2023-07-29 15:18:27
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Salt in all its forms is magnified this summer in La Rochelle in two emblematic places of the city. The sensory and visual works of the artist Laurent-David Garnier are to be discovered in the “Saulavy” exhibition until September 30.
France Televisions Writing Culture
Posted on 07/29/2023 17:18
Reading time: 2 min.
Exhibition “Saulavy” in La Rochelle (France 3 Poitou-Charentes)
Before his career took an artistic turn in 2015 after studying in Amsterdam, Laurent-David Garnier was a perfumer in the fragrance industry. Accustomed, therefore, to working on his senses, he exhibited his work in La Rochelle, an event presented by the Center des monuments nationaux and the city of La Rochelle. Program winner new worlds of the Ministry of Culturethe exhibition Saulavy invests two historical sites of the city until September 30th.
France 3 Poitou-Charentes Y. Salaun / S. Poirier / A. Bortot
The Tour de la Chaîne, one of the emblems of the La Rochelle seafront, hosts strange glass balls filled with congealed salt. “Salt is a prisoner forever. It has also changed state. It was solid and became liquid, almost gaseous. Salt becomes liquid at 800 degrees and gaseous at 1400. And there, our glass is close to 1400 degrees when we work it explains the artist. It was very interesting and it was also a big challenge for the glassmaker.”
Contemporary art and heritage
Investing in historic places by installing contemporary works there was one of the objectives of the exhibition. Provoke reactions, too. “We are always amazed to be able to visit these monuments which date from the 13th century and to be able to invest them with contemporary creation. Afterwards, we can think what we want of contemporary art, we like it or not, but it creates an emotion, it does not leave indifferent”, specifies Stéphanie Lhortolary, administrator of the Tours de La Rochelle.
Another atmosphere in the chapel of the White Ladies. Here the salt appears in motion, in artificial foreshores, which recreate these areas of tidal swing. Here, the white gold can be observed, it is alive and is transformed according to the temperatures and the humidity of the place. “It’s a visual work, in three dimensions, but also visual thanks to a short film, and olfactory too. A sense that is dear to me because of my ability to “smell” things when we are on a littoral”, explains the artist. The former perfumer puts all his talents at the service of this summer exhibition which calls on all the senses of visitors.
Exposition Saulavy Laurent-David Garnier – until September 30 – Tour de la Chaîne and Chapelle des Dames Blanches, 17000 La Rochelle
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