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From 19 February to 8 May, Long Ma will be at the Halle de La Machine in Toulouse!

Inspired by a Chinese legend, the goddess of Nüwa, François Delaroziere created Long Ma in 2014 for a major show in Beijing.  Back in Nantes for a big maintenance, Long Ma stops in Toulouse to be presented during three months at the Halle de La Machine.

 

Long Ma is a chimerical creature, she observes men and watches over them. Made of wood and steel, it is 12 metres high, 5 metres wide and weighs 45 tonnes.  Nestled inside the Hall, this unusual work of art will be awakened every day by the mechanical sounds of the stable of machines.

Les Véritables Machinistes will invite the public to discover the history of this monumental machine through an exhibition and to be surprised by the sensitivity and precision of its movements. On certain days, Long Ma will be able to venture outside, on the Track, to greet Asterion the Minotaur and the inhabitants of the Montaudran district.

Agenda 

From 19 February to 11 September
Long Ma wakes up daily in the Halle de la Machine

16 and 17 April: Long Ma, the show
free show on the Piste des Géants
The teams of the Halle de La Machine and the Compagnie La Machine invite you to experience two exceptional days during which the Piste des Géants becomes a huge stage for a great show. Inspired by a Chinese myth, an epic wind will blow around the Halle de La Machine.

From 19 April to 8 May :
Long Ma becomes a City Machine carrying spectators on his back.

All informations on www.halledelamachine.fr

Moving through the Hanging Gardens of the Heron Tree, the visitor will discover a multitude of micro landscapes, varied and unexpected plant scenes nestled in the sinuosities of the steel. It is within one of these micro landscapes that the Butterfly Swarm will take place. Inspired by the monarch butterflies of Mexico, this machine reproduces the very impressive swarms that take place during their great migration. Installed on an aquatic tank filled with reeds, papyrus or duckweed, the swarm seems to lift the machine into the air.

 

When François Delaroziere and Pierre Orefice imagined the mechanical bestiary of the Heron Tree, they very quickly wanted to include butterflies. However, as butterflies have wings that are proportionally much larger than their bodies, it is difficult to imagine this animal in fairground mode, i.e. able to carry spectators. After a period of work with Pierre Orefice, François Delaroziere designed a multitude of light and vibrant butterflies, thinking back to the solar butterflies in his childhood garden. Pierre imagined a pedal system with an onboard cyclist. The team of constructors from La Machine then entered the scene to model and formalise the sculpture using digital design tools.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A cyclist for 35 butterflies
The Butterfly Swarm is part of the mechanical bestiary that can be manipulated by the public. It does not have an automaton or a sensor, but a simple mechanical system of chain transmission linked to a camshaft. Each butterfly is installed on a steel rod which is designed to remain flexible. To activate the machine, the visitor has to pedal to make it move. At the heart of the cloud, some butterflies are larger and of different colours. A linkage allows the butterflies to move slightly sideways. It is important to note that in nature, the butterfly’s flight may seem jerky or clumsy, but it is not! With about 10 movements per second, this insect has a rate 20 times lower than the bee. Butterflies rotate their bodies with each wing beat. This movement helps the insect to fly upwards. By adjusting the angle of their body, they can change their trajectory, moving forward rather than upwards. In addition, to breathe, butterflies have small openings on their abdomen. It is the contraction of the muscles of the abdomen and thorax that causes the wings to move. To reproduce this spontaneous wing flapping, the manufacturers placed a spring at the base of each butterfly. The vertical oscillating movement of the rod that supports it naturally causes the wings to open and close.

 

The choice of materials
Installed on a stainless steel mechanical frame that resists the vagaries of the weather, the body of the butterflies is made of aluminium plates cut with a water jet and then assembled layer by layer to create the volume. Nature offers extraordinary examples of architecture through its patterns and geometric shapes.
of extraordinary architecture. Observed with a magnifying glass, it is a formidable
inspiration. In order to reproduce the impressive network of ribs in the wings, while maintaining transparency and the play of light, the inside of the wings was made of the same material as the polyester film used for theatre projectors, so that the light can pass through.

