panneau central brisait la frontière

[francais2english]

I'm not sure if I've completely understood the meaning of the "le panneau central brisait la frontière". In the context of an artist talking about her artwork, she had decided to "tendre les robes immenses dans les cadres d’un objet qui semblait faire écho à la fonction même du vêtement. Or le panneau central brisait la frontière pour devenir l’ébauche d’une petite fabrique à décomposer et révéler la trame, centre de connexions, réseau des flux et trajets divers.

Is this metaphorical, i.e. she looked at what she was going to do and the central panel made her change her mind (broke the barrier) or did it literally break and thus became the preliminary sketch for another way of presenting the artwork?
My translation is :
However, the central panel broke the barrier to become the preliminary sketch of a small piece of material decomposing to reveal the frame, the centre of connections, the network of ebb and flow and different journeys.
Could anyone give me their opinion please?

 

[archijacq]

ébauche d'une petite fabrique: "fabrique" a toujours le sens de "usine" et jamais le sens de "fabric" (tissu).

"ébauche" a ici le sens de "incipient" et non le sens d'un dessin ou d'un plan (sketch)

 

[xtrasystole]

Or le panneau central brisait la frontière...

Is this metaphorical... (broke the barrier)...

Yes, it is. That's my understanding anyway. The sentence —after "le panneau central"— seems to be in the figurative.

'une petite fabrique à décomposer et révéler la trame' (fig.) = 'une petite machine à décomposer et [à] révéler la trame' (fig.)
--> 'a little machine for breaking down (her artistic message, presumably?) and showing the framework...'

I am not certain though, since the original is wordy, pedantic and rather unclear...

 

[francais2english]

Sorry archijaca - I'm not quite with "incipient" in the sentence.
Could I translate it as :
However the central panel broke the barrier, becoming essential in dissecting to reveal the framework....
I'm now trying to grasp what the artist is trying to say, given incipient and factory. Could anyone help please?

 

[francais2english]

Aha, messages crossed. Thanks xstrasystole for elucidating a bit! "The central panel" has got me lost as I haven't seen the artwork, but am deducing that it was instrumental in explaining the art work:
"the central panel is the machine for breaking down (the artwork ie the dress) and revealing its roots? (base, framework?), (which is) the centre of communications, the network of ebb and flow and of different journeys.
Hmmm still pretty surreal!! Woman being the centre and base of life? What do you all think ... oh, artspeak is just SO hard, especially when you haven't seen the work. The theme of the art collection is the local dress, which this artist thought to display in surroundings which echo its real function - however I gather she changed her mind! Does this help?

 

[xtrasystole]

Hmmm still pretty surreal!!

The original is pretty surreal (and obscure) actually.