Garage Dallegret

1.

Space City Astronef 732, 1963

Space city for 7000 people for a round trip to Mars, designed to analyse the reactions of younger generations to conditions of extreme crowding and changes in parameters such as speed, acceleration, atmospheric pressure, and temperature. It is a city-building equipped with every comfort and service, including gymnasiums, swimming pools, and theaters. The entrance is located on the lowest floor, while the highest floor is a chapel intended for religious functions. 

2.

Atomizeur, 1977 

Atomizer is a flagpole mould made of solidified glass powder. It is a found object that, with its technical-magical properties, amplifies and enhances interpersonal communication. As a sort of megaphone, this is the device for "ideal" conversations.

3.

A Home is Not a House, 1965

The six drawings, made by Dallegret for the April issue of Art in America, in tandem with the article "A Home is Not a House" by art critic and architectural theorist Reyner Baham, reflect on the relationship between man and environment triggered by specific modes of living. Anatomy of a Dwelling is modelled after a conventional U.S. house, reduced to a network of pipes and cables between heaven and earth, which is contrasted with Un-house. Transportable standard-of-living package. The Environment Bubble is an inflatable bubble that adapts to the environment and which, on paper, hosts both Dallegrets and Banham naked and seated around a "robot totem". The architecture promoted by Baham’s words and Dallegret’s drawings illustrates a crossroads between proto-ecology and ultra-technology.

4.

Lit Croix, 1977

A bed made of soft polyurethane plastic material is part of a series for the creative company God & Co. by Dallegret. The shortest sides of the cross are meant to be used as storage. 

5.

Chaise Ressort, 1967

Being simultaneously a seat and a sculpture, Chaise Ressort—"spring" in French—is a single continuous line, created through the use of a shaped aluminium sheet. Designed to adapt perfectly to any weight and posture, it is the result of Dallegret’s passion and research into the characteristics and potential of aluminium.

BeTa, 1976

A project for urban furniture - benches, rubbish bins, and lamp posts - in Montréal Olympic Park,  for the 1976 games. BeTa - abbreviation of Bench and Table which refers to the object’s versatility and dual functionality - is made of concrete and formed into an L-shaped block, called Sabot, to be arranged vertically or horizontally and to be used individually or in a group. To create the bench with a backrest, simply connect two Sabot with two long standardised and painted perforated steel plates: one wide piece as the seat, the other narrower as a support and/or support surface. Two benches, placed back to back, can be used as a picnic table. The concrete blocks can also be used as an anchor point for lamp posts - Allumette -, as a base for a rubbish bin, or as a fence for a flower pot.

6.

IntroConversoMatic, 1963  

IntroConversoMatic-or NNMA (Network Neutrality Measurement Agent) is a project created for Bizarre. Founded in 1953 by Michel Laclos and directed at the time by Jean-Jacques Pauvert, it was a magazine with strong surrealist influences.
NNMA is a wearable machine. It consists of an audio system, a monitor, a microphone, a keyboard and a transmitter/receiver/transducer. This element protects the mental integrity of the user and offers the possibility to write, listen, see, and hold an introspective conversation with one's double.

7.

New Penelope Coffee House, 1965

The New Penelope Coffee House is a venue designed in 1965 by Dallegret for the Montréal public to host concerts by American groups. Entirely made with pipes for the scaffolding, the intervention reflects the idea of temporality and the ephemeral in space and architecture.

8.

THE SHOWCASE CONTAINS:

KIIK, 1968 

It is a manual pill in metal with organic shapes that helps to cure the discomforts of the body and the obsessions of the mind, to interrupt "bad or good" habits, to stop smoking or start drinking. KiiK retains heat and smells; dogs love it. KiiK produces a magnetic field and electric magic potential thanks to its two poles. It can be used at any time and in any way.
Directions: Unscrew the cap as with any regular pill bottle, holding the container in your left hand. Invert KiiK onto the mat or into the other hand. Caress and manipulate your heart and mind. If the symptom persists, use the bottle. 
Contraindications:Handle with care, do not shake before use. Avoid contact with the eyes. Keep enough cotton in the bottom of the bottle to secure the KiiK firmly in its container. For external use only, requires no refrigeration. For children under the age of three, consult your KiiKologo.

UFOVNI, 1975

Acronym of "unidentified flying object" and "objet volant non-identifié", Ufovni is an unidentified flying object of 12.5 cm in diameter plated in silver or gold that came out of the earth's gravitational field during the Olympic Games of ancient Greece to return to the 20th century.

Atomix, 1966 

Produced in different iterations – AtomixMas, Abstratomic – Atomix is a playful and didactic model of atomic structures made up of 6000 free-moving precision spheres in stainless steel, placed inside a double plexiglass layer. Through the slow and incremental movement of the spheres, it is possible to observe different crystallographic patterns, similar to those visible under the electron microscope of a section of a piece of steel. It is an object designed to make visible the atomic patterns of the innate properties of a material.

Rape à Fromage, 1983

A design object that plays on the scale leap, Rape à Fromage is a grater and, at the same time, a tower to live in.

ArtBreaker, 1972

An object to be placed on a table or desk, intended for contemplation and play through its various sculptural metamorphoses. Art Breaker is a heart divided into two gold and platinum plated halves, which rotate on a hidden central axis.

Flikker Book No. 1, 1972

The first release of the Flikker book series is a collective intervention by several artists. As the pages of the booklet scroll, two black figures touch each other, simulating the action of a kiss. The formal choice takes up the common optical illusion of the vase from 1915 by Edgar Rubin, a Danish psychologist.

Autobutton

Each pin becomes a space to display Dallegret's car projects, who appears on the wheel.

