A multisensory work in memory of an extinct butterfly
A huge thank you to Maryon Djavadi-Esfahani for her commitment and all the particularly successful organization of this residency. Thank you to Christophe Couteau, director of the L2N laboratory at UTT, for agreeing to host us within his institution, to Dr. Margaux Gaillard for her enthusiasm for the project and her invaluable and effective help, always with good humor, to Julien Proust for his wise advice, to Anna Rumyantseva for the time and enthusiasm she dedicated to us, to the researchers in the laboratory, and to the communication team who participated in the establishment of this residency.
Thanks also to the Communauté de Communes Troyes Champagnes Métropole and the company ULIX for financing the residence, as well as to the UTT Foundation for supporting the project.
"Engrave Your Color in Marble" is an installation in memory of a vanished butterfly, the Xerces Blue (Glaucopsyche xerces). Many butterfly species have disappeared or will disappear due to pollution and the reduction of their habitats.
A nanostructural color
The magnificent blue-purple color of this butterfly is a structural color, resulting not from pigments but from the nanostructure of the scales that make up its wings. It is optical interference that generates its color, and therefore, it does not degrade over time, as is the case with pigments.
Residence in the Troyes Nanotechnology Laboratory
Cleanroom experiments at UTT in Troyes, with Margaux Gaillard, Anna Rumyantseva, and Maryon Djavadi-Esfahani.
Nanoscopic-scale treatment of stone and marble surfaces aims to best restore their bright and delicate color. Unlike the ephemeral lives of butterflies and their fragility, engraving this structure into marble or stone allows its structural color to be inscribed and preserved for millions of years, much like fossils.
Since structural colors are due to the structuring of matter, not pigments, the color itself can be fossilized, as is the case with this feather. Scientists discovered it fossilized, and the nanostructure responsible for its iridescent colors has been preserved for 40 million years. It was upon discovering this article showing that structural color could be fossilized that I had the idea to engrave a color into marble.
A nanostructure etched into stone could indeed generate a color that is stable over time.
Preserving only the butterfly's color will not bring this extinct species back to life. It can only be a tribute to its beauty, to express, on the contrary, all our regrets that we will never see it again.
The installation
Like an epitaph carved in marble on the tomb of a loved one
Sing the fragile beauty of this butterfly, without directly representing it. Because the public must remain with a sense of frustration, the frustration of never being able to see this vanished butterfly again.
A rocker arm device allows the butterfly-colored engraved marble to move, so that you can admire the variations in its hues depending on the viewing angle. However, the movement struggles to remind us of the lightness of a butterfly's flight. The reproduction of its color by high technology remains very poor compared to the initial beauty of this beautiful insect.
An exhibition that appeals to all our senses
A light breath produced by the beating of its wings, which can be felt when bringing one's cheek close. The mechanical device reproduces the movement of the wings during the butterfly's flight.
An olfactory device allows for the reconstruction of the scent components of the flowers that the California Lesser Hairstreak used to feed on.
RESEARCH RESULTS
The exhibition presents the results of research conducted during the residency at L2N. Various tests on pebbles and marble fragments to achieve a color as close as possible to that of the California Xerces butterfly are therefore also presented. The device allows the exhibition board to be rotated on an axis to admire the color changes depending on the viewing angle.