Lyon Art, the Abode of Chaos (Part 1) Special

An illustrated visit to an astounding, exhilarating and disturbing artistic testament to historical events and the media, as interpreted by its creator, Thierry Ehrmann. One of the most challenging exhibits in the world. No less.

This is the first part of a series of articles on “The Abode of Chaos", including an interview with the owner and creator of what you are about to see. Thierry Ehrmann used to be an industrialist until he decided to become a patron of the arts and create a Modern Art Museum on his sprawling 12 000 square meter residential property, “La Domaine de la Source”, situated in the heart of a sleepy bourgeois dormitory village near Lyon, Saint-Romain au Mont d’Or. Having mulled over the idea, and after deciding that the idea of curators and artistic conventionality weren’t really what he wanted, he then considered something along the lines of Andy Warhol’s Factory, as it seemed more pertinent. Then he changed tack yet again, and decided to develop Warhol’s idea of reflecting what was happening in the world as the news broke into a vast outdoor and indoor artistic means of recreating world events not just on canvas, but by using real artifacts such as planes, buildings and recreated rooms. And that’s how “The Abode of Chaos”, or, in its original French form “La Demeure du Chaos", was born. The result is a staggering explosion of unforgettable life-sized pieces of art, or should I say news articles. The whole of his estate is a real-time recreation of events that change, and have changed, the world. It’s the world as seen by the media, but placed right in front of your eyes. I decided to go and visit him and The Abode of Chaos. I went with a friend. You never know. We needed coffee when we got to the village and stopped at the local bar. I asked if we could sit in the terraced garden behind the bar because I wanted to smoke. “If you insist on ruining your health, sure” said the patron with a friendly smile. A lady walks by. She’s probably the patronne. Ok, cool. Nice bar. The garden is a colourful and anarchic place, with strange coloured objects in it. I ask him if I may photograph one of them and I ask him what it is. “Oh, that’s ‘Mobile Dudu.' He strolls around the village in the wheelbarrow, but he’s been staying here at our place lately. ‘Our’ as in me, Jean-Tristan, and Stéphanie.” The sign around DUDU’s waist says “Be happy.” Ok, cool.

Michael Cosgrove Dudu, at Dada's tavern. image:51091:9::0

This is decidedly a very different vibe from what you find in a usual village bar around Lyon. Then again this bar is called “Dada’s Tavern” after all. Surrealism is not the norm in this part of the countryside. We chat a while and then leave on very friendly terms. “I am not in a typical village here, that’s for sure” I think to myself as we leave. Little did I know how right I was... Off we go towards our final destination. And this is the first thing you see as you approach the Abode of Chaos.. It comes as an enormous sensorial shock after walking through the demure centre of this pretty rural village with its charming stone houses.

Michael Cosgrove The Abode of Chaos, Lyon France image:51092:10::0

This is what you see as you walk along the outside wall. The apocalyptic chaos that is hinted at behind it fills me with excitement.

Michael Cosgrove The Abode of Chaos, Lyon France, outside wall image:51093:8::0

The sculpted face you see at the top of the article was etched into the wall. Once inside (entry is free) one is overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of things to see. It’s a hallucinating and violent collision of metal and stone, objects and paintings, wire and concrete, colour and darkness. I took over fifty pictures, almost all of them of large objects and representations. It would take literally weeks to photo it all, so the pictures here are of larger works only. Details will follow in further articles. All the major events of the world, from Iraq to Gaza, Ground Zero to World War Two, Vietnam to the Congo, as well as its personalities, from Gandhi to Bush, Mao to Arafat, Churchill to Obama, are to be seen in the Abode of Chaos, scattered around in a tangled kaleidoscope of blunt and brutal reality. Here are a few examples. This is called “Peak oil”, and it speaks for itself. An overpowering and oppressive image.

Michael Cosgrove Peak Oil. The Abode of Chaos. image:51094:10::0

Here is an American helicopter, a scene from the Second Iraq war.

