Spiral Land Art in Shou Sugi Ban Style

Artist and architect Mathieu Nouhen transformed an agricultural plot in France into an archaic-inspired land art with mystical undertones. The temporary artwork, dubbed Fossile, reveals a spiral arrangement of stakes, reminiscent of a fossil and symbolizing the only vestige remaining of man’s imprint on this landscape.

‘It is the passage of man that creates strength, abnormality, absurdity. We symbolize a present or past presence. It is a form turned towards humans, but also towards the other inhabitants of this agricultural land, those who will witness the change,’ shares Nouhen.

A spiral stake arrangement using Shou Sugi Ban technique

The spiral arrangement by Mathieu Nouhen (see more here) follows the Shou Sugi Ban technique that resonates with the volcanic territory and imparts a dense and earthy character to the land art. It creates a chromatic density and contrast within the site: the green of late spring, the yellow of summer pastures. The stakes are all beveled towards the center, shimmering in the landscape, accentuating the form. Moreover, this spiral with four centers, a symbolic form of the fossil, represents the passage of time — the temporal flow of the relationship between the landscape and the raw elements that shape it.

Through this particular and mystical arrangement of stakes, a form appears, a message appears, guiding and inducing a path towards the center. Space, symbols, boundaries, and directions are created. Gradually, a trace is created, lines of desire form.

‘When the work was dismantled, we were able to see the passage of 13,122 visitors, like a fossil. A trace, yet another mark of our passage, which will also fade away,’ concludes Mathieu Nouhen.

project info:

name: Fossil\location: France
artist: Mathieu Nouhen | @mathieu_nouhen