* (restored)
‘My name is Gilles Tréhin, I was born in 1972, I live in Cagnes sur Mer, near Nice, in south-east of France. I’m told I have autism, some say I have Asperger’s syndrome (it’s very similar). I have been drawing since the age of 5. I have always been fascinated by big cities and airplanes. I’ve been fascinated since my childhood by “stratified graphics” and “puzzles of the nature”. Since 1984, I started to be interested by the conception of an imaginary city. I called it Urville, the name comes from “Dumont d’Urville”, which is a scientific base, in a French territory of the Antarctic. Since then, I am doing some drawings on this city and I am actually writing a book with an historical, geographic, cultural and economic description of Urville.
The History of Urville’s Creation in my Mind
‘The idea of Urville came very progressively. When I lived in the United States between 1978 and 1981, I was fascinated by New York city and its skyscrapers. At this time, I decided to build skyscrapers in Lego bricks, but I did not have a precise objective then. I was not just fascinated by skyscrapers but also by airline aircrafts : the first word I said when I was a child was “Avion” (airplane in French). I like airplanes because it is easier to go to the United States by the air than by sea.
‘It’s in 1984 that the idea of an imaginary city became concrete. I lived in London between 1984 and 1986. During this period, I bought a large number of little die cast aircrafts for which I built an airport model, using Lego bricks. I decided then to build a large city that was going to need such a big airport, still in Lego. I even tried to write a schedule brochure for the flights departing and arriving to the airport. But during those two years, I didn’t have any definite idea of what this city was going to look like, until I made the first building which symbolises Urville, “Year 2000 Tower.”
‘After 1987, there was a big evolution in my conception of the city. I realised that I could expand the city in my mind without necessarily building it in Lego bricks, and compensate this by drawing. I started to base the city on the planning of the streets. In 1991, in my conception of the city, I stopped using lego, and had made some drawings. Until 1992, I built little by little the city concept starting with the subway map and I started writing the history of the city in a general way.
‘Starting in 1993, the drawings of Urville became more frequent, with the first global view of the city. It was the first click because with the help of illustrated books on real cities, I discovered new techniques which helped my drawing. During this same year, I started to study history because I realised that it was an important element of knowing a city, and history offered me the possibility to learn even more things.
Introduction to Urville
‘Urville is a city with 11 820 257 inhabitants (1999), its the largest city of France and even of Europe for the population. It is the capital of the administrative region “Insular Provence” which counts 14 275 960 inhabitants. The city is divided in 35 sections. Urville is the financial capital of France, It is the largest stock exchange market of the country. The media and press sector is very important, Urville hosts the headquarters of more than 400 revues and magazines, 30 national newspapers and more than 100 publishing companies. Urville is an international cultural capital and it possesses important museums as well as more than 300 theatres. A large number of cultural events such as concerts, exhibitions, festivals and international trade shows are organised on a regular basis.
‘Urville was founded in the 12th Century BC by the Phoenicians under the name of «Qart-Sous-Yam» (Carsucia). The name was changed in Urbis (Urville) in the 1st Century BC under the Roman occupation. Urville was the 3rd city of the Roman Empire until the 5th century AC. In the 3rd century AC, it had already near 250 000 inhabitants. During the Middle Age, Urville was successively dominated by the Ostrogoths, the Francs, the House of Arles and the “Angevine Dinasty.” During this period, after the successive crises of the 5th and 10th century, the city expanded thanks to its flourishing maritime trade in the 12th century and, inspite of the crises of the 14th Century, it became again flourishing during the second half of the 15th century.
‘In 1480, Urville gets under the domination of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, during the French Revolution, Urville has 2.8 millions inhabitants, but the number of habitations became too limited to host the huge population growth due to the Industrial Revolution. In order to cope, the authorities of Urville call upon the famous town-planner Oscar Laballière (1803/ 1883) to start gigantic urban projects which are still outlining Urville even today.
