opera House, the New Louvre and the Park André Citroën, the Very Great Democratic Administration came in to being. This administration is in some ways a meta-structure, a bachelor machine, that takes care of itself and of the administration in general. A little like the police of the police takes care of the police, the VGDA takes care of the administration. Such names as: the Superior Council of the Administration could have even been chosen, but it was not. Democratic, twelve letters for twelve floors, of which the "e" is the only one repeated (but are é and e really identical?) gave it shape, and function of the building.

The work has begun at the Villa Arson at Nice in 1993 where Niek van de Steeg had an artist's studio.
Following the work that has begun on the Pavillion à Vent and of his exposition on the Manège des Douzes, one of the eight containers of this building in movement was creates to contain the development (in some ways an exposition) of the VGDA. Instead of building the container of the Pavillon à Vent with its real materials, it was interpreted, instead, in its natural grandeur, en reused cardboard containers. At the beginning, as shown in the exposition "Les mystères de l'auberge espagnole" at the Villa Arson, were built the four first panels.

Seen on a life-sized model of a fragment of the container of the "Pavillon à Vent", liberally interpreted in corrugated cardboard salvaged from different distribution centers near the Villa Arson. It consists of four panels mounted one on top of the other, with the help of a "low-tech" system and four different images on the inside. The bottom panel, the foundation of the construction, is made up of wrapping of separate pieces for Renault automobiles, on which is mounted an alloy plaque announcing the planting of the first panel of the VGDA. Then, the second panel consists of champagne bottle wrapping on which we find the first image of the building, traced in a composite construction material from the cobbled entrance of the VGDA. (The current plan is to tear apart the existing Renault factory buildings on the island to create a mixed rock.) The third panel is built of cardboard wrapping from different kinds of appetizers with, on the back, a model of the Boulogne Biancourt area, the Seine, the Pont de Sevres, the future VGDA metro station on the RER C line. And the last, entirely made from whitebread boxes, display the VGDA logo.