The “Nuée de papillons” will be visible and manipulable by the public in the Galerie des

Machines in Nantes from 5 February 2022. Visitors will be able to saddle up and wake up the 35 butterflies…
Attention cyclists, velocipede and lepidoptera lovers!

Herons are the key animals of the Heron Tree project which will be launched in a few years in Nantes. Like the Great Elephant, Herons are also true living machines. This pair of waders nests at the top of the Tree on platforms 35 m high. Each of them is carried by a specific handling arm which ensures the overall movement. They take off one after the other, taking 20 passengers on a circular flight at a height of 40 metres, lasting about 4 minutes, with a breathtaking view of the city in transformation and the Loire. When they take off, their wings spread out over a span of 16 metres covering the passengers on board the gondolas. A pilot perched on their necks manipulates the bird’s head giving it life and expression.

Like all the company’s machines, the Heron is morphologically faithful to reality both from an aesthetic point of view with its outer wooden envelope and in its mechanical structure, being able to adopt many of the animal’s attitudes. The marriage between the machine and the animal is a subtle combination and we wish to highlight it rather than hide it.  The number and complexity of the movements, the size of the ensemble, the altitude and the exposure of the machines, which results in exposure to wind and bad weather, represent considerable technical constraints and make this construction a unique work site that we will be keen to share with the public throughout next year.

In order to seduce the female, the male bird of paradise spares no effort. Deploying its unique dark plumage, it hops, opens its wings wide and turns around the female to attract its favors.

This birds of paradise ‘s courtship dance imagined by François Delaroziere and Pierre Orefice required more than five months of construction, from the point of departure, François Delaroziere’s sketch to the final mechanical adjustments, including design at the studies office. The small size of the two birds implies extreme precision, the mechanical movements akin here to fine watchmaking. Inspired by the courtship displays observed in nature, the builders endeavor to reproduce the movements of each bird, each one being able to carry out about fifteen movements between the tilting of the head, the deployment of the wings or the rotation of the male bird around the female. In addition, unlike some of our machines, the Parade amoureuse does not have a Programer Logic Controler or sensor, all of the movements being controlled manually by the spectators. The builders therefore had to focus particularly on the interactions between the movements and redouble their ingenuity to avoid any conflict.

If the metal structure of the two birds was made of stainless steel (in order to withstand the climatic conditions as best as possible when they take their place in the Heron Tree), no less than 8 types of metal were used to make the 32 feathers of the male bird, from zinc to copper, including brass, aluminum and lead. The carved wooden hulls are made of locust wood, a very hard wood which is also resistant to humid

Colorization also requires substantial research work. Indeed, in nature, the feathers of the paradise are the darkest that exist. Even when exposed to direct light, they remain deep black because they absorb 99% of the light. Starting with clear layers, the painter gradually darkens the color by superimposing several layers. It then brings depth to the animal using a glaze. To reproduce the sublime blue plastron that the bird also called “Steel-throated Bird of Paradise” proudly exhibited during the dance, the manufacturers imagined a chain mail of a hundred woven sequins.

Fixed on a branch extract from the future “Heron Tree”, the two birds will be manipulated by the public at the Galerie des Machines from February 8th . Six spectators will then be able to wake up the birds and create a love parade as striking as those observed in nature.

It is up to the courageous manipulators of the male Bird of Paradise to seduce the female, who can prove more or less receptive to her charm…

Set along the cliff as close as possible to the rock face, the Escalier de la Falaise takes place in the Extraordinary Garden. Since octobre 24 th, it connects the Butte Sainte-Anne to the Bas-Chantenay district, like an invitation to travel.

Since October 2019, around fifteen builders from the La Machine company have been building and assembling the four belvederes, the 177 steps and all the steel elements that make up the Falaise staircase, a unique work of art imagined by François Delaroziere . Each console, each guardrail is unique, adapted to the geometry of the cliff. The cutouts of the sheets form a language in which patterns, shapes and assemblies become ornaments. The staircase rests directly on the rock and on the natural sides of the cliff. It is designed to match the relief as closely as possible and magnify the rock itself and the plant universe that develops there. In February 2020, work in the quarry started. The Charier company, under the supervision of Géolithe and ECTS, installed the anchorages for the stairs on the rock face and on the ground.

