Tag Archives: Spoil Tip

Among Former Coal Mines in France and Belgium

Earlier this summer, I returned to France to continue working on my Hauts-de-France Mining Basin project and to present at a conference about resilience strategies. While there, I photographed throughout the region, including at high-profile coal mine redevelopment sites. Among those I visited are the 51N4E-designed C-Mine complex and Koen Vanmechelen’s Labiomista in Genk, Belgium, as well as the SANAA-designed Louvre Lens in Lens, France. Several of these photographs from the broader mining basin and former mines are below.

Basketball and Power Plants

Bumper Cars

Coal Car Coal Car
Coal Car Coal Car

Burned Car in Valenciennes

Street, Terril

In Lens

COAL MINE REDEVELOPMENT SITES
C-Mine (Genk, Belgium)

C-Mine Winding Tower and Labyrinth

C-Mine Expedition

Thor Park (Genk, Belgium)

Thor Park Thor Park

Koen Vanmechelen’s Labiomista (Genk, Belgium)

Koen Vanmechelen's Labiomista Koen Vanmechelen's Labiomista

Koen Vanmechelen's Labiomista

9-9 Bis (Oignies, France)

Métaphone

9-9 Bis

Mine, Terril du 11/19 (Loos-en-Gohelle, France)

Mine, Terril du 11/19

Noyelles-sous-Lens Terril (Lens, France)

Riding on the Terril

Louvre-Lens Museum (Lens, France)
Louvre-Lens Museum

Louvre-Lens Museum's The Galerie du Temps

The Terrils of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin

Rising over the towns of the UNESCO-listed Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin are terrils, or spoil tips, human-made hills of mining debris more than 450 feet tall. During my recent trip to France to screen The Area and participate in RDV avec la Ville, I expanded my Hauts-de-France Mining Basin series with aerial images that highlight their context. The following images are a few of my favorites.

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