10 projects that make up knowledge and imagine a sustainable future

From the microscopic pollen grain to the oceans, from the urban heart of the Paris suburbs to the foothills of the Jura, from the Ponant Islands to the territory of Fessenheim, the 10 projects selected for the^5th edition of “Composing Knowledge” invite us to change our view of the world, to enrich our knowledge and to imagine other possibilities. Soil decontamination, industrial transition, waste recycling, biodiversity and living things, low-tech resources, sustainable food, agricultural landscapes are some of the subjects that artists and scientists take up with the public and the inhabitants to give shape to various creations. An overview!

The ecological transition at the heart of this^5th edition

No discipline can embrace alone, represent and even less propose responsible solutions to the climate emergency. Researchers, creators, professionals, students from all walks of life can embark together on other paths, freeing themselves from dominant models and frameworks. We are convinced that their common mobilization around the uncertainties that weigh on our vision of the future is necessary for us to imagine tomorrow.

“In line with the Foundation’s cross-cutting commitment to the ecological transition, we have given a new direction to the latest call for projects “Composing Knowledge”, emblematic of our Art, Science and Society program,” explains Anastassia Makridou-Bretonneau, Head of Citizen Art at the Foundation. “Some projects from previous editions already addressed the transformation of our world with global warming: we wanted to make it a central subject.” Art is indeed a powerful engine for metabolizing the great changes of our time, not getting trapped in a feeling of fear and guilt in the face of the multiple crises that are going through our society. More than ever, we need a positive and resilient imagination!

Thus, for its^5th edition, “Composing knowledge to imagine a sustainable future” aimed to support artistic projects that involve several fields of research and practices (scientific, empirical, cultural, etc.) in order to build new imaginaries allowing our societies to engage in the ecological transition imposed on us by the new climate situation. “As far as the selection is concerned, we have also emphasised this year the importance of the artistic dimension. Defending the idea that art helps us change mental representations, it seemed essential to us that the projects give rise to ambitious artistic productions that give substance and visibility to the cooperation between artists, scientists, users and inhabitants of the territories involved,” says Anastassia Makridou-Bretonneau.

Indeed, the 2021 selection is marked by the strengthening of civil society, with a strong involvement of residents, elected officials, associations, etc. Most of the projects are rooted in specific territories, addressing complex subjects (soil decontamination, urbanisation, industrial recycling, nuclear energy, food, agricultural land, floods, etc.) and based on concrete situations experienced by the inhabitants. “These proposals augur very good collective experiences located in territories where global issues are involved.”

Thank you to the members of the jury

After the call for projects was circulated, 117 projects were received and examined. 17 were pre-selected and 10 were selected. “We would like to thank the members of the jury, volunteer experts who helped us select these projects with curiosity and kindness,” says Anastassia Makridou-Bretonneau.

• Monique Barbaroux, Honorary General Administrator of the Ministry of Culture. Former Senior Official for Sustainable Development at the Ministry of Culture
• Amanda Crabtree, Director of artconnexion, a contemporary art production, distribution and mediation company
• Marc Dondey, Artistic Director of the Research Stage at ENS Paris-Saclay
• Alice Jarry, Artist, teacher, researcher (PhD) at Concordia University (Montreal), specialized in socio-environmental projects, digital art
• Stavros Katsanevas, Astrophysicist, Professor at Paris VII Diderot University, Director of the European Gravitational Observatory (Pisa)
• María Inés Rodriguez, Curator, Founder and Artistic Director of the digital platform Tropical Papers
• Stéphane Sauzedde, Director of the Ecole Supérieure d’Art Annecy Alpes (ESAAA)
• Emmanuel Tibloux, Director of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (EnsAD, Paris)

The 10 projects in detail

Projet Ponant (Orchestre National de Bretagne)

Supported by the Orchestre National de Bretagne, this project highlights women and men of the sea through images in resonance with poignant and vibrant music. It is based on 3 creations, musical works at the crossroads of other artistic and scientific disciplines around environmental issues.

– Initium Mare by the composer Dai Fujikura who will be inspired by the seascapes of the photographer Nicolas Floc’h, to create an immersive musical work where image and sound will intertwine. This creation will raise the issue of saving our oceans and invite the public to question aquatic life, by highlighting the marine flora and reliefs. Conferences and workshops will be organised for the public in partnership with COAL.

– It’s not too late, a musical tale for young audiences by composer Sarah Lianne Lewis, writer Stéphane Michaka and pianist Vanessa Wagner. In the tradition of Peter and the Wolf, this work will focus on the preservation of aquatic fauna in the face of pollution and global warming.

– Oceanic Dialogues by Katia Makdissi-Warren, with the ambition of bringing together peoples united by the sea, between western Brittany and northeastern Quebec, through the traditional song shared by these two cultures.

