Blühen
For the emergence of a cultural ecology. First edition on October 5 at the Goethe Institut in Nancy.
The orchard of maturities by Thierry Boutonnier
Since 2022, as part of the Pays de l’Arbresle’s “Les murmures du Temps” art trail, Thierry Boutonnier has been sending out living wood with his Les verger des maturités project. A member of the COAL association, the arboreal artist works with local residents, children and neighbors to create an experimental orchard that is low in water consumption and high in fruit production. The keystone is a hut that collects rainwater and measures the time we have left.
Published on 19 December 2024
With Le verger des maturités, the rain gives us the time we have left to pick here.
This collective work of arboriculture, imagined by Thierry Boutonnier, takes the form of a pre-orchard through the recent history of intensive arboriculture. An old cherry tree bears witness to an agricultural industry that has become specialized. This feral landscape proposed by the artist, with the help of many local residents, is becoming a place of robust cultivation.
Inspired by agroforestry, this work transforms a third fertile nature to nourish the soil and preserve water. This art of plants accompanies that of fountains. Twelve signposts provide the keys to understanding the evolution of landscapes and agricultural ecosystems through the testimonies of those who cultivate them. These words lead to an impluvium that collects rainwater. This hut-instrument is an observation point of its environment and surroundings. It collects and stores rainwater in a ceramic cistern, which gives the measure of time thanks to a water clock.
©Verger_des_maturités-tb_photo: Nuria Ferreira Da Silva and Antonin Pinet & M. Samuel Mignery