‘As much as the city was spared during the 1st World War, It suffered bombing during the 2nd World War. However, the people of Urville paid a high human price : nearly 300 000 people were killed during the 1st World War and more than 200 000 people during the 2nd World War. After the 2nd World War France knows a huge move of people from the countrysides to the cities. With this phenomenon Urville population went from 7.9 millions to 1.6 millions inhabitants, in 1990, just 40 years later.’ — Gilles Tréhin
Further
Gilles Tréhin’s Urville Site
Gilles Tréhin @ i09
‘Autistic couple bound to each other – and their art’
‘He Built This City’
French ‘Urville’ page
Gilles Tréhin @ Facebook
Book: Gilles Tréhin’s ‘Urville’
About
‘Gilles Tréhin was diagnosed with autism at about age 8 by the team of the Yale Child Study Center by the late Professor Donald Cohen. We had had previous imprecise formulations of a diagnosis : “Autistic like behavior.” His developmental history has been quite exceptional. He started with a typical “kanner autism” and evolved quite positively through childhood and adolescence, then to adulthood, making astonishing progress. We discovered through time that Gilles had several talents. These really helped him build a rather good self esteem. Some even helped him to socialise.
‘Music: We noticed that Gilles had perfect pitch when he was very young. He would come to me begging that I play a music tune, humming it as he had very limited speech. When I sat at the piano or took the guitar, he had been humming it exactly in the tone I usually played that piece of music. He was becoming angry when music was played on a turntable not rotating at the right speed. He learned much later on to play electric bass guitar without having any serious lessons. Limited fine motor skills stopped him from playing the guitar. He took on from that knowledge, and here absolutely without lesson, to play the upright bass, playing with me some very sophisticated pieces of jazz or “bossa nova” music with complex harmonies.
‘Mental Calculation: At about age 6 he surprised us by answering questions on the multiplication table which we were asking his sister for rehearsal… She told us that Gilles knew more, when we asked what she meant, she said “he knows 12th 13th 14th multiplication tables”, we tried, (with a calculator) and indeed Gilles could multiply, actually he was only stopped as he didn’t know how to express number larger than 1000… Later on the same year, he discovered all by himself the concept of prime number… He was fascinated by them. He could tell immediately if a number was prime, he used to say : “In 4187 there is nothing” — “What do you mean, nothing,” — “There is no 2, no 3 no 5, no 7, no 11, no 13”.
‘Drawing: Coming back in time, at age 5 we discovered that he could draw in 3D, actually going directly from scribbles to 3D. Drawing has been ever since his forte, combined with a fabulous imagination. He used it to invent an imaginary city he called Urville and on which he is still working. His invention goes far beyond drawings, he has invented names of personalities and events that made the history of Urville. He has now lost most of his capabilities with multiplications and prime numbers even though he still feels rather comfortable with numbers. He is still very good at music, but doesn’t play as much as before. He is now almost completely concentrating upon drawing and writing about Urville.’ — Wisconsin Medical Society
Urville
vue générale
vue générale
vue générale
Un belle ville
C.I.E.R.S.
Canal de Focusaque
Centre International Cultur
Cours du Soulier
Editions La Guimbarde
Futurville
Gare d’Italie
Hôpital Ruthommier
Immeuble du Cotentin
Institit Civ. Musulmannes
Institut René Descartes
Journal Nouvelle Donne
Métro d’Urville
Place de la Carsouce
Place de la Liberté
Place des Artistes
Pont des Investitures
Rade de la Carsouce
Théâtre Grand Coquelicot
Tour An
Tour de l’Audiovisuelle
Tour Médaillon
Tours Jumelles
Tramway
Centre Economie Futurville
Cedill
Gare central
Vue Panoramique
Vue Panoramique
—-
*
p.s. Hey. ** David Ehrenstein, Morning. I will google Susan Cabot, but first I’ll use your skinny, thanks! ** Dóra Grőber, Hi! I’ll look up Szentendre. I’m very curious. Cool. I love the Seine because who couldn’t, but it itself isn’t so beautiful. The Canal St. Martin is prettier to be around. Thanks about the producer’s good response. Yes, very relieved. Now we’re waiting to hear from the two trusted viewers, hopefully today. It’s weird and cool sometimes how lack of sleep can end up feeding writing. And feeding it unlikely, less … controlled (?) things. I’m happy your day went that way. I just worked on the film’s sound with Zac all day, and I’ll be doing that again today. Pretty predictable, but all good. Did you get good sleep last night? Did your today arrive in a good mood? ** Steevee, Hi. Wow, you write so quickly, that’s enviable. Of course the screenplay sounds extremely interesting. I’ve always been and will forever be confused by why people don’t see fiction as a place to be able access, study, and