Walking from the old gatehouse in Square Maurice Schwob located at the top of the cliff or from the Extraordinary Garden, walkers can climb or descend the 28-meter drop along the rock face. The ascent is punctuated by four belvederes, positioned and designed as unique and sensitive stops, offering a wide view of the Extraordinary Garden and the Maritime Loire. During the ascent, the walker can look at every detail, every ornament, every prop, unique and adapted to the relief, organic and alive. At the top of the cliff, the walker discovers the old gatehouse of the keeper. Now an ornate belvedere surrounded by a circular staircase, the gatehouse asserts itself as a remnant of the old breweries of the Meuse.

In November 2018 during the show “Le Gardien du Temple”, 800,000 spectators followed the peregrinations of Asterion the Minotaur and Ariadne, the spider in the City of Toulouse. For a few days, then finally forever, Toulouse will live to the rhythm of a mythological opera orchestrated by the company La Machine. During the entire period of the confinement, the Compagnie La Machine and Xbo Films invite you to relive the show, as if you were there!

To watch the movie :

Le Gardien du Temple, a film by Dominique Deluze and Sylvain Luini based on the show by François Delaroziere. An Xbo-Films production, co-produced by Cie La Machine with the participation of Toulouse Métropole.

As a result of government measures taken to slow the spread of Covid 19,  la Halle de la Machine in Toulouse, les Machines de l’Île in Nantes and the Compagnie du Dragon in Calais will be closed until further notice.
More information on their respective sites.
Until we see you again soon, stay home and take care of yourself.

The team of La Machine Company

From October 31^th to November 3^rd, 2019, the Dragon de Calais took its first steps in the North of France. One day of prologue and three days of shows during which spectators followed the adventure of the strange creature from the sea.
At first mistrustful, men and women have gradually tamed the machine before adopting it permanently in their city. Invited to stay, the huge Dragon became the Dragon of Calais.

Nearly 400,000 spectators attended these four days of festivities, despite the unpredictable weather. The show was also particularly watched on social networks where about 4 million Internet users followed the journey in the town of #DragondeCalais.

 

The media also largely covered the event, particularly the national channels including ARTE, France2, M6, TF1, CNEWS , LCI, BFMTV ; AFP TV or France 3 région. Several portraits of François Delaroziere were also broadcasted for the occasion, including 20 h Le Mag sur TF1 or the broadcast Artotech on France 3 Pays-de-la-Loire.

From December 17^th, the Dragon of Calais will definitively take up residence facing the sea, carrying on its back about fifty passengers. La Compagnie du Dragon will ensure the commercial exploitation and technical operation of the Dragon and other future saurians.

A film on the adventure of the Dragon de Calais and the urban project in Calais will also be produced in a few months by the company Xbo Productions.

Find other photos of the show here +

Find the National and International Press Review of the show here +

 

 

From the 1^st to 3^rd of November, 2019, the City of Calais will discover Le Dragon de Calais during spectacular celebrations. Freed from the subterranean worlds, the Dragon of Calais is heading for the city. This new creation built by La Machine Company will roam the city, manipulated by 17 people who give him life.  This big show in the streets of Calais will be the festive prologue to the dragon’s public introduction as a «City Machine» : La Compagnie du Dragon.

GENERAL INFORMATIONS 
From 1^st to 3^rd of November 2019 –  All the day long and the evening, from 10 a.m to 9 p.m
Free to access – In the streets of the city of Calais.

Our shows take place in the streets, squares and boulevards of  Calais. There will be moving scenes like parades and fixed scenes. You can come 1, 2 or 3 days without encountering any problem of comprehension, the show being speechless. A booklet will be given in the streets with more details on the places and schedule of departures scenes. You could also download it on this website from 21^th October.

More informations about the show here +

Download The Show Program : Le Dragon de Calais

Watch the teaser