RED IS RED – Exhibition of students from the Higher School of Art and Design of Saint Etienne

The students of 4^th year of the mention ACDC_espaces exhibit at the Châteauvert art center their projects designed in relation to the mining heritage of Green Provence, preserved by the Red Gueules Museum in Tourves.

With Charlotte Asmonti, Maximilian Browning, Kenza Cébé, Cécile Cheang, On Emma Duplan, Thomas Goumarre, Mathias Padlewski, Jessica Perez, Lisa Petit, Lise Poncet, Solène Stawicki, Jeanne Troadec, Arthur Van Poucke, Angèle Villière, Virgil Voisin.

The project Red is red began with the integration trip for year students 4 you master ACDC_spaces of ESADSE (higher school of art and design of Saint Etienne) in September 2023. It was led by Emmanuelle Becquemin and Émilie Perotto as part of their Point Break research workshop (https://www.citedudesign.com/fr/blog/pointbreak).

This project took root in Center Var, between Tourves and Châteauvert, a mining territory marked by the extraction of bauxite, aluminum base ore, which took place for more than a century, from the end of the 19th century to the mid-1990s 80. Our choice fell on this space, that it seemed interesting to us to discover in its differential and common issues with the city of Saint-Étienne where the art school is located, known for its industrial past of coal mining.

Red is red allowed to 16 students to immerse themselves in the landscapes and stories of this local mining heritage, but also to question the extractive history of natural resources, of their transformations, and the impacts of this exploitation on our current and future lives.

This project was built with access to the resources of the Gueules Rouges Museum in Tourves and meetings with former miners and the surrounding landscape.. This sensitive and historical experience of the territory was implemented during a short working residency at the Châteauvert art center, and will give rise to an exhibition in 2024. The final challenge of the project is to deploy unique artistic experiments testifying to the past and current context which materialize in sensitive and prospective plastic productions..

Image de @MaximilianBrowning