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Sunset over the "Gueulard", a beautiful music hall in Nilvange-Algrange. The "gueulard" of a blast furnace is the somital opening through which it is charged. For vocabulary, please refer to the work of Jacques Corbion, the engineer who guided us (through freezing weather) on our first tour in the Fensch valley: Le Savoir... Fer, glossaire du haut-fourneau, in 4 volumes, 2003, published by the association Le Savoir... Fer.

"Algrange" is a project inspired by photographs taken in Algrange around 1981. Algrange is a large village in Lorraine, west of Thionville, on the banks of the Fensch river. The iron industry set up a factory here on the Nilvange minette (iron ore) bed at a place called "La Paix". The site, an enormous factory with seven blast furnaces, produced cast iron and steel for over 70 years. In 1919, the then French plant became Société Métallurgique de Knutange or SMK. Despite its size, the La Paix site was one of the first in the valley to be affected by the French steel industry's debacle of the 1970s and 1980s. The plant ceased operations in 1975. The demolition process, which was actually quite complicated, took time. In 1981, amateur photographers Patrick Halter and Roland Spannagel set out to take pictures of the plant in the throes of demolition. They developed their shots themselves. About twenty of them ended up on my desk.

I chose fifteen black-and-white photographs measuring around 24x24 cm, from which I derived images expressing the "climate" of the site, in an indeterminate number of stages. Step 1 is the reproduction of the positive, more or less as I had it in my hands. Step 2 (re-)creates the negative, while step 3 provides the graphic basis for the rest of the process by forcing contrasts. After these first three "figurative" stages, the work moves into a phase of abstraction to extract emotional registers. Although the original photos are in black and white, color is present because the scanner has captured a certain (a few) amount of extraneous light. During the creative process, thanks to the algorithms used, the colors take on strength and authority.

At the end, I add a foreground. This foreground is a pattern either taken from the image itself or from another photograph taken during one of my pilgrimages to the Fensch valley. We can sometimes identify the accomplices of these peregrinations (including the two pioneer photographers) or moved visitors. Indeed, you can't visit the museums of these industrial relics and the associated iron mines without feeling a certain emotion: a fleeting awareness of the human cost of anyone's ordinary comfort - and therefore one's own - in our highly industrialized world. T.M.

Theme : Industry: Algrange.
Sources : Patrick HALTER, Roland SPANNAGEL and T.M.
Drawing : Teorg MAELBERGS (T.M.).

1a) 1032 - Algrange SMK factory 261, photograph of Patrick Halter/Roland Spannagel 1981.
1b) 1345 - Algrange SMK factory (262), image modification, step 3 (black & white, T.M. 2018).

1c) 1033 - Algrange SMK factory 266, last step, final colored image, T.M. 2018/2024.

2a) 1034 - Algrange SMK factory 271, _photograph of Patrick Halter/Roland Spannagel 1981. 2b) 1346 - Algrange SMK factory (272), image modification, step 3 (T.M. 2018).

2c) 1035 - Algrange SMK factory 276 last step, final colored image, T.M. 2018/2024.

3a) 1036 - Algrange SMK factory 281, _photograph of Patrick Halter/Roland Spannagel 1981.
3b) 1347 - Algrange SMK factory (282), image modification, step 3 (T.M. 2018).

3c) 1037 - Algrange SMK factory. 286, last step, final colored image, T.M. 2018.

4a) 1038 - Algrange SMK factory 291, _photograph of Patrick Halter/Roland Spannagel 1981.
4b) 1348 - Algrange SMK factory (292), image modification, step 3 (T.M. 2018).

4c) 1039 - Algrange SMK factory 296, last step, final colored image, T.M. 2018.

5a) 1040 - Algrange SMK factory 301, _photograph of Patrick Halter/Roland Spannagel 1981.
5b) 1349 - Algrange SMK factory (302), image modification, step 3 (T.M. 2018).

5c) 1041 - Algrange SMK factory 306, last step, final colored image, T.M. 2018.

6a) 1042 - Algrange SMK factory 311, _photograph of Patrick Halter/Roland Spannagel 1981.
6b) 1350 - Algrange SMK factory (312), image modification, step 3 (T.M. 2018).

6c) 1043 - Algrange SMK factory 316, last step, final colored image, T.M. 2018.

7a) 1044 - Algrange usine SMK/Algrange SMK factory 321, _photograph of Patrick Halter/Roland Spannagel 1981. 7b) 1351 - Algrange SMK factory (322), image modification, step 3 (T.M. 2018).

7c) 1045 - Algrange SMK factory 326, last step, final colored image, T.M. 2018.

8a) 1046 - Algrange SMK factory 331, _photograph of Patrick Halter/Roland Spannagel 1981.
8b) 1352 - Algrange SMK factory (332), image modification, step 3 (T.M. 2018).

8c) 1047 - Algrange SMK factory 336), last step, final colored image, T.M. 2018.

9a) 1048 - Algrange usine SMK/Algrange SMK factory 341, _photograph of Patrick Halter/Roland Spannagel 1981.
9b) 1353 - Algrange usine SMK/Algrange SMK factory (342), image modification, step 3 (T.M. 2018).

9c) 1049 - Algrange SMK factory346), last step, final colored image, T.M. 2018.

10a) 1050 - Algrange usine SMK/Algrange SMK factory 351, _photograph of Patrick Halter/Roland Spannagel 1981.
10b) 1354 - Algrange usine SMK/Algrange SMK factory (352), image modification, step 3 (T.M. 2018).

10c) 1051 - Algrange SMK factory 356, last step, final colored image, T.M. 2018.

11a) 1052 - Algrange SMK factory 361, _photograph of Patrick Halter/Roland Spannagel 1981.
11b) 1355 - Algrange SMK factory (362), image modification, step 3 (T.M. 2018).

11c) 1053 - Algrange SMK factory 366, last step, final colored image, T.M. 2018.

12a) 1054 - Algrange SMK factory 371, _photograph of Patrick Halter/Roland Spannagel 1981.
12b) 1356 - Algrange SMK factory (372), image modification, step 3 (T.M. 2018).

12c) 1055 - Algrange SMK factory 376, last step, final colored image, T.M. 2018.

13a) 1056 - Algrange SMK factory 381, _photograph of Patrick Halter/Roland Spannagel 1981.
13b) 1357 -Algrange SMK factory (382), image modification, step 3 (T.M. 2018).

13c) 1057 - Algrange SMK factory 386, last step, final colored image, T.M. 2018.

14a) 1058 - Algrange SMK factory 391, _photograph of Patrick Halter/Roland Spannagel 1981.
14b) 1358 - Algrange SMK factory (392), image modification, step 3 (T.M. 2018).

14c) 1059 - Algrange SMK factory 396, last step, final colored image, T.M. 2018.

15a) 1060 - Algrange SMK factory 401, _photograph of Patrick Halter/Roland Spannagel 1981.
15b) 1359 - Algrange SMK factory (402), image modification, step 3 (T.M. 2018).

15c) 1061 - Algrange SMK factory 406, last step, final colored image, T.M. 2018.

15d) Detail of the previous image.

16a) Big Thursday shopping, image 1360, already composed, T.M. 2017.

16...c) Big Thursday shopping, last image, 3274, T.M. 2024.

End of page Algrange-Nilvange