MICHEL MOUFFE - FESTINA LENTE

SOME CULTURE...

Glazed enamelled steel plates + tiles

The photo compositions on enamelled sheet metal emphasise the pacifist character of Erasmus (Desiderius Erasmus Roterdamus, Rotterdam 1469 – Basel 1536), his successive travels through Europe and his devotion to education and the great thinkers of Europe. Even while he still lived, Erasmus was already known as the “Prince of Humanists”. The project in Erasmus metro station also contains, other than illustrations and photo compositions, many of Erasmus’s mottos, translated into different European languages. “Festina Lente”, which means “Hurry slowly”, also served as the perfect title for this work. Almost all the ceramic tiles are in “Delft blue”, a colour which was developed after 18 months of research with the ceramics firm Cerafrance. Erasumus’s adagia (mottos) are engraved with a laser over an area of 184 m2. 49 tiles are decorated with hand-painted motifs. Finally, over a surface of 350 m2, images were reproduced by serigraphy on panels in enamelled glazed steel plating. The project took almost three years to complete.