2022

The Primacy of Life — Architecture and Landscape Biennial, Versailles

With the garden exhibition *La Préséance du vivant*, the École nationale supérieure de paysage invites visitors to explore contemporary landscape design, where ecosystems are at the heart of the projects. The exhibition, conceived by Gilles Clément, Nicolas Bonnenfant, Pablo, and Miguel Georgieff—founders of the Coloco studio—weaves together scientific knowledge and the poetic wonder of our relationships with others. It highlights the diversity of our connections to living things and the richness of the beings that inhabit our entire planet. As visitors move through the different rooms, the exhibition design invites them to discover knowledge about how ecosystems function and the evolution of life:
1 — Let’s adopt the perspective of the planetary gardener or reconsider the relationship between humans and the soil
2 — Let’s change course or rethink the landscape
3 — Let’s engage with life or imagine new ways of working with and for living things
4 — Let’s take action or showcase initiatives already in place
5 — The Others’ Workshop or put the Primacy of Life into practice.
Our graphic and spatial design served to support the exhibition’s encyclopedic and manifesto-like approach, to prioritize information, and to convey the living through various visual and graphic choices. We also collaborated with the manufacturer on the eco-responsible aspects of the materials, notably by using recycled and recyclable substrates.

Design Team — Ruedi Baur and Maren Hollmann
Curators — Gilles Clément, Nicolas Bonnenfant, Pablo and Miguel Georgieff with Cécile Tourneboeuf