The Queen’s Bank in The Hague is a new stage of the artistic project that builds on the experiments and installations carried out by Olivier Darné and the poetic party since 2009, between Paris, Saint-Denis, Rouen, Grenoble, Bordeaux, London and Geneva.

At the invitation of Stroom Den Haag, since June 2012, the city of The Hague has become a full-scale experimental field.

Taking advantage of the paradox of a flourishing urban beekeeping when rural beekeeping is very often ravaged by industrial and intensive agriculture, the proposal consists of a work inhabited by bees installed in the heart of the city of The Hague(plan). This facility became both an urban pollination center and a queen rearing center (within walking distance of the Royal Palace of Queen Beatrix of Holland).

A real “guarantee fund” of the living, this device completes the project of the Honey Bank in the public space. The Queen Bank demonstrates that the value of the pollination service and the multiplication of the living (queens and swarms) is more important than the value of the honey. This installation inaugurates a new founding principle: the “perpetual movement of pollination”.

The Bank of Queens project won the 2012 Coal Art & Environment Award.

More info and pictures

Support / Stroom Den Haag, Fonds 1818, Imkervereniging Den Haag eo, Haags Milieucentrum.

L’article THE QUEEN’S BANK IN THE HAGUE (NETHERLANDS) est apparu en premier sur COAL.

The COAL Art and Environment Prize was awarded on March 13 to Olivier Darné’s Banque de Reines project. It was chosen from among ten projects by a jury of personalities from the world of contemporary art and sustainable development.

Olivier Darné’s Bank of Queens

Taking the public space as a playground and the bee as a medium, Olivier Darné, plastic artist and beekeeper, questions the interrelations of man and his environment. At the crossroads of cultural, social and urban diversity, plastic research and ecology, the artist harvests a honey cultivated in an urban environment, the Miel Béton, thus reversing the image of a nourishing countryside. Today, rural bees produce 4 to 5 times less honey than in a city of 200,000 inhabitants, because the city now provides more biodiversity than many rural areas of France and Europe where herbicides and pesticides are widely used. Taking advantage of this paradox of a flourishing urban beekeeping, the Queen Bank proposes a work inhabited by bees in the heart of the city, managed by beekeepers, which would be both an urban pollination center and a queen breeding center to repopulate hives in the countryside. Thus, this Bank of Queens would constitute a real “guarantee fund” on the living. With this project, Olivier Darné questions the speculation on values, the sharing of wealth and the disappearance of resources, by putting the bee, whose existence is vital for the human species, at the heart of the process.

The ceremony

The ceremony of the Coal Art and Environment Prize took place on the evening of March 13 at Le Laboratoire, Paris 1st. It brought together the nominated artists, the jury and an audience of 300 people from the world of art, sustainable development, sponsorship, research, etc. It was animated by Alice Audouin, Lauranne Germond and Loïc Fel, all co-founders of COAL.

The highlights of the evening were numerous. In chronological order, the projection of a shocking video in which Claude Bourguignon, shares his expertise and his deep concern for agriculture and humanity (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1ds9p_alerte-a-babylone-le-film-de-jean-d_news).
Then, the interventions of three artists: Maria Thereza Alves, Rémy Janin (Association Polyculture) and Florian Fouché ( Collectif RADO), who each brought details and gave their vision on the rurality, then the intervention of the beautiful-young-intelligent-and-generous patron of the Prize COAL, Billy Suid who, after three years of both financial and friendly support, calls for a successor, and finally, the thank you speech by Olivier Darné, who came from Saint-Denis at the speed of a bee, at once relevant, humorous, poetic and committed.

The cocktail favored organic wine, nitrite-free pâté, radishes from the Ile de France, unpeeled carrots, and artisanal cookies, enhanced by 8 different varieties of sauces designed by Loïc Fel (who initially only likes tomato sauce). Ecological art was celebrated around 100 bottles! (thanks to Alternative Food & Beverage and Hédonie).

For more information, see the press section.

L’article OLIVIER DARNÉ – WINNER OF THE 2012 COAL ART AND ENVIRONMENT AWARD est apparu en premier sur COAL.

On March 13, the COAL Art and Environment Prize will reward the commitment of contemporary artists to current environmental issues. The winning project, chosen from among ten nominated projects, will receive an award of 10,000 euros. For this third edition of the Coal Prize, which focuses on the theme of Rurality.