Michael Cosgrove American Military Helicopter. The Abode of Chaos. image:51095:15::0

This is an American military transport plane, called “The Bird of Fire”, which looks like it just crashed into the garden.

Michael Cosgrove The Bird of Fire. The Abode of Chaos. image:51096:10::0

One of the underpinning ideas of The Abode of Chaos is to establish a link between the archaic and unpredictable fundamentals of life’s existence and events and express them as the media would. A good example is to be seen in the three pictures below, which represent the horrors of pogroms and their civilian victims. The Death Truck, scooping up its victims.

Michael Cosgrove The Death Truck at the Abode of Chaos. image:51097:10::0

Detail

Michael Cosgrove The Death Truck (detail.) The Abode of Chaos. image:51098:9::0

Images of relentless and anonymous government control, untouchable behind its fortressed walls, are everywhere. Here is the Bunker, where decisions are made and destinies are sealed.

Michael Cosgrove The Bunker at the Abode of Chaos. image:51099:13::0

The Dentist’s Chair, Torture Chamber and place no-one wants to be.

Michael Cosgrove At the Dentist's. The Abode of Chaos. image:51100:8::0

After a good while spent taking photographs, I locate Thierry Ehrmann in the refreshment bar. The bar is like something out of a futuristic run-down part of a dying town on a far-away planet. It’s installed in a shipping container.

Michael Cosgrove Refreshment bar, The Abode of Chaos, Lyon France image:51102:12::0

Thierry Ehrmann is dressed in black jeans and t-shirt, with what looks like blood dripping down both arms. This guy has been working. His clothes are covered in dust. “Hey Thierry, do you have time to talk right now?” “Oh, sure, let’s go somewhere else.” We walk down the alleys of images. He is a very quick talker and he quickly fills me in on a few details. “There isn’t just the outside here. The whole place, every room, is news and images. There are thousands of representations here, in every corner. Including inside the buildings. The idea is to recount things as they happen, so things are being changed and created all the time. It’s an incredibly complex and organic thing.” “Can I get a photo of you?” “No problem.” He walks me over to the helico and stands in front of it, then changes his mind. He takes me to another place which looks like a threatening tunnel. Good place for a photo, but that’s not what he has in mind. He unlocks a door in the wall and we walk into a courtyard. And what do I see? The ruins of the World Trade Centre, recreated in an enormous courtyard which is full of bric-a-brac installations of history. Unbelievable. “We work in real-time here. This part of the property is open to the public only once a month. How about a picture in here?” So I photograph him in front of the World Trade Centre ruins. Eerie. (Photos of this massive steel sculpture in part 2.)

Michael Cosgrove Thierry Ehrmann at Ground Zero in the Abode of Chaos. image:51101:9::0

He explains his view of 9/11 as I shoot. “9/11 was no more than a moment in history. In the long run, it will be seen as not being any more than that. But although it’s just part of a continuing process of long-term events, it’s also a beginning in a way. A change in the direction that history will take as a result of it.” He takes me over to one of his offices. The strangest office I ever saw, full of huge computer screens placed all around a black circular desk, shadowy corners, bookshelves and tortured artifacts which represent a wilfully confused view of past, present and future folly. He describes this office as Headquarters. “The office is also a part of it all. It’s like a nerve-centre. This is where lots of decisions concerning the activity here are coordinated.” I suggest that we should maybe arrange to meet and talk all this over in a formal interview, on a day when the Abode is closed. To be quite honest, I'm a little shell-shocked. “Good idea. This is a complex thing. There’s the philosophical aspect as well as the artistic aspect. There is also a historical context as it relates to the media. The books I gave you will give you a good insight into it all, and then we can meet again to go over it all in more detail.” We leave the weirdly enchanted courtyard and bid our temporary goodbyes. I walk out of the gates, and back down the streets, mesmerised. I meet up with the friend I came with and she asks “So how was it, in your view?” “It just blew me away.....” I can't think of anything else to say and we leave the village in silence. I shall dream of that place tonight.