think about things that are too glaring, impactful, and difficult to access emotionally and intellectually, etc. in the real world. I guess I mean I don’t understand why people are afraid of their (and others’) imaginations. I’m too consumed by the film work to be a good reader/feedback-giver at the moment, but I’ll pass on your offer. Everyone, Steevee just wrote a very interesting sounding short screenplay for his next film. He would love some feedback if anyone is interested and free. You can read more about the screenplay if you go back to yesterday’s comments. If you’d like to read the screenplay, which is only 3+ pages, and help Steevee out with your thoughts, you can email him here — [email protected] — and he will send you a copy. ** S., Hey, S! Good to see you, buddy. Glad the post was a treat. Your awesome mind seems to be in perfect working order. The film life is good, very good actually. So far at least. Blast on. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, B. Your frisson is heavily prized. Yeah, the ‘TP’ episode, geez … I’m trying to be patient, but … ** Alistair, Hey, Alistair! I remember Creepy Crawlies, gosh. I used to make them too. That memory had disappeared itself until just now. Wow. Yes, extremely happy about everything with the film so far. We’re not at the finish line yet, but that line looks bright out there in the mid-distance. What is decompressing for you? Sun, surf, reading, ice cream, … ? Enjoy the rest-oriented week, my friend! ** Schoolboyerrors, Hi, bud! It was awesomeness incarnate to see you! Yes, yes, I have ceased sweating bullets. Well, at least very high powered bullets. Things look good, whoa! Damn, no, I obviously somehow neglected to find and include ‘Honey … ‘. How did I manage that? I liked that Disneyland attraction, yeah, now that you’ve sprung it to mind. It had a nice tone. It was infinitely better than ‘Captain Eo’. I’ll give Zac your hi, and I guarantee that he will wing one your way in return. Big love to you, maestro! ** Misanthrope, Apparently so. Wow, JW news. Not only JW news, but very good JW news. Awesome! Such an extremely unique and valuable guy. I’m very glad he’s okay. Coolness. Have a splendid next 24 or so! ** Okay. I’ve pulled Urville out of storage for you today. Have a read/look. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
*
OK, I posted this in your past post, and just after I saw that you’d already posted today’s post, so I’ll just copy paste what I wrote there:
Hey, man,
Long time no see. Missed you. Hope you’re doing fine.
Great day! Thank you. You know I *LOVE* movies about monsters, giant animals, and regular-sized killer animals. In the particular case of giant insects movies my favorite are definitely ‘Rodan’ (which features killing giant dragonfly larvae during the first half of the movie), Cronenberg’s remake of ‘The Fly’ (a movie that to this very day still gives me chicken skin and really serious nausea…) and of course the Director’s Cut of ‘Mimic’ (you should’ve included it in the post!).
Saw ‘Alien: Covenant’. What a disappointment.
I also saw, out of pure morbidity, that twin peaks thing. Wow, there’s just no bottom for lynch. Just when you think the dude can’t possibly get any worse or stupider, he manages to sink to a new low.
I’m so anxious to see ‘Song To Song’, of course! The other day I saw ‘Knight Of Cups’ yet once more. I really cannot comprehend/grasp how can *ANYONE* not love or at least like that movie. My mind just is not able to understand that. Just such a fucking perfect and gorgeous and wondrous and out of this motherfucking world movie. Just love it so much. It’s so extremely important to me. It affects me in a way and a level that only a few movies do. Definitely, to me, one of the greatest 10 movies of this Century so far. IMO it’s without a doubt Malick’s Greatest Masterpiece after ‘Days Of Heaven’ (though of course you know that I *OBVIOUSLY* LOVE and ADORE all his films and consider them all to be Masterpieces).
I think I already asked you this, and, if I’m correct, I deeply apologize. Do you like ‘The Towering Inferno’?
May I ask what makes ‘Recollections Of The Golden Triangle’ your favorite Robbe-Grillet? Mine are ‘Jealousy’ and ‘In The Labyrinth’. Just love them so, so much…
Your second favorite McCarthy and Pynchon??? You three Most Excellent Gentlemen, are, in my opinion, the very greatest living writers of the English Language *IN THE WHOLE WORLD AND BY VERY FAR*.
I finally read Thomas’ ‘In Their Arms’. What a fucking masterpiece… Loved it so very, very fucking much. Like an even much barer, sparser, darker and more elliptical Didion. Such greatness.
Speaking of The Great MRS. DIDION, did you ever read ‘Blue Nights’??? How about her new one; ‘South And West: From A Notebook’???
I really wanted to do some “writing” today/yesterday but just couldn’t. There are so many “projects” I want to develop, including a play… But I still haven’t finished my novel, which has been stalled for over a year. And the same goes for a story (though I think that one’s been stalled for a little while shorter.