The air of pollen (Metonymy)

A theatre and digital art company, in research residency at the University of Paris Saclay, the Métonymie inscribes its artistic creation approach in close collaboration with scientists. Strongly rooted in the research carried out at the “Systematic Ecology and Evolution” laboratory, L’Air du pollen raises awareness among a wide audience of the issue of the erosion of biodiversity through pollen as a sensitive marker of environmental change. This work combines traditional ceramic art with cutting-edge technology carried by digital art and a sound universe, triggered by the presence of the spectators. This project invites us to become aware of the fragility of this microscopic biodiversity by making it visible through the multiplicity of forms produced by different pollen grains. The creation will be presented at the Commanderie d’Élancourt (Nuit Blanche 2022) and in the park of the Lycée Schweitzer in Le Raincy throughout the following school year, L’Air du pollen will be the subject of continuous research and development based on interaction with the public, shared emotions and knowledge, and chains of mediation between places and between generations.

Critical Zone: Controversies in action in Sevran (Théâtre de la Poudrerie)

Seine-Saint-Denis is deeply impacted by urban development projects whose ecological and social consequences challenge the inhabitants and question them about their means of action. The Théâtre de la Poudrerie focuses on creating plays with the inhabitants and based on their words. With this project, the theatre is committed to a transversal approach in order to push further the reflection on participatory creation, its popular dimension, its influence on social ties and citizen participation. By hosting multidisciplinary collectives bringing together artists, researchers and associative actors in residence, it intends to address, with the inhabitants, a cycle of creation on environmental concerns in Sevran. Two teams of artists and researchers (S-Composition/Où lander and the Medialab of Sciences Po) will explore and describe the controversies related to the transformations of the city, with four groups of inhabitants. It is an opportunity for a collective experiment, on a territorial scale, of a citizen survey methodology that is part of the artistic, design and social sciences at the same time. The explorations will inspire the theatrical and musical creation “Zone critique” scheduled for October 2022 at the Théâtre de la Poudrerie as part of the third edition of the biennial of participatory arts. They will also be published.

The cannonballs of coal mills (TANGIBLE)

As part of the research and creation residency at the former thermal power plant of Vitry-sur-Seine, TANGIBLE is joining forces with 4 researchers from the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN) to study the action of ecosystems on the recolonization and transformation of the site, postulating a possible human, plant and animal cooperation to accompany the dismantling of the plant. This project is based on the plant’s old coal mill balls, eight metal spheres of 600 kg each that were used to grind coal into very fine particles used as fuel for electricity production. The objective is to seed these pellets with a mixture of moss and lichen, to study their development on the metal and their possible participation in its decomposition by transforming it into an organic substrate. Today, there are no accessible studies on this subject and this project could be a turning point in industrial waste management. On the other hand, this action aims to rehabilitate these cannonballs – emblematic pieces of the power plant – as a work of memorial art, supporting a unique experience. The cannonballs will be located in the industrial district of Ardoines, which is undergoing urban transformation. The inhabitants will be involved in the continuity of the seeding of the cannonballs in conjunction with the MNHN researchers. Several actions, dissemination and transmission processes with the general public are envisaged around this project.

Elles Aveyronnent (La Cuisine)

During last winter’s heavy rains, the Aveyron river saw its watercourse rise by 9 metres, causing flooding in the vicinity of the art and design centre La Cuisine, unequalled in decades. In the shadow of this event described as a disaster, the inhabitants discovered hundreds of visual forms generated by these waters. These visual forms question the image of “what a river is”. Starting from the premise that the term river reduces the complexity of what it designates, the project leaders wish to explore knowledge on the fauna, botany and geology of the alluvial plain in collaboration with civil collectives and their vernacular knowledge, in order to transform the proper name of the river into a verb, postulating that it is a set of actions and relationships, in constant motion. Thanks to an investigative approach in the creative process, Elles Aveyronnt addresses the question of the disorientation of humans when they encounter feral waters (said of a domesticated element that returns to the wild state) on the margins of modern hydraulic systems and landscape contemplation. The project proposes the production of artistic works in the form of ritual devices, with the aim of exploring ways of paying sensitive attention to these waters in order to create new relationships with the Aveyron river watershed.

An artisanal natural glass sector from the Ponant Islands from the co-products of its members (Savoir-Faire des îles du Ponant)

The project is to develop an inter-island glass: the “Glass of the Ponant Islands”, emblematic of a large territory, thanks to the close collaboration with the designer Lucile Viaud and from resources to be used on site collected from the members of the Savoir-Faire des Îles du Ponant association. How can these 15 islands be brought together through a common material while enhancing the specificity of each? What heritage and know-how are the island’s already present? How can we set up an artisanal glass industry with the least possible impact? The project will be built in harmony with the islanders in a logic of circular economy, development of economic activity, enhancement of artistic and craft heritage, preservation and sublimation of the extraordinary landscapes of the islands. It will make it possible, through the prism of low-tech thinking, to design a dedicated production pilot according to existing flows, resources and local skills. Glass techniques can then be used in concert with the members of the association and according to the know-how present on each island (ceramic glazing, glass blowing, thermoforming, glass paste, etc.).

