Title: MACROfusion - by Iota (BE) & Augustine Kofie (USA) executed during the 2021 edition of Street Art Fest Grenoble - Alpes.

Client: STMicroelectronics

Exterior mural intervention in collaboration with Iota (BE) on portrait, mountains, crystal and hand. Painted June, 2021

Coordinator: Jerome Catz of Spacejunk, Street Art Fest Grenoble Alpes and STMicroelectronics

Location: 12 RUE JULES HOROWITZ 38000. GRENOBLE​, AUVERGNE-RHONE-ALPES, France

Details: Acrylic polymer and enamel on corrugated sheet steel (Tôle Bac Acier). 290 m2 + 485 m2

Photos: Andrea Berlese photography

Augustine Kofie's mural direction statement:

My public mural work is in the style of geometric abstraction which nonetheless always takes its inspiration from the environment and subject matter that shape the commission. In this case, the environment is an industrial facility in which semiconductor devices are researched and manufactured. Design and construction take place in a micro realm, which nonetheless is imagined as a territory to be mapped and instilled with function. At the same time, this environment is one of innovation and design, of people working creatively to fulfill circumscribed briefs.

Drawing inspiration from the work that is done on the premises, I have created a design that enlarges this processes and elements through a fragmented magnification. I have segmented the wall into a series of vignettes that are reminiscent of industrial procedures, like the factory line, as well as microchips themselves, where segments have particular jobs and are connected by circuitry. In my mural, the different vignettes, each built out of squares, locks, webs and nets found on devices are literally connected by a roadmap of connective tissue.  Linear circuit roads connect the integrated ports, weaving through a territory where all space is utilized, where nothing is put to waste. The architecture is angular. The visual language is also inspired by other visual elements that define this process and product: blocks of reflective color, glitches, and disk-shaped pieces are superimposed and built up in the design.

The environment in which a mural is made always determines the design in material ways.  Here, the corrugated surface of the wall means that specific detail work can get lost. Instead, I use this texture as a grid upon which to build the mural.  While I work in abstraction and draw inspiration from design and industrial techniques, my collaborator, Iota, works figuratively, focusing on the human body and organic elements. Our design gives a strong sense of nature manipulated by human skill, ingenuity and innovation. 

IOTA's mural direction statement:

In my part of the visual I chose to refer
raw minerals mainly used in chip manufacturing
electronic.

Combined with the abstract forms of Augustine Kofie which suggest
electronic circuits and industrial process as an architecture, the aim is to represent the transition of the material raw to the finished product.

In the green part to the left of the first wall, the shape also suggests subtly the mountain ranges surrounding the city of Grenoble.

As for the character on the second wall, he represents both the human part behind the company and the fusion of the human and environment for technological innovation.