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Studio-Orta Marne La Vallée

Established in 2002 and currently undergoing renovation in the Brie region, 50km from Paris is the Studio-Orta transit depot, warehouse, production centre, residencies, workshops and sustainable projects accessible online at www.fluidarchitecture.net and www.escuela21.org.

It is here that the artists’ vision takes off for some other part of the world, to act as a trigger mechanism for the works and reflections of others.

Mission Statement

is a rare example of the industrial heritage of one of the most renowned pastoral regions of France, The Brie. Located on the banks of the Grand Morin River, in the sleepy Brie village of Saint Siméon.

It is one of the first industrial dairies in the Seine and Marne region of France. Situated 50km from the centre of Paris with direct rail links to the city and a 30-minute drive from the new Marne La Vallée TGV station and the ever-encroaching destiny of Euro Disney.

International contemporary artists Lucy and Jorge Orta purchased this ‘friche’ in January 2000 just after the terrible storms that ravaged France. It was in a desperate state of disrepair, and many features had been neglected or left unnoticed by the numerous small industries that occupied the building since the dairy terminated its activity in the 1970’s.

Employing over 300 workers in its heyday, very little remains of the memory of some of the first electrical tractions, pumping stations, or sterilising units. An immense workshop with splendid beamed, ceiling, vaulted brickworks and typical Briard style outhouse, and railway traction machines are some of the unique features that have fallen charm to the ‘fashionable’ layers of crumbling paintwork and cracked cement.

Immediately, the artists began the laborious task of renovating this unique industrial heritage site for production and storage of their large scale art-works, but a new enterprise gestated the more the charisma of the site was revealed, and the more the artists and local community became intrigued in re-writing its history.

Unique Vision

The future of _ is an extension of the artists’ practice: ‘the staging of a social bond’. Rooted firmly in the belief that the creative disciplines should debate and rethink the traditional principles of social structures, introduce new ideas that have a profound engagement with society, urban planning, cultural heritage and political and ecological policies.

Through the networks the artist’s have established with like-minded thinkers in arts universities and academies internationally, The Dairy is to be host to an ‘unfolding’ series of workshops, residences and rigorously curated projects for both young and established creative thinkers.

Interdisciplinary, Interrogative, Innovative both International and Local

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Collaborative Creative Forum

In 2001, a series of visiting local and international guests established the Dairy Think-Tank.
The Dairy Milk Train master-class program was launched in the summer of 2002 with international students from The Design Academy Eindhoven, The University of the Arts London and the Ecole National Supérieure des Arts Decoratives, Paris.
In 2003, the first Dairy Site Specific residency program for artists was inaugurated by Andrea Zittel from California, USA

HISTORY

2001- 2002

1. • Reflexions
   • Edith DOOVE (Chief curator, Museum DD Museum, Deurle, Belgium)
     Fiona MEADOWS & Frédéric NANTOIS (Associate architects, dir. education programs at IFA Institut Francais d’Architecture, Paris)
     Bergit ARENDS (sciart programme curator, The Wellcome Trust, London)
     Pierre DOELLER (Founder of the eco-association Les Deux Morins, St Siméon)
     Regional Council for Architecture and Heritage (Seine et Marne)
     Lycée Technique et Agricole, Commune de St Siméon (Local agricultural college)
     SNCF (Rail track, Seine et Marne)
2. • Summer Masterclass
   • 
     Fluid Architecture
     Intensive one-week master class to inaugurate the Industrial Design Program ‘Man and Humanity’, at the Design Academy Eindhoven.
     Guest speakers, professors, research fellows and students from: University of the Arts London (UK); Design Academy Eindhoven (Holland); ENSAD (Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs Paris); ADT Quart Monde (Paris).
     Results online at www.fluidarchitecture.net
3. • Residencies
   • 
     Simon STOCKHAUSEN (Composer, Cologne, Germany)
     Christiane & Ralf DELLBRÜGGE & DE MOLL (Artists, Berlin, Germany)

2003-2005

1. • Reflexions
   • 
     Shigeru BAN (Architect, Tokyo, Japan)
     Mark DION and J. Morgan PUETT (Artist, USA)
     Francois GIRBAUD (Marithé & François Girbaud, Fashion brand)
     Mark SANDERS (Art critic, curator, UK)
     Act Art (Regional association responsible for National Heritage Day events)
2. • Residencies
   • Andrea ZITTEL, (Sculptor, Los Angeles, USA)
     Alain FREYTET, (Landscape architect, France)
     Tibetan Monks, 2005
3. • Exhibitions
   • 
     OPEN HOUSE, National Heritage Day 21st September 2003. Open day for the local and regional public (5,000 visitors). Results of the summer residencies by Andrea Zittel and Alain Freytet. Video recordings and projections of the local oral history
4. • Summer Masterclass
   • School of Architecture, Bogota, Columbia, 2005

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