SANS RÉSERVE – 2025

Refreshing encounters, torrential performances, rejuvenating workshops, water-loving celebrations, and an exhibition along the water’s edge: the third edition of Sans Réserve is dedicated to Freshwater. For one month, the thirteen artists nominated for the 2025 edition of the COAL Prize and the COAL Student Prize will weave together an exhibition along the water in the rooms of the Museum of Hunting and Nature, in dialogue with its collections. On 12 and 13 December, professionals and the general public will come together for a rich programme of events, including meetings, performances and workshops, giving substance to this sensitive, critical and ecological exploration of freshwater issues.

To offer a shared space and time to express oneself without reserve; at a time when the reserves on which our current and future lifestyles depend are being depleted; through new types of creative practices that go beyond the traditional reserves of art; capable of questioning conservationist logic and inventing new ways of preserving living territories; such is the ambition of SANS RÉSERVE, the annual event dedicated to ecological creativity organised each year on the occasion of the COAL Prize.

EXHIBITION 12 DECEMBER 2025 – 11 JANUARY 2026

The thirteen artists nominated for the 2025 COAL Prize and COAL Student Prize are taking over the galleries of the Museum of Hunting and Nature.

The exhibition brings together the artists’ diverse perspectives on water, that ‘organ of the world’ (Bachelard). Through an overview of their ongoing projects, which have been recognised by the COAL Prize, they attempt to convey the complexities of this elusive element, the flowing and fertile capillarities that constitute its identity, as well as the pollution and imbalances that threaten it. These are gestures that weave together the intimate and the collective, the visible and the invisible, ancient knowledge and situated knowledge, where water becomes a force of care, memory and transformation.

HIGHLIGHTS 12 DECEMBER & 13 DECEMBER 2025

Two days of meetings, performances and shared experiences to explore artistic practices of repair and reconnection with water in all its forms, bringing together experts, artists, researchers and nature conservationists.

Friday 12 December, from 11am to 10pm Exhibition open to the general public, meetings and performances (free admission) Award ceremony (by invitation)

Saturday 13 December, from 11am to 6pm Exhibition visit (paid admission) Meetings and workshops (free admission)

ON THE PROGRAMME:

MEETINGS: round tables planned between the COAL Prize nominees and cultural and environmental professionals, including Marin Schaffner, Vivien Rebière, Florence Habets, Simon Dufour, and others.
GUIDED TOURS AND READINGS: guided tours dedicated to the annual theme will combine the works of the nominees with the museum’s permanent collection, with a focus on water.
PERFORMANCES: four artists will offer guided tours on 12 and 13 December.
13 CARTE BLANCHE: the thirteen artists nominated for the 2025 edition of the COAL Prize and the COAL Student Prize will weave an exhibition along the water in the museum’s rooms for a month.
THE CEREMONY By invitation only, the COAL Prize and COAL Student Prize will be awarded in the presence of all the nominated artists and winners, as well as the members of the jury. The ceremony, hosted by Loïc Fel, co-founder of COAL, will be introduced by Alban De Loisy, Director General of the François Sommer Foundation, and guest of honour Dénètem Touam Bona, philosopher and leading witness, who will share his ‘In Praise of Submersion’.
DJ SET by HOT BODIES, who will be turning up the heat with a DJ set on the evening of Friday 12 December!

In the presence of the nominated artists and winners of the COAL Prize 2025: Mirja Busch; Collectif DISNOVATION.ORG; Férielle Doulain-Zouari; Charlotte Gautier van Tour; Mohammad Rakibul Hasan; Pauline Rip; Julien Salaud; Marcela Santander Corvalán; Lara Tabet; Kay Zevallos Villegas; Khouloud Benzarti; Popline Fichot and Clara Niveau-Juteau.

OUR PARTNERS

The COAL 2025 Prize receives financial support from the French Office for Biodiversity, the Ministry of Culture, the Museum of Hunting and Nature, the François Sommer Foundation and the LAccolade Foundation, as well as a partnership with the Ateliers Médicis and the Wallonia Brussels/Paris Centre.

The COAL Student Prize receives financial support from the French Office for Biodiversity, the Ministry of Culture, MAIF and a partnership with the Réserves Naturelles de France.