Nous maintenons deux collections les géodispositifs et les matérialisations locales de la fiction.
We maintain two collections: geographic apparatus and local materializations of fiction.
Created in collaboration between Yona Friedman, a theoretician of architecture and Jean-Baptiste Decavèle, a photographer and a videographer, this exhibition transposed the fictitious geography of an island situated in the far north of Canada to the middle of the Lake of Vassivière in Limousin. Visitors were invited to discover the mapping of the imaginary Balkis…
Just a short notice about an update of the post « Did you hear about the Morgans ». The Making Of on the DVD gives more information about the map of Google that appears in the movie. Une simple annonce à propos du billet sur « Où sont passés les Morgan » dont le contenu a été actualisé grâce…
The Little Prince created by Saint-Exupery has become a universal character. Translated into more than 200 languages, the poetic and philosophical tale written by the French aviator touches the hearts of people all around the world. Were you aware he left his planet to materialize on the Earth ? Do you want to know where and…
Predator is a 1987 movie directed by John McTiernan. In Val Verde, a country bordering Guatemala, a joint task force, led by Major Alan « Dutch » Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger), is assigned to rescue hostages in the jungle. The group is hunted by an extraterrestrial creature: the Predator. Two spatial machineries appear in the movie. One is…
The X-Men are a group of superheroes created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. There adventures were published in X-Men # 1 by Marvel Comics in September 1963. The book was adapted for three movies released in 2000, 2003 and 2006 (plus a prequel in 2009 telling the story of one of the main characters:…
Short Cuts, another movie of Robert Altman (see this post about The Gingerbread Man), is adapted from short stories of Raymond Carver transposed to Los Angeles. When the stories of Carver about several couples were independent, Altman connects them by inventing family or neighborhood links or by making a character the cause of events that…
The stairs in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art are very famous as the training ground of Rocky Balboa, in the 1976 movie Rocky, directed by John G. Avildsen. The stairs appear successively in Rocky II (directed by Sylverster Stallone in 1979), Rocky III (Sylverster Stallone, 1985), Rocky V (John G. Avildsen, 1990) and…
The Gingerbread Man (1998) is a thriller directed by Robert Altman. The lawyer Rick Magruder (Kenneth Branagh) helps young and pretty Mallory Doss, harassed by his father. He launches a procedure to confine him to a mental institution. Several maps are shown in the movie. The Gingerbread Man est un thriller réalisé par Robert Altman…
The Potemkin Stairs are a giant stairway in Odessa, Ukraine. This stairway marks the formal entrance into the city from the direction of the sea and is the most famous symbol of Odessa. It was constructed between 1837 and 1841. Originally known as Richelieu Steps, because of the monument located at the top of the…
Lola is a sort of abstract ballet movie whose the scene is the town of Nantes. The film is about wait and boredom, planned departures and expected returns . There are two world maps in the film, both of them related to the character Roland Cassard. Both are a bit mysterious and fully cinematic. Both…
Braveheart is an American historical movie directed by and starring Mel Gibson and released in 1995. The film refers to the life of William Wallace, hero and symbol of Scottish independence. In the late thirteenth century, Wallace united the Scottish clans and fought the forces of King Edward Ist of England, who attempted to invade…
As already shown in this post, geographic space plays a fundamental role in the work of Hergé. In The ‘Manitoba’ No Reply, first volume of The Secret Ray from The Adventures of Jo, Zette and Jocko, published in 1952, the liner SS Manitoba indicates its position by radio, remains silent for 20 hours and send…
Suggestion proposed by M. Miller in this comment. In John Wyndham’s science fiction novel, The Midwich Cuckoos, 1957 (later filmed as The Village of the Damned, 1960) a circular line is plotted on a map to determine the area around the village of Midwich in which people are mysteriously falling unconscious. One watching private stepped forward…
As a first example of a local materialization of fiction, we present the cell of Edmond Dantès in the Chateau d’If, near Marseille and, more specifically, the tunnel that this character of the Count of Monte-Christo, novel by Alexandre Dumas, would have made to get Abbé Faria, his prison companion. Le premier exemple de matérialisation…
Some news It’s been a year or so that (e)space & fiction exists, even if the pace of publication remained fairly slow during the first months. We are now 4 contributors and we have written no fewer than 75 posts, not counting those that are almost ready for publication. The site is reasonably frequented if…
