Fertile Crops, the art of ecological transition

The ecological transition is an individual and collective journey that involves a profound transformation of the way we live on earth and consume its natural resources. It is a question of changing our relationship to the world, and therefore our representations.

Whether it is at the individual level or at the level of organizations such as foundations and endowments, the path is similar and starts with an awareness, a quest for meaning, for care, for commonality, a desire to change the world. But how do we bring about this awareness? Culture is an essential and fertile vector.

With artists, whose works – nourished by this awareness – participate in the construction of new representations, and foundations and endowments that support them, we will discuss the challenges of transforming our imaginations and our practices.

2:00-3:00 p.m. – Round table Foundations and committed artists: a shared path
Introduction by Claude d’Anthenaise, General Curator of Heritage, Director of the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature. With François Hers (New sponsors), Lucy Orta (artist), Anastassia Makridou-Bretonneau (Daniel & Nina Carasso Foundation) and Olivier Darné (artist). Moderated by Olivier Lerude (Ministry of Culture)

Through the approaches taken by the Fondation de France’s “New Sponsors” program, by Lucy and Jorge Orta at Studio Orta Les Moulins or by the Daniel & Nina Carasso Foundation in France and Spain, and through the testimony of artists engaged in situated artistic practices, such as Olivier Darné, we will look back on personal and institutional paths, on shared awareness and their translation into artistic devices for transforming our relationship to the world.

3:00-4:00 p.m. – Round table discussion At the end of the road: changing practices
With Raphaël Abrille (François Sommer Foundation), Sylvain Gouraud (artist), Stéphanie Clément-Grandcourt (Tara Expéditions Foundation), Elsa Guillaume and Noémie Sauve (artists). Moderated by Olivier Lerude (Ministry of Culture)

Other witnesses, actors of this same transition, will reflect on the effects that a fruitful collaboration can produce, on the institutions, on the artists and on those who follow their work. The François Sommer Foundation, the Tara Endowment Fund, Sylvain Gouraud, Elsa Guillaume and Noémie Sauve will report on experiences of change initiated and disseminated to their audiences and partners as a result of these collaborations.

16h-18h – Screening of The Memory of the Glaciers by Angelika Markul (Winner of the COAL Prize 2016)
The memory of the glaciers, 2017, video, 10’51”
The screening is preceded by a presentation of the film by the artist at 4pm.

The memory of the glaciers is a myth at the confluence of science and fiction, the first part of a trilogy of the origin and existence of man until his evolution. The film takes as its starting point the discovery of the Churyumov-Guerassimenko comet, a comet that could contain an explanation of the origin of life on earth. The video installation tells the story of the tragic collapse of a glacier in southern Patagonia, evoking the amputations of a gangrenous body. At the heart of these organic rocks – comets and glaciers – are preserved in equal measure life and extinction. Angelika Markul reveals the secrets they keep (real or fictional) through images tinged with mystery.