9.

The Wheely, 2023  

The Wheely is a two-wheeled "Non-Bicycle" designed as an evolution of the Tubula and made especially for Garage Dallegret. Consisting of cylindrical tubes and inner tubes of large dimensions, the car is designed to move in both directions without following a pre-established trajectory. Without a cockpit or any other external element or accessory, it is a project that takes the concept of autonomy in the car to its extremes.

10.

Villa Ironique, 1983

Villa Ironique, of which there are several versions and editions, is a project for a home-making machine. It is based on a system that, through scaffolding, which generates an accordion-like movement, shapes the space to create a domicile. The project's caption is a synthesis of the author's reflections around dwelling and the relationship between human and planet: 'Project for a home-making machine, ultimate hatcher with nonchalant triangulations to handle the otherwise impossible mission to excrete an appropriate minimum vital, silly silo conceived to procreate instantly, like no other device on earth, out of any bits and pieces falling straight from outer space.'

11.

Astrological automobiles, 1962 

First presented at the Iris Clert Gallery in Paris in 1962, the astrological automobiles are 12 car designs, each drawing inspiration from one of the 12 signs of the zodiac. The technical components, passenger compartment, engine compartment, wheels, formal and material features translate each astrological "type" into the object; the automobile becomes an extension of personality beyond the limits of the body. François Dallegret's passion for sports cars, technology and luxury vehicles such as Bugattis inspired him to experiment on paper.

12.

Tubula, 1968  

Tubula is an "immobile automobile", designed in three different variations: blue, gold and silver, and made of aluminium air duct tubes. It was first exhibited in its original version at the Saidye Bronfman Center in Montreal in 1968.    

13.

iris.time unlimited, no. 5, 1 April 1963

The Iris Clert Gallery opened in February 1956 at 3 rue des Beaux-Arts, thus positioning itself in the center of Saint Germain des Prés which, at the time, was the heart of the artistic avant-garde of the period. Clert's curiosity and open-mindedness, together with the eclectic shows she organised, made the gallery a unique space open to all the main artists of the Parisian scene.
Between 1962 and 1975, Clert published a magazine entitled "IRIS-TIME UNLIMITED" in which each issue was dedicated to one of her artists; also included were critical essays, photographs, advertisements, horoscopes and gossip about famous visitors. 

14.

Art Fiction, 1966  

Made for Art Fiction’s March-April issue of the magazine Art in America, these drawings are the result of a collaboration that happened thanks to the editorial consultant Peter Blake, between Dallegret and Jean Lipman, the editor who gave him the green light to develop a series of drawings and articles from 1965 to 196. 
Art Fiction is an opportunity to reflect on a future in which human and artistic activities will take place in space, in an environment where the possibilities of movement for the human body expand. Dallegret's reflections are synthesised in the design of the Cosmic-Opera Suit: a dress made of electrical circuits and sensors capable of enhancing the connections between people and the environment. The role of the artist is re-imagined; from a creator of material objects, he becomes a creator of environments that induce mental and sensory reactions in those who pass through them.

15.

Littératuromatic, 1963

Littératuromatic is an electronic machine designed to write literary works, which seems to anticipate some contemporary experiments with artificial intelligence.

16.

Eat & Drink Restaurant, 1972

Restaurant, bar and nightclub built in 1972 for the workers and first employees of the World Trade Centre. It is a project through which Dallegret continues to experiment with the tubular structure, reflecting on the idea of ephemeral and moving space. The tubulars fulfilled any function, used both to define and divide spaces and as structures for hanging signs. The success of the restaurant was such that, despite being designed as a temporary space, it remained active for the duration of two and a half years.

17.

Palais Métro, 1967

Born from the collaboration with the architect Joseph Baker, the project was never realised. In response to the request by La Concordia Estates, a real estate company on Place Bonaventura, to hypothesise a project for the old Palais de Commerce in Montréal, the two architects imagine a temporary installation of tubular structures with stands for shops that can be stacked on top of each other and easily replaceable, a sort of moving village with pop graphics.

18.

New New Penelope by Supervoid, 2023

New New Penelope is Supervoid’s reinterpretation of François Dallegret’s spatial interventions such as the Eat and Drink bar built at the World Trade Center in NY in 1972 and the New Penelope club in Montreal of 1967. The pavilion is built from stainless steel dry joints that challenge the isotropic grid and transform it into a finite form.

MEZZANINE

Le Drug, 1964

Commissioned in Montréal by pharmacist Bill Sofin, Le Drug is a pharmacy-disco designed as a meeting place. Dallegret completely revolutionises the concept of a shop, creating a multipurpose environment with a restaurant in the basement, a fashion boutique, a bookshop, and an art gallery – the Galerie Labo, managed by Dallegret himself – through a project that ranged from the internal structure of the furniture to the logo and all the merchandising. The tables, the chairs, the walls, the ceilings, the ventilation shafts, and the partitions were covered with a thin layer of white-stained concrete and a transparent epoxy coating, a sort of reworking of the reflections on the soft and malleable membrane of the Environment-Bubble. The result is a fluid, enveloping, soft environment without edges or corners. The upper floor, occupied by the pharmacy, is a sort of spatial counterpoint with more traditional characteristics, where the soft shapes disappear to make room for orthogonality.

The Future: desertomania, Art in America, July/August 1967 

The Future: desertomania draws inspiration from the setting, costumes and weapons designed by Dallegret for 2020 West, a comic-adventurous television series written by Alan Hackney and Gerald Potterton about the adventures of a cowboy detective in a futuristic American West. The artist transforms electronic machines made for the '67 Expo into spaceships, continuing with the thinking formulated in other projects about life in space.