The Seamarks Line (1997)

Public commission. An outdoor permanent artwork on the Rhine banks, along the path on the crest of the dike, between the seamarks 306,5 and 308, above the locks. 67760
Gambsheim (FRANCE) 48°40’44.3″N 7°54’08.3″E

« amer : masculine noun. (1683. Norman. merc, Scand. merki -> Mark). Maritime. A conspicuous object distinguishable at sea,
serving to guide or warn sailors in navigation. (in Oxford Dictionary) ».


Along the Rhine river, an installation to slowly absorb that invites meditation. The walker follows a succession of fifteen
landmarks each displaying a photograph of a landscape printed on porcelain. Fifteen landscapes shot on the steps of the European Community boundaries. Fifteen landscapes set in delicate white porcelain, that luminous, enduring material also found in cemeteries where it retains human faces for posterity. Fifteen “guest-landscapes” which invite the walker into a melodious dialogue along the river.

Fifteen concrete milestones, placed every 100 meters. On the side facing the river are the names of the fifteen longest rivers of the world. On the side facing the path, fifteen photographic landscapes with captions.
Size of the photographs: 60 x 90cm.
Size of the seamarks: H160 x L210 x 13cm
Typographer : David Poullard
A public commission by Centre européen d’actions artistiques contemporaines (CEAAC)
In collaboration with Voies Navigables de France.