Cléa Coudsi et Eric Herbin

Paysages prêts-à-monter

8 September - 9 October 2021

Exhibition created in collaboration with the AMPAVE (Association Mémoire Patrimoine et Activités de la Voie d’Eau)

The AMPAVE is a non-profit organization located in Douai, whose aim is to provide a new outlook on waterways and fluvial transportations. The association keeps the memory of the past alive, while preparing that of today for future generations.

On the occasion of the AMPAVE's 10-year anniversary, members wanted to commission an artwork to celebrate the memory of inland water shipping, to describe "ship life" and the special bond between boatmen and their barge. Through this artwork, they want to reassess the value of a trade that makes for an atypical lifestyle, which is currently going through some changes.

As part of the New Partons programme*, artconnexion suggested to the members that they entrust this commission to artists Cléa Coudsi and Eric Herbin.

In the exhibition Paysages prêts-à-monter, Cléa Coudsi and Eric Herbin present different elements of the study they conducted for the artistic commission, with prototypes, book-models, photographs and archives – a poetic immersion in the world of inland navigation.

*The New Patrons programme allows citizens confronted with social or local development issues in their territory to involve contemporary artists in response to their concerns, by commissioning an artwork. Its originality is based on the conjunction between three privileged actors: the artist, the commissioning citizen and the mediator-producer accompanied by public and private partners involved in the project.

artconnexion is mediator-producer – certified by the Fondation de France – for the New Patrons programme, for the régions Hauts-de-France and Normandy, as well as Northern Europe.