Artist
Voyages dans la mer perdue
Voyages dans la mer perdue, CAC – la synagogue de Delme, 2017
Credits
Ph: O.H.Dancy.
Ph: CAC – la synagogue de Delme
Voyage dans la mer perdue recreates a prehistoric sunset on the ocean in Delme (Lorraine, France).
The area of Delme was one of the main mining sites of precious rock salt; the richness of the region has depended for centuries on this old resource, caused by the presence in ancient times of a warm, tropical-like ocean, rich in biodiversity.
The project is an attempt to imagine the return of this old and warm ocean in the village of Delme, together with all the creatures that populated the sea, the sky and the islands.
Voyages dans la mer perdue is made up of four different works created during a series of workshops involving the inhabitants of Delme and the surrounding villages.
Together, these works recreate the landscape of a fantastical prehistoric Delme, but it is also an unusual portrait of the community and its imagination.
1–Le Soleil
A big Sun in the moment of its sunset, 6 meters in diameter, is suspended in the main space of the art centre, facing east.
The work is composed of more than 400 drawings created by the children of the schools of Delme. Every student invented and created an original piece of the Sun.
2–La Mer
During a series of workshops in collaboration with composer and musician
Francesco Medda, thirteen classes from the preschool, primary school and secondary school of Delme reconstructed the sound of the Tethys Ocean.
The waves, the wind, the storms, the animals’ calls, and the sounds of the depths and the surface were recreated using only the voices of the participants, which were recorded and amplified in the space.
3–Les etoiles
2017. With Alain Colardelle, little holes of different diameters were made by drilling through the panels that obscure the exhibition space. The holes represent sections of a realsky map with constellations intentionally deformed in order to reconstruct a Jurassic Sky. The holes allow the space to maintain contact with the world outside the exhibition space.
4–Les animaux
Starting from drawings of imaginary creatures drawn by primary schoolchildren of Delme, a series of costumes were designed during a workshop with the students of the local Licée agricole and were later handcrafted by visual artists and fashion designers.
The costumes, displayed progressively in the show, are available to the audience to be worn and used. Instructions containing the features of the fantastic animals (how they move, the calls they make, and how they relate with each other), are also available in order to encourage the viewers to be an active part of this collective artwork.
Animaux was present at the town’s main celebration day, “Le feu de la Saint Jean”.