On the occasion of the inauguration of Line 18 of the Grand Paris Express, EPA Paris-Saclay and the Pavillon de l’Arsenal have joined forces to present an exhibition exploring the transformations of Paris-Saclay, as told by the people who use it and revealed through their everyday practices. Agricultural land, places to live and meet, a world-class academic and technological hub, remarkable architecture and sustainable urban development projects: the exhibition highlights the many ways in which the territory is used, weaving together a narrative that reflects its diversity.
The arrival of the metro marks a major milestone in the transformation of the Saclay Plateau. Connected by an elevated railway, the new stations on Line 18 serve three hubs – Polytechnique, Université Paris-Saclay and Christ de Saclay – supporting the development of new neighbourhoods in Gif-sur-Yvette, Orsay and Palaiseau. The metro is transforming everyday life for nearly 30,000 students, their teachers, numerous researchers and employees, as well as 600 pioneering families who have already made the area their home.
Against this backdrop of large-scale transformation, what new ways of using the territory are emerging? What are the impressions of its first users and residents? What visions of the future do they imagine? What are their aspirations for the city?
THE EXHIBITION
To explore how these different realities coexist, interact and evolve, the exhibition, presented on the forecourt of Université Paris-Saclay station, draws on field research that places the experiences and perspectives of users and residents at the heart of its narrative.
As curator of Paris-Saclay: One Territory, a Thousand Ways of Life, Fanny Léglise met with people across the territory to understand how they use its spaces, capture their impressions and share their experiences. This research was complemented by interviews with residents of the plateau, some of whom have lived there since childhood. Throughout the exhibition, quotations give voice to those who live, work or travel through the area, bringing together accounts of everyday life, memories and visions of the future.
Invited to explore the Saclay Plateau, photographers Thomas Chéné and Sabine Delcour offer perspectives at different scales. Their cameras capture the territory’s vast expanses from elevated viewpoints, as well as spaces usually hidden from public view: construction sites, laboratories and research facilities. These landscapes are complemented by details, gestures and portraits that reveal more intimate, everyday moments. Together, these photographic explorations offer multiple interpretations of the territory, revealing the complexity, diversity and ongoing transformations of the plateau.
Conceived by graphic design studio Zoo, the dialogue between photographs and collected testimonies invites visitors to find their own path through the territory’s contrasts: major development projects and everyday urban spaces, urban and agricultural landscapes, history and science fiction. Bringing these different dimensions together, the exhibition design by Atelier Craft highlights locally sourced earth, a raw material that connects the plateau’s history, its remains and its future.
The exhibition Paris-Saclay: One Territory, a Thousand Ways of Life is accompanied by a newspaper-style publication that explores the various narratives presented in greater depth, as well as a catalogue featuring an expanded selection of photographs and contributions from the different people involved in the project.
Through these images and interwoven testimonies, the exhibition invites visitors to discover Paris-Saclay as an evolving landscape, shaped as much by its infrastructure and architecture as by the people who inhabit and use it every day.
Against this backdrop of large-scale transformation, what new ways of using the territory are emerging? What are the impressions of its first users and residents? What visions of the future do they imagine? What are their aspirations for the city?
THE EXHIBITION
To explore how these different realities coexist, interact and evolve, the exhibition, presented on the forecourt of Université Paris-Saclay station, draws on field research that places the experiences and perspectives of users and residents at the heart of its narrative.
As curator of Paris-Saclay: One Territory, a Thousand Ways of Life, Fanny Léglise met with people across the territory to understand how they use its spaces, capture their impressions and share their experiences. This research was complemented by interviews with residents of the plateau, some of whom have lived there since childhood. Throughout the exhibition, quotations give voice to those who live, work or travel through the area, bringing together accounts of everyday life, memories and visions of the future.
Invited to explore the Saclay Plateau, photographers Thomas Chéné and Sabine Delcour offer perspectives at different scales. Their cameras capture the territory’s vast expanses from elevated viewpoints, as well as spaces usually hidden from public view: construction sites, laboratories and research facilities. These landscapes are complemented by details, gestures and portraits that reveal more intimate, everyday moments. Together, these photographic explorations offer multiple interpretations of the territory, revealing the complexity, diversity and ongoing transformations of the plateau.
Conceived by graphic design studio Zoo, the dialogue between photographs and collected testimonies invites visitors to find their own path through the territory’s contrasts: major development projects and everyday urban spaces, urban and agricultural landscapes, history and science fiction. Bringing these different dimensions together, the exhibition design by Atelier Craft highlights locally sourced earth, a raw material that connects the plateau’s history, its remains and its future.
The exhibition Paris-Saclay: One Territory, a Thousand Ways of Life is accompanied by a newspaper-style publication that explores the various narratives presented in greater depth, as well as a catalogue featuring an expanded selection of photographs and contributions from the different people involved in the project.
Through these images and interwoven testimonies, the exhibition invites visitors to discover Paris-Saclay as an evolving landscape, shaped as much by its infrastructure and architecture as by the people who inhabit and use it every day.