I got into such a *HUGE* fight with my father today. I really lost it. He just hates me so much. I ended up cutting 18 times.
How’s Michael??? If you talk, would you tell him I say hello and that I miss him a lot?
Take very good care, my dear, dear friend,
Good day; good luck,
Lots of love and hugs,
A.
Hey again,
I forgot to tell you I saw Corbet’s ‘The Childhood Of A Leader’. I don’t know if you’ve seen it and if you have what did you think of it, but I thought it was fucking great. Loved it. And loved Walker’s score as well. I actually bought it on CD some days ago and it’s just so magnificent. NOW, *THAT’S* what I call a fucking score. I’d say it’s the greatest score of the XXI Century after Víg’s one for ‘The Turin Horse’.
This fucking depression just doesn’t leave me fucking alone EVER. I get really desperate. And, after the events of some nine hours ago I told you about in my first reply, well, I don’t feel joyful precisely… After cutting I just got fucked up on my dear, dear, BELOVED Xannies.
What are your favorite Westerns?
Later,
A.
Dear Dennis: I’m glad the screening with the producer went well. So did you finish the editing for now? I hope you could have a little celebrating break this weekend.
I didn’t get to the central park yet (re R-G day) actually, not even once since my move to nyc. Now I’ve been here for 2+ years, so I suppose it’s a little strange, but, whenever I have free time, I ended up reading books, scribbling, etc. staying in. This time I revisited Sollers’ Park, and was impressed how different it feels to read in nyc, not in bflo. It seems lighter & precise, although it persistently alarms something trippy about love. And very poetic prose. (haven’t found its French text yet, but it might be important to read it in French I thought.) And other study related work as usual while waiting for Duvert’s Atlantic Island. Curious about your response to the Duvert. Did you read it before in different languages?
Oh, I wasn’t blanking on the post — a very interesting work. Hmm, been reading Fourier lately a little, the Day seems to resonate to it. Thank you for putting it together.
Great post. I wonder if anyone ever slipped him some Borges? Fascinating that the city isn’t really invented so much as put together from existing parts.
I missed a Pynchon discussion? I’ve been (re)reading him in chronological order the past few years. Just finished “Against the Day” which like any Pynchon I just finish is my new favorite ( Mason/Dixon still holds the crown of I’m not being swayed by the experience of working through the book).
Hi. Catching up a bit. It’s amazing how fast time is flying, my last few days in Paris (Yes). I’ve seen a lot of the bug movies, though I kind of can’t handle bugs, and I think if I had to see one that was at all realistic, I might scream. I agree with Jeff J that Nabokov on psychology in R-G is right-on; Nabokov so often reads carefully and disregards what authors said , or thought, their projects were; and of course, he’s so good at recognizing that the text is a language-world and not just a handy guide to the objects-world, because he thinks in terms of games (as you often seem to). (I wonder what Nabokov thought of Bataille; I can probly look that up). And speaking of that, it was good to see the world of Gilles Tréhin, a great project.
Of course I am very glad about the reaction from the producer. I’m guessing I’m really going to like this film. And also Twin Peaks, which I’ll probably start watching when I get home mid-July.
I am working in the Récollets garden today; though it’s raining, I grabbed the table under the awning and stay dry like some bones. Uhhhhh, I’m gonna miss this. I’m very happy cause Chrystel and I had a chat about my projects yesterday, and she was really interested in the dream-film analogy (I found a whole lot of great stuff about dreams in fiction, by the way); and I told her I hoped not to teach now but just write, which I do pretty well in Paris, and she was very encouraging for returns when I wished–which I pretty much figured, but it was nice to hear. So I will work on making this a regular recurring thing, maybe supplemented by some teaching here.
And I’m stoked cause I got tickets for the ballet at Opéra Garnier Saturday night, to a live performance of Steve Reich’s Drumming. Last night here; heading to Tours Sunday, then Avignon, then Lyon, then home. I still have retreat-style visits to New York and Asheville planned this summer, and a couple of people have told me I can use their very rural places when they’re not in them, and I concentrate well that way, so I’m feeling good.
I am still on deadline but maybe I’ll see if I can drop by near you on Saturday for coffee and sad good-byes?
