Voyage to Nantes

#1

Voyage to Nantes is the first of six newsletters dedicated to the public artwork Page Sauvage by the Rotterdam (NL) based artist group Observatorium for Estuaire 2012 in Nantes (F). Each issue informs you about the site, the making of the sculpture, the people involved and the programme of special events.

Contributions by David Moinard - Estuaire 2012 Andre Dekker - Observatorium

OBSERVATORIUM.ORG

Nantes is one of the historic cities on the river Loire in the French region of Brittany, near the Atlantic coast. Port activities relocated to Saint-Nazaire at the mouth of the Loire have made way for new development in the heart of Nantes and the city attracts new residents, businesses and visitors with its focus on culture, education and innovation. The regional government aims to develop an environmentally responsible metropolis surrounded by extraordinary landscapes and Nantes Saint-Nazaire purposefully sponsors the arts to achieve this goal.

NANTES AND THE ARTS

Estuaire 2007.2009.2012 presents an ambitious cultural trail along the estuary of the river Loire from Nantes to Saint-Nazaire. In 2012, the third and final edition of this dynamic public art festival has commissioned 8 new sculptures which will join the 17 existing works of art by renowned artists from around the world. Estuaire invites you to discover artworks and public spaces along the fascinating river landscape with its remarkable cultural heritage.

OBSERVATORIUM

If we cannot invite you to enter the habitat, we will bring the habitat to you

La Petite Amazonie is a glorious accident

by Andre Dekker, Observatorium 'Once upon a time there was mayor who wished to build a highway in the middle of Nantes... Gradually, as urban planning failed Mother Nature took over ... The birds and trees lived happily ever after.' In the Malakoff district, between the heart of the city and the Loire river, lies the nature preserve Petite Amazonie which is part of Natura 2000, the network of nature protection areas for Europe's most valuable and threatened species and habitats. Everybody visiting the site is overwhelmed by the rich diversity of the natural environment and the story of origin. The bird sanctuary in a unique marshland came into existence in the World War II bomb craters and on the abandoned foundations for a planned highway, that was never built. This story of the nature-culture paradox is so good, you could tell it over and over again. Observatorium was so amazed to see the traces of the highway in the Petite Amazonie, but unfortunately, only 300 people are allowed in the preserve each year. The artists were determined to make a sculpture that would bring the people as close as possible to this wild garden.

How can we get as close as possible to paradise?

But how can it also tell the story of nature using civilisation as it's humus? 'How can we get as close as possible to paradise?' to quote Gilles Clment, the French landscape architect that made gardens on top of a submarine base near Saint Nazaire. Since summer 2011 a wooden segment of 'Autoroute et Page' has been under construction. A highway and a toll barrier to leave the city, a highway leading to the edge of the city forest, a pedestrian highway to rest, play and meet. The highway will cross the field and link the new urban inner city areas with the wilderness. The highway is a sensation for the senses. It will bring you contact with the tree branches of the wilderness, create a gentle disbalance from its slope, be a relaxing place with the wooden construction inviting you to sit, stay and play. And for a wonderful view over the sculpture and the surroundings visit the toll barrier roof which will also serve as a nursery and seed collection for Petite Amazonie. Over the years the wilderness will gradually transform and replace the characterless field and could in time even overgrow the highway. It will be a process for which no one will be able to predict the outcome. An Observatorium project is complete when the sculpture becomes a small public space for programs of entertainment and culture related to the site and when it is adopted by individuals or organisations from the vincinity. During the summer of 2012 Observatorium will be the host of the sculpture in order to showcase how this structure can be used in the coming years with a series of small scale events creating a new social gathering space, a place with an extra dimension.

No big and loud events, but quiet and friendly meetings; the gentle art of place-making

DAVID MOINARD

I love fairy tales. They talk about love and hate, conflict and beauty, violence and miracles. Animals and trees talk too!