Suddenly is an American movie directed by Lewis Allen and released in 1954. In the late 40’s, Tod Shaw, the sheriff of Suddenly in California learns that a special train with the President of the United States on board is going to stop in the small town. Shortly afterwards, a Secret Service team arrives, led…
Kendama is the second short-movie of Jam Films, a project bringing together seven Japanese directors. A kendama is a Japanese cup-and-ball game… In this film, a company director offers his employee one of this object to show his gratitude … But it is actually hiding the plan of a treasure hunt that leads to the…
The Beach is a 2000 drama film by Danny Boyle based on The Beach, a 1996 novel by Alex Garland. Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio), a young American backpacking in Thailand, came to Southeast Asia with the intention of experiencing something radically different from his familiar life. He meets Daffy a crazy man (Robert Carlyle) who is…
Company man is a 2000 movie directed by Peter Askin and Douglas McGrath. Washington, 1962: the CIA agent Alan Quimp assisted by is immediate superior, the Officer Hickle are heard by two American Senators: Biggs and Farwoods. Quimp has to explain his implication in the crisis of Bay of Pigs. Two maps appear in the…
National Treasure (released in 2004) and National Treasure: Book of Secrets (released in 2007) are two movies directed by Jon Turteltaub. Both films have the same narrative structure : Benjamin Gates (starring Nicolas Cage) goes to treasure hunt. By solving different clues he finds a treasure map. He succeeds in deciphering it to finally discover…
The Hitch-Hiker is a film noir directed in 1953 by Ida Lupino. Two men in a car give a man a lift but the hitch-hiker turns out to be a psychopath who kidnaps them. The police tracks the criminal. Several maps are used in this movie. Le voyage de la peur est un film noir…
Garri Bardine is a Russian animation director. In 1990 he created Grey Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood (Russian: » Серый волк энд Красная Шапочка, Krasnaya Chapotchka seriy Volk i »), a claymation film. The movie was adapted from the famous children’s story Little Red Riding Hood as a musical. Living in Moscow, the mother of…
The Parallax View is a 1974 thriller film directed by Alan J. Pakula. Newspaper reporter Joe Frady (Warren Beatty) is investigating a secret organization, the Parallax Corporation, whose objective is political assassination. A cause d’un assassinat est un thriller dirigé par Alan J. Pakula en 1974. Le reporter de presse Joe Frady (Warren Beatty) enquête…
16th June 2010 : the British PM David Cameron apologized to the families of victims for the killings that occurred on 30th January 1972 in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The film Bloody Sunday directed in 2002 by Paul Greengrass narrates the events that occurred this day. Several scenes depict British officers annotating the progression of the…
In 2005, almost 30 years after Dawn of the dead (see this post) second part of his « Dead series », George Romero directed a fourth movie Land of the dead. No paper maps here … Time has passed and computers and GPS are now available. En 2005, presque 30 ans après avoir réalisé Zombie (voir ce…
The Annuity (1972) is a French comedy directed by Pierre Tchernia and based on a screenplay by Pierre Tchernia and René Goscinny. In this movie, two quick shots (a few seconds each) show two different maps: a school map of France drawn by hand and a topographic map. Le viager est une comédie française réalisée…
« Who is the murderer of the subway? Who is this man who pushes innocents under the train? And who are its victims? » Such is the plot of the thriller written by Frederic H. Fajardie in 1982. Police inspector Padovani (recurring character in the work of Fajardie) investigates. During a briefing with his staff, he says:…
In 2006, Pan’s Labyrinth (dir. Guillermo del Toro) is released. The action takes place in Spain, in 1944, during the franquist period. The fascist army chases rebels hidden in the Spanish Maquis. The Captain Vidal (Sergi López), uses a map to organize the hunt. He reads it with a magnifying glass and puts landmarks on…
Fanfan la Tulipe is a French movie directed by Christian-Jaque, released in 1952. Set during a battle between the French King Louis XV and an unidentified enemy, several scenes take place in the headquarters of both armies. The generals on both sides use maps of the battlefield for discussing tactics and strategies. Fanfan la Tulipe…
In 1985, George Romero directed Day of the dead, the 3rd episode of his « Dead series ». In this episode, the spatial machinery is not as sophisticated as it was in Dawn of the dead. The function of the four maps dispayed in the movie is mainly decorative. En 1985, Georges Romero réalisait Le Jour des…
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