Although urban issues are more often the focus of attention than our countryside, rurality covers a wide range of crucial issues related to sustainable development. Lifestyles, production and consumptionsystems , natural cycles, Coal invites artists to rethink this theme against the grain and invent a project for society that takes into account the complexity and complementarity of ecosystems. The theme of rurality covers:

– The management of resources and territories: territorial imbalance, landscape transformations, land use issues; – Cultural representations and social ties: agricultural culture, urban/rural identity relations, reinvestment in the “local”, search for authenticity; – Crisis factors: Intensive production, phytosanitary and irrigation issues, urban sprawl, pollution; – The environmental crisis: erosion of biodiversity, climate change; – Agricultural production and consumption systems: ownership, cooperatives, subsidies, distribution, consumption, rights and access to land, GMOs; – Lifestyles: food, neo-rurality, know-how, solidarity, peasant life.

This year more than 250 artists from about 30 countries participated.

THE 10 PROJECTS NOMINATED FOR THE 2012 COAL PRIZE ARE :

Maria Thereza Alves (Brazil), Seeds of Change

Brandon Ballengée (USA), Praeter Naturam

Cape Farewell(England), Sea Change

Andrea Caretto and Raffaella Spagna (Italy), Pedogenesis

Olivier Darné (France), The Queen Bank

Fabriques Architects and farm of Vernant (France), Polyculture

Suzanne Husky (France), Last wild bites

Kultivator (Sweden), Gran’s University

RADO (France), Pays de Tulle

Save as draft (France), Hurdles

The Jury of the Coal Prize 2012 is composed of :

Fabrice Bousteau, Editor in chief of Beaux-Arts Magazine
Anne-Marie Charbonneaux, President of the Centre National des Arts Plastiques (CNAP)
Gilles Clément, Landscape designer, writer
David Edwards, Founder of the Laboratory
Jean-Guy Henckel, National Director of the Cocagne Network
Raphaël Ménard, Director of Foresight, Egis Group
Pierre Paliard, Art historian, professor and researcher CNRS
Pascal Yonet, Director of Le Vent des Forêts

The Coal Art & Environment Prize ceremony will take place on March 13 at 7pm at Le Laboratoire, Paris 1st. The Coal Prize, placed under the high patronage of the Ministry of Culture and Communication and the National Center for Plastic Arts, benefits from a partnership with the Laboratory and the support of Egis, Veja, as well as a private donor. The ceremony is organized in partnership with Food & Alternative Beverage and Hédonie.

Coal Price Catalogue 2012

L’article COAL AWARDS 2012 – THE NOMINEES est apparu en premier sur COAL.

Although urban issues are more often the focus of attention than our countryside, rurality covers a wide range of crucial issues related to sustainable development. Lifestyles, production and consumption systems, natural cycles, Coal invites artists to rethink this theme against the grain and to invent a project for society that takes into account the complexity and complementarity of ecosystems. The theme of rurality covers:

– Management of resources and territories: territorial imbalance, landscape transformations, land use issues;
– Cultural representations and the social link: agricultural culture, city/country identity relations, reinvestment in the “local”, search for authenticity;
– Crisis factors: intensive production, phytosanitary and irrigation issues, urban sprawl, pollution;
– The environmental crisis: erosion of biodiversity, climate change ;
– Agricultural production and consumption systems: ownership, cooperatives, subsidies, distribution, consumption, land rights and access, GMOs ;
– Lifestyles: food, neo-rurality, know-how, solidarity, peasant life.

Review the call for projects

The Jury of the Coal Prize 2012 is composed of :

Fabrice Bousteau, Editor in chief of Beaux-Arts Magazine
Anne-Marie Charbonneaux, President of the Centre National des Arts Plastiques (CNAP)
Gilles Clément, Landscape architect, writer
David Edwards, Founder of the Laboratory
Jean-Guy Henckel, National Director of the Cocagne Network
Raphaël Ménard, Director of Foresight, Egis Group
Pierre Paliard, Art historian, professor and researcher CNRS
Pascal Yonet, Director of Le Vent des Forêts

The Coal Art & Environment Prize ceremony will take place on March 13 at 7pm at Le Laboratoire, Paris 1st. The Coal Prize, placed under the high patronage of the Ministry of Culture and Communication and the National Center for Plastic Arts, benefits from a partnership with the Laboratory and the support of Egis, Veja, as well as a private donor. The ceremony is organized in partnership with Food & Alternative Beverage and Hédonie.

L’article COAL AWARDS 2012 – CALL FOR PROJECTS est apparu en premier sur COAL.