Nouvelle vague (2026)

Light emerges from the darkness through the station entrance and gradually spreads over its entire façade. Lines appear followed by the pattern of the station floor laid in 1875, now visible in its full grandeur. The tiles grow, twisting and turning in turquoise gilded hues. Behind this dancing mosaic, the station’s architecture seems to fold away, deconstructing then reconstructing, revealing hitherto unimaginable shapes. An original electronic soundtrack with vocals illustrates this metamorphosis. With SubTile_v4, Jakob Jakubowski unveils one of Lyon’s hidden secrets of which we are blithely unaware.

The story begins with delicate white threads reminiscent of raw silk which gradually unfurl over the façade, swirling, intertwining and multiplying. Then colour arrives on the scene with woven patterns inspired by the hues of ancient textiles depicting plants and arabesques. The building is turned into a huge loom honouring the skills of the city’s traditional silk weavers and the opulence of La Grande Fabrique Lyonnaise, Lyon’s textile manufacturing industry. Then the pace becomes faster, the patterns become simpler, the shapes more geometric, the colours more vibrant. The Jacquard loom and its punch cards are paving the way for increased automation. This revolution is accompanied by an organic soundtrack evoking the threads and traditional looms before moving on to the mechanical clack-clack of automated machinery. Irene Suosalo recounts these historical changes, paying tribute to Lyon’s traditional textile industry and invites us to celebrate craftsmanship at a time when new technology is taking over.

First, a single line appears on the façade of Saint-Paul station, a stroke of watercolour that lengthens and begins to flow down the building. More lines and colours gradually appear, cross over one another, and disappear again to the rhythm of a traditional song from the indigenous Wulu Bunun people of Taiwan, accompanied by David Darling's cello and birdsong. At times, the brushstrokes follow the geometric forms of the architecture; at others, they break out of its boundaries to wander freely across the various parts of the building. Using animated painting, music, and movement, Shih-Yen Huang transforms the station into a living landscape where one can hear the echoes of mountain valleys. A poetic interlude and an invitation to let your imagination roam free.