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photo: Marie-Françoise Plissart

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Source Google 3d, Maxar Technologies

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photo: Marie-Françoise Plissart

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TriangleAn art installation for Chamonix

TRIANGLE is a proposal for a site-specific light installation for the Mont Blanc Massif. Three intense rays of light will link the Aiguille du Midi, the summit of Grand Dru and the Grandes Jorasses on one plane, with beams projected horizontally at a height of about 3,770 m above the Mer de Glace glacier.

The compelling contrast between the clean white lines and the complex geometry of the mountains will enable the viewer to grasp and understand the landscape in a completely new way. Associating this elemental geometrical shape with the enormous Massif suddenly structures the space, making its power appreciable.

TRIANGLE will be visible to all, from anywhere in the valley, from the historic vantage points of Chamonix or from the Massif itself, its clarity determined by the prevailing atmospheric conditions. It may be magically veiled in clouds, it may disappear and reappear. TRIANGLE is a creation of pure beauty, an esthetic experience to be lived.

TriangleA social sculpture

TRIANGLE connects not only the three summits but also stories, disciplines, ideas, and above all, people. TRIANGLE is a social sculpture, an ongoing process that helps us reflect on the mountains and understand their aspects from a different perspective. TRIANGLE is a tool for communication, collaboration, and learning among different groups of people.

What is unseen today, already exists in our imagination: TRIANGLE exists before being realized. Through drawings, texts, a book, meetings, interviews, site visits and mock-up installations, we can imagine TRIANGLE floating above the melting glacier Mer de Glace.

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TriangleThe story

The idea of creating a light installation in the Mont Blanc Massif was born in 2017. In 2019, the project was informally presented to a few Chamonix Mountain Guides. Bolstered by their enthusiasm, a first exchange took place with Chamonix city councilors in July 2020.

In September 2020, authorization was given to carry out a large-scale test in situ, in the high mountains. The exciting results were incorporated into a project brief released in November 2020. In September 2021, we were invited by the Mayor to present the project to the committee of elected officials. Despite the enthusiastic reception, no firm commitment was made at the time.

It was then decided that the project, until then shrouded in a secrecy, should be unveiled. Today, Triangle has entered another dynamic. A dynamic that is public, and that we want to share. News about on new Triangle installations, research, debates, lectures, expositions, workshops and will be shown on this website.

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Triangle Handelsbeurs Gent (B) during philosophical debate about "Immortality", 2023-04-25, photo (c) Christophe Vander Eecken

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Mockup: laser installation on l'Aiguille du Midi, 2020-09-13; photo: Marie-Françoise Plissart

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Helicopter inspection flight of les Drus, 2020-09-14; Pieter Hollants, Jan De Coninck; photo: Kwinten Lavigne

Source Google 3d, Maxar Technologies

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Site visit Vallée Blanche, Mont Blanc Massif, 2020-09-12, Thierry Henrard and Jan De Coninck; photo Marie-Françoise Plissart

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Visit of Cosmo Jazz Festival, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, 2021-07-20

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Laser installation in Puurs (B), 2023-02-26; photo Gerrit Roelants

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Conceptual drawing for Triangle installation in Handelsbeurs Gent on 2023-04-25

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“Jan, you’ve spoken of your difficulty in describing the work before it is actually there, and yet I feel more and more a part of the TRIANGLE project. I like the concept, it’s definitely an oeuvre though we may be hard-pressed to define it. It’s beginning to crystallize, it’s calling to us, making itself known to us, bringing us together, taking hold even before the form comes into being. We believe in it, we want to be a part of it, and once we’re in front of it, it’ll take our breath away, that’s for sure, and when it’s no longer there, we will look at the mountain as though we had never seen it before.”

Francois Poubeau, July 13, 2021,
Boshuis, Erpe-Mere, Belgium.

the officeLa compagnie du Triangle

The Since 2019, a growing number of professionals have joined TRIANGLE. Currently, a core team of 40 people contributes to the progress of the project and more than 250 people regularly follow its development.

A direct consequence of this growing enthusiasm and commitment on the part of many led to the founding of the non-profit organization “La Compagnie du Triangle”. La Compagnie du Triangle is an international and multidisciplinary organization headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. It generates a platform for the realization of the artistic project “Triangle Chamonix”.

The original idea “Triangle Chamonix” by artist-architect Jan De Coninck, all documents and activities resulting from it, and this organization together form the artwork “TRIANGLE”.

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Studio of Jan De Coninck, Brussels

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Workshop 'Einstein Telescope meets Triangle', 2021-12-11, Benoit Simpelaere (FLINN-law); photo Gwenny Cooman

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Workshop 'Einstein Telescope meets Triangle', 2021-12-11, Nick Van Remortel (prof. University Antwerp), Patrick Moyersoen (architect), Frederik De Preester (curator, Handelsreiziger in Ideeën); photo Gwenny Cooman

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site visit Mer de Glace, 2019-11-10; Jean Villard and Jan De Coninck; photo Pieter Hollants

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