• The wheel, which is activated by a dozen ropes, will turn for a month in the Parc des Chantiers.

  • At night, the movement of the twenty skeletons that inhabit it will be illuminated by strobe lights.

Hundreds of curious people have already come to discover it.

Since this Friday afternoon, the spectacular wheel of Charon, being assembled for a few days at the Parc des Chantiers on the island of Nantes, comes to life for the first time in Europe.

This monumental work, created by the American artist Peter Hudson for the famous Burning Man festival (United States) seems well on its way to becoming a must in July in Nantes.

Because for several hours, dozens of people, young and old, take turns to pull on its strings, in order to activate it.

Indispensable so that the twenty skeletons that make it up start spinning, more or less quickly depending on the enthusiasm and strength of the participants.

Let's go!

The spectacular Charon wheel has been coming to life in the Parc des Chantiers for a few minutes.

Impressive, it will be even more so at night to make the most of the zoetrope optical effect, we are told #Nantes #Burningman pic.twitter.com/6Oi2ke91zI

— 20 Minutes Nantes (@20minutesnantes) July 8, 2022


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For several seconds or minutes, it was difficult to look away from this incarnation of Charon, a gondolier from Greek mythology who carried souls crossing the Styx River on their way to the afterlife.

Impressive, the hypnotic work will be even more so at night, when the movement will be illuminated by strobe lights and will make it possible to best appreciate this zoetrope optical effect.

In broad daylight, it is possible to download an app (Hudzovision) to reproduce this vision of an animated skeleton.

Also take the opportunity to take a good look at the faces of the characters: they have all been made with different expressions, "especially at the level of the eyebrow arches", specifies Pierre Orefice, the co-creator of Machines de l'île.

Back next year at Hellfest

Because it is thanks to him that Nantes residents and tourists will be able to appreciate the work, visible throughout the month of July, and in particular thanks to the illuminations between 10 p.m. and midnight.

Welcomed in Nantes as part of the Nantes maker campus, a major event dedicated to inventors which takes place all weekend, the wheel will then set off on a European tour: it will be visible in London, Paris, Antwerp and then return to the region l next year on the occasion of Hellfest, at the beginning of June 2023.

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