1 April – 5 November 2023
FRACTAL WHISPERS, THE STORIES AROUND US...
Just as you arrive at Le Cyclop, different sounds, friction, tinkling, and other clashing noises can be heard, before your eyes happen upon modest mechanical ballets, with a jolting rhythm. A certain restraint emanates from these movements, a certain assumed elegance. This musical assemblage, in a tenuous equilibrium akin to juggling, is the fruit of the collaboration between Rie Nakajima and Pierre Berthet, a sculptor who turned her attention to sound and a musician who took the opposite path. The pair met and formed a duo called “Dead Plants and Living Objects”, and together build sound sculptures such as this one, and concert performances.
Passing to the left of Le Cyclop while admiring the mosaic of mirrors designed by Niki de Saint Phalle, you come to a container surrounded by eagle ferns.
It is in this out-of-the-way place that you can see the films of Sophio Medoidze. These will transport you to the Tusheti region, on the Chechen border, to the north of Georgia. We discover a group of riders from the Greater Caucasus, their initiation rites, and the relationship between man, horse, and nature. Women are kept at a distance, and yet a woman holds the camera, sometimes from afar but always very close to what is said and what is felt. Sophio Medoidze is an artist who grew up in Tbilisi, Georgia before moving to London in 2001. Her dual gaze captivates us, both her insider knowledge of the country and intimate understanding of its customs and people, whom she films with great empathy, as well as her Western distance to the subject that allows us to access her story. Le Cyclop Association is supporting the artist in the production of her latest film due to be presented in the autumn in addition to the current selection.
Another story unfolds in the woods around Le Cyclop, one by Virginie Yassef. Real fake sculptures, maybe rocks with eyes, or perhaps something else—the project itself is under construction at the time of writing. These forms can be found in this particular wood, at the edge of the forest of Fontainebleau; forms that resemble the nature surrounding them but at the same time, slightly modified, almost offbeat, hyper realistic, and inspired by the universe of science fiction. Art, literature, words, excerpts from newspapers, big and little stories, bordering on the obsessive, formal and intellectual traces, everything that feeds our thought, underlies the work of Virginie Yassef who transposes it into a magical fairyland. Visitors can immerse themselves in her work, observing the differences that both constitute and transform it, these openings towards a parallel world, with the passage of a horse… a hiatus between art and life.
Sculpture and sound installation for the duration of the season & musical performance on Saturday, 13 May at 8.30pm
Installation & performance on Saturday, 10 June at 8.30pm
Film programme & screening of the new film produced by the Association on Saturday, 14 October at 8.30pm
Research residency by Rémy Yadan spring and autumn 2023
Research residency by Louis Guillaume autumn 2023 in partnership with the CNPMAI
Retrospective catalogue edition of Laurence De Leersnyder's works- Éditions Le Cyclop
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Visits, conferences, workshops
Roundtable discussion: Graphic design and Le Cyclop.
By Guillaume Allard, Vanessa Gœtz, Véronique Marrier, and François Taillade.
Guillaume Allard and