If there is an ambassador of ecology on Earth, it is the forest. This is why, after a 2020 edition on the living world, the COAL – Culture & Diversity Student Prize will dedicate its 2021 edition to it. With 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity present in forests, it is the terrestrial environment that shelters and nourishes the most living beings. A reserve of life but also of carbon, regulating the climate and waterways, the forest is both this great whole with infinite biodiversity and this indispensable part of the planetary ecosystem, at the same time chain and link. It is also the symbol and the point of convergence of the covetousness, the environmental catastrophes and the struggles which agitate the contemporary world in crisis. Thirteen million hectares of forest are disappearing every year, under the pressure of agriculture, overgrazing, timber exploitation and urbanization; whole sections of the forests of Amazonia, Australia and sub-Saharan Africa are burning while others are dying on the ground due to global warming. All over the world, people are fighting to defend these reserves of life and culture and to make them the models for new worlds to be built.

Vital for the global balance of ecosystems, the forest is equally vital for human societies that, for thousands of years, have lived directly or indirectly from its resources. In France, the forest cover represents 30% of the territory, however, the modes of intensive forest exploitation too often replace the forest by monoculture of trees truncating the real figures. Its composition varies considerably according to geographical, geological, climatic, historical and socio-economic factors. However, insects, birds, mammals, amphibians, flora and micro-organisms live side by side with owners, forest managers, tourists, hunters, local residents and elected officials, weaving a mosaic of complex issues and conflicts of interest.

THE ARTISTS NOMINATED FOR THE 2ND EDITION OF THE COAL – CULTURE & DIVERSITY STUDENT AWARD AND THEIR PROJECTS ARE :

Jérôme Girard (Ecole nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs), Under these intranquil vaults
Clémence Mathieu (Orleans School of Art and Design), Atlas of relational mapping of alluvial forests
Céline Bouquet and Thibault Noirot (Ecole nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière), Inheritances

PRESENTATION OF THE THREE PROJECTS NOMINATED FOR THE COAL – CULTURE & DIVERSITY 2021 STUDENT AWARD

In resonance with the scientific work on bioacoustics, Jérôme Girard, from theEcole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, immerses himself and collects the sound manifestations of the different strata of the forest, plant, animal and human. Creation and sound installation,
Under these intranquil vaults,
wants to make perceptible and sensitive the upheavals and the fragility of the forest by using the sound as a marker of the living.

Clémence Mathieu, from theEcole supérieure d’art et de design d’Orléans, is developing a research work on the potential fictions of landscape and design for modes of cohabitation with the river.
Atlas of Relational Mappings of Alluvial Forests
tells new representations, names, and narratives for riverine forests as relational landscapes offering understanding between human and non-human worlds.

The photographic and sound installation by Céline Bouquet and Thibault Noirot, from theEcole Nationale Supérieure Louis-Lumière, invites the walker into the heart of different sylvan ambiences that amaze, raise awareness and question the future of our forests.
Inheritances
is a sensitive dive into the heart of a forest with a thousand aspects.

COAL AWARD AND COAL STUDENT AWARD CEREMONY – CULTURE & DIVERSITY 2021

The COAL – Culture & Diversity Student Award will be presented on June 16 at the Museum of Hunting and Nature in Paris, at the same time as the COAL 2021 Award.

JURY 2021

Frédérique Aït-Touati, Researcher at the CNRS and director
Daria de Beauvais, Exhibition curator at the Palais de Tokyo
Saïd Berkane, Deputy General Delegate of the Culture & Diversity Foundation
Catherine Dobler, Founder of the LAccolade Foundation
Christine Germain-Donnat, Director of the Museum of Hunting and Nature
Paul Jarquin, Founder and President of REI Habitat, President of Fibois Ile-de-France
Olivier Lerude, Senior official for sustainable development at the Ministry of Culture
Charlotte Meunier, President of the Nature Reserves of France
Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, Head of Cultural Programming at the Cité internationale des arts
Marc-André Selosse, Biologist, Professor at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, President of BioGée
Joelle Zask, Philosopher

DOTATION

The Culture & Diversity Foundation grants the winner a two-month residency in one of France’s nature reserves, along with a production grant of 5,000 euros. Within the framework of the residency, the Culture & Diversity Foundation covers accommodation, food and transportation costs.

PARTNER 2021

The association Réserves naturelles de France (RNF) leads a national network of more than 700 nature protection professionals working daily in the territories where nearly 350 nature reserves exist. Their actions are based on three missions: the knowledge of the natural biological and geological heritage, its management and protection, the sensitization and the discovery by the citizens of these spaces of nature, life, meetings and creation. As an ambassador for nature reserves, RNF is the voice of nature, actively mobilizing all of society’s stakeholders, particularly in the field of culture.

AWARD HOLDERS

The Culture & Diversity Foundation, a Fimalac corporate foundation created by Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, aims to promote access to the arts and culture for young people from modest backgrounds. Since its launch in 2006, it has been designing and implementing sustainable programs directly in the field with its cultural, educational and social partners. More than 45,000 young people have already benefited from its actions.

The COAL associationcreated in France in 2008 by professionals of contemporary art, ecology and research, mobilizes artists and cultural actors on societal and environmental issues and supports the essential role of creation and culture in raising awareness and implementing concrete solutions. Through the COAL Prize, international cooperation actions and more than fifty exhibitions and cultural projects, COAL is the first French actor to promote the emergence of a new culture of ecology.

CONTACT
Marine Tholliez, Project Manager
Culture & Diversity Foundation
mtholliez@fmlcd.org – 01 47 53 61 93

Image credit: The Narewka River in the heart of the Bialowieza primary forest. In the 14th century, it was the site of the first inhabitants of the forest. Bialowieza, Poland, October 2017. Andrea Olga Mantovani

L’article Student Prize 2021 : THE NOMINATED ARTISTS est apparu en premier sur COAL.