ASB / SB29 : a century of football rivalry
For over a year, I worked on a project to reproduce 2 football stadiums in the city of Brest, France. It was a commission for an exhibition organised by the town hall archives. The aim is to retrace the history of football in Brest through the rivalry between its 2 emblematic clubs: AS Brestoise and Stade Brestois. As a supporter of Stade Brestois, I couldn’t but accept!
It was a tough challenge: I’m not a microscale expert, I’d never undertaken a project on this scale, and above all: the stadiums are not in their current versions, but must reflect a very specific era: the 60s for Menez Paul (AS Brestoise stadium) and the 1983-1984 for the Francis Le Blé stadium (Stade Brestois). I built them from archive images, most of which were in low definition, in black and white and often a little too old or recent for the desired era.
Francis Le Blé Stadium (SB29)
The Francis le Blé stadium is shown here in its 1983/1984 configuration. The four white and red pylons were highly iconic and visible from all over the city on match nights. The Foucauld stand (red roof) is the only one still intact today.
Ménez Paul Stadium (ASB)
The Menez Paul stadium in its 1960s configuration. You can see the entrance, with the arch and the ticket booths, a refreshment area and even a farm, which was a way for the strikers to find their way to the goal.
The two stadiums were exhibited at the Atelier des Capucins in Brest from February to May 2024. The exhibition attracted some 20,000 visitors.