Urville is remindful of Tati’s “Playtime”
I basically agree with what you said, but I wanted to add a caveat based on something that I saw as I was thinking about the essay on Dario Argento I mentioned here a few days ago. I read a tweet from a female friend saying “Now I know what it’s like to be a woman in a Dario Argento movie – a man with a long knife approached me and I ran away.” That was very sobering. I think I need to make the point that as many layers of stylization as Argento uses and as much as his films take place in a unique universe, the violence in them still refers to something real. It can be easy to forget that. I’m not going to spell this out explicitly in my script, but I think that the spectator has been a victim and the director comes from a background where she was always very loved and protected and never personally experienced extreme sexism or real-life violence and is thus able to think about it as an imaginative exercise in a way that you or I might find valid but might piss off many rape victims .(I am aware that you have indeed experienced real-life violence at the hands of your father and, I believe, on a few other occasions.) The dialogue in my script is very heavily inspired by the discussion I saw between Philippe Grandrieux and a feminist spectator after a screening of SOMBRE. She took it all literally, he talked in abstractions about fairy tales and psychology.
One more thing: no artist can control who their audience is. Every musician with a political conscience who becomes hugely popular seems to struggle with this. Kurt Cobain told bigots to stop buying Nirvana albums in the liner notes to INCESTICIDE. I doubt they did. If my director’s film played arthouses for two weeks, probably the audience would get it on the level she intended. If it turned into the next SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, it would undoubtedly reach sadistic and misogynist guys who enjoy seeing women killed, as the spectator fears. As I wrote here yesterday, I’m on the director’s side when she says she works for an audience as smart and ethical as she is. But the fact is that sometimes the audience really isn’t, particularly as it gets wider and wider. I hope this doesn’t sound horribly elitist.
One real-life point: I googled Gaspar Noe once and came across a link to a rape-porn message board where guys were discussing how hot they found the rape scene in IRREVERSIBLE. It’s their fantasy lives, and I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt they’re not raping women in reality, but I was still utterly disgusted.
Sorry for posting much about my script and the issues raised by it – I wish this were a Facebook thread where you could respond quickly and in dialogue. I want to clarify that despite what I’ve written, I’m not trying to police people’s fantasy lives. But I’m less sanguine than you than enjoying watching women killed and raped bears no resemblance to the way these guys treat the real women in their lives.
Hi!
Today’s post was fascinating. Thank you!
I think Szentendre is a beautiful city, I like living here. The only inconvenient thing is that I have to travel like an hour to get to the heart of Budapest which isn’t really all that much (it’s even less by car, like half an hour) but the public transport around here sucks at night so it’s tricky to get home if I have an evening program. I guess that’s the price to pay for living in a quiet and pretty place like this.
I looked up The Canal St. Martin and it really is pretty. Seems very nice to be around.
Yes, I fell asleep the minute my head hit the pillow yesterday, haha. So today I could continue working on my book all energized. I’m halfway there with the proofreading round! After I finish it, I want to read the whole thing to see if it really feels complete and then I’ll give it to a few of my very trusted friends to ask for their opinion – just like you did with your film. Did the two ‘trusted viewers’ tell you what they think already?
And how was your day otherwise? I hope it was lovely!
Argh phone’s running out of battery so I’ll have to check out today’s post tomorrow but real quick: wonderful seeing you too dude and very good luck with the rest of the editing! Don’t forget to have a holiday this summer, eh? 😉
See you in SF if not sooner!
W/love,
D xx
Dennis, so great the new film is forming so well! For me, decompressing this week is ocean with tim (but later in the day to avoid the sun), ice-cream for sure, not that much serious reading but watching some tv in the day time which feels very luxurious–watched a great documentary on the smiths, and one on creation records which was pretty interesting, especially the first half with jesus and mary chain etc. And hanging with our dog. Love to you, Axo
Dennis, I like imaginary cities, particularly those set in the future. All that chrome and shit they usually have.
Yes, good JW news. I’m glad it’s good too. I always liked the guy. I bought a copy of his book Witchburn from him and he sent along a drawing with it. That was pretty neat. Kind of interesting transaction because I’m pretty sure we hadn’t met in person yet. I sent him a check and he mailed me the book and drawing. I think it says a lot about most of the community here. Pretty much everyone I’ve met in real life has been exactly how they presented themselves here.
youre sweet. how i keep from screaming inside my head all the time is a mystery to me. sims? rather than lol? finished the outline for my new story today. strangest thing i find myself inside like cattle sometimes. like going to my closet for an adidas jacket or buying dope at a lonely metro stop. weird. film needs new blood. every film feels like the ending of john wick 2. mwah