Tomorrow Fessenheim (La Kunsthalle Mulhouse)

This project is devoted to the study of the transformation of the Fessenheim area following the shutdown of the reactors and the cessation of activities of the nuclear power plant. For a period of 4 years, Elise Alloin, an art researcher, has joined forces with La Kunsthalle, the Contemporary Art Centre of the City of Mulhouse and the Centre for Research on Economies, Societies, Arts and Techniques of the University of Haute Alsace. The project questions the power plant as an autonomous body, the epicentre of a territory, an element shaping its environment by giving it the status of a nuclearised territory, an industrial place integrated into a natural environment, which influences both the emotional and physical territory. To carry out and nourish this study, the artist crosses his gaze and his practices with those of researchers in geography, history, ethnology, etc. Demain Fessenheim seeks to develop research, a reflection on and with a territory, in order to share with the regional public concerned a hot topic, with multiple issues. It will also be a question of giving the opportunity to better understand the consequences of the closure of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant and to initiate reflection on a transnational heritage interpretation route, around the energy transition and climate change.

The banquets of the living (Vélo Théâtre)

The Vélo Théâtre, a subsidized stage in Apt, initiates a cycle of 6 artistic, scientific and citizen banquets. This house of creation and experimentation is now opening a solidarity canteen within it, an ideal place to imagine “The banquets of the living”, each concocted by a multidisciplinary team composed of artists, scientists (University of Avignon, IRSEA Apt, CEA Cadarache, Luberon Natural Park, Institute of Mathematics Marseille), a cook and a class/group (agricultural high school, college, social centres). These banquets are an opportunity to experience both a form of meeting between artists/scientists/citizens and an ordinary “ecological” event – a meal – and an extraordinary one: a meal where we debate, sing, listen, look, think, especially from what we eat. Each banquet is orchestrated by a trio: artist, researcher, complicit group (children, the elderly, or other). With the support of a steering committee, they have 6 months to prepare their banquet, including time to “get to know each other”, workshops on practices, design and finally production. Each banquet focuses on a theme related to the problem of the living, ranging from the greatest to the smallest of our relationship with the world. The idea with this form of banquet is to desacralize the relationship to science and the arts, to renew this tradition of the Renaissance to make common, through food, the basis of life, around the social issues that occupy us.

The Little Forest (Bermuda)

After 3 years of self-construction, the Bermuda association began its operation in a 1300 m2 building located in Sergy in the Ain. On the edge of the land, facing the Jura barrier, a field has been subjected to intensive and monochrome cereal farming for years. The project supports the transformation of this agricultural plot that has been used until today in order to repair it and give life back to life. Based on preliminary studies and descriptions of this field (microbiological, artistic, botanical, etc.) and the constitution of a sensitive corpus of testimonies and documentation of exploratory agricultural experiments, the project designs the landscape, relational and architectural forms that will nourish the metamorphosis of this plot. The aim of this process is to design a new market, food and collective use of the place, whose production is intended for local distribution. The project invites artists, local producers, landscape architects, researchers and residents to think about and take ownership of this transformation. For 3 years and over the seasons, artistic, landscape and horticultural experiments will intertwine, accompanied by exchanges of practices, transmission of knowledge and know-how and times of public meetings. La Petite Forêt is part of a project to redevelop a larger abandoned site driven by a dynamic combining art and ecology. A publication capitalizing on the experience is planned.

Earth Trilogy (Critical Zone Company)

Since 2016, the Zone Critique company, which carries out the theatrical projects of the philosopher Bruno Latour and the historian of science Frédérique Aït Touati, has given rise to three stage creations: two lecture-performances and an experimental spectator journey. These creations, forming the “terrestrial trilogy”, are a reflection on the need for a profound renewal of our representations of the terrestrial world, biotic and abiotic. INSIDE explored visual alternatives to the haunting and deceptive image of the “Globe”; MOVING EARTHS plunged the viewer into the experience of a land that is moved; VIRAL is an exploration of contagion as an essential process in the constitution of our confined world, and a reflection on the political consequences of a broader redefinition of the living. The project includes several components: the finalization of the show VIRAL, the revival and distribution of the entire Earth Trilogy, the implementation of workshops that accompany the show and the promotion of the trilogy through the production of a documentary film and the publication of a book, in order to share this research-creation with as many people as possible.

Cover photo: Elles Aveyronnent project / The kitchen – Centre d’art et de design. Other photo credits: all rights reserved projects