David Moinard is the artistic program director for Estuaire 2012

What do you love about Nantes? I love the air. Going out of the train, the air smells fresh, permanently renewed, and it makes a big difference. I love the feeling that it's a place where things are possible. It's not an open air museum like many French cities thinking mostly about protecting heritage. It's a humus city, where new ideas can grow and become real. The artistic raison d'tre for Estuaire is to make art outside the white cube. It has to be an exciting challenge for the artist. It implies a deep choice and involvement. The political raison d'tre is to reveal a quite unknown territory. So the main raison d'tre is to prove that art is the most effective and fascinating way to take a fresh look at a territory. What is your personal curatorial touch? I have an attraction for contemplation. The willingness of combining the sensible and the concept. Manifesta and Documenta for example are very different projects. They're both very important events for the art world as they are dealing with theoretical and historical evolution of contemporary art. That is not Estuaire's goal. I prefer to say that they are complementaries. We're much closer to Emscherkunst or Echigo-Tsumari Triennal in Japan. Interestingly, we've been to Echigo Tsumari when working on Estuaire's Genesis and that Emscherkunst team came to Estuaire to take some inspiration. I hope the visitors will experience something very personal. I never think of the public as an entity, but as an addition of individualities. My feelings and thoughts in front of an art piece are different than that of my neighbour's. Artists are dealing with new approaches to the world and I hope the visitors will experience it. What is your destination in life? Working with artists in unexpected ways and sites.

A rooftop in Malakoff. We will find a person from here, who will take care of maintenance, program and hospitality

Liveable cities depend on a better relationship between man and nature. How will you use the Page Sauvage?

The two very first sketches showing the situation around the Page Sauvage in 2012 and 2022.

In 2003 Observatorium founded the Open Air University. In places like San Francisco, Milan and Essen students, teachers and professionals were invited to practise and test Observatoriums philosophy of public art and place making. The design of Page Sauvage allows many different types of testing and practising of the artists mottos for life and art. The construction of P.S. can already be a public event. Young designers from Rotterdam will design, build and operate an information pavilion in March and April 2012, inviting and informing passers-by and the art and nature lovers of Nantes. The story of P.S. inspires other artists to tell stories. Two talents of photography from the Netherlands will explore the neighbourhood of Malakoff to portray the inhabitants, record their stories and present their photographic reflections. P.S. is not finished until someone uses it. In order to gain an insight in the level of participation of the public, a young student of 'Culture and Society' will write a thesis about the history of public art, the aims of Observatorium and the social and cultural impact for the people in Malakoff and Nantes. P.S. provides time and space for focussing attention. Estuaire and Observatorium are preparing a week long workshop for all the curious students of Nantes.The location at the edge of city and nature will proof to be a perfect site for open-air education.

I live in the neighbourhood. Can I play with my friends and get dirty in a natural playground with water and mud?

A sculpture is ideally three things: a work of imagination, a reflection on the surroundings and a contribution to communal cohesion.

Dutch and German authorities to add artistic or cultural value to a process of spatial and cultural transition. Some well-known examples are Dwelling for Seclusion made in a public park in New York City, Hallenhaus on a former slag-heap in the Ruhrarea, Observatorium Nieuw-Terbregge on a highway sound-barrier in Rotterdam and Waiting for the River in Essen. The book Big Pieces of Time about Observatoriums design philosophy, provides an evocative and effervescent account of the genesis of their projects and how they are adopted and enjoyed by the public. .

&

Observatorium, founded 1997 in Rotterdam by artists Geert van de Camp, Andre Dekker and Ruud Reutelingsperger, has realised an international body of work, comprising a variety of temporary and permanent three-dimensional pieces in the public environment. Their public art has often been commissioned by

SPECIAL EVENTS. SAVE THE DATE! April 1 May 24 June 15 June 16 Start of Open Air University Inauguration Page Sauvage Opening Estuaire 2012 Artist Talk & Party

For information from and/or about the artists: www.observatorium.org Detailed information about the summer of 2012 festivities: www.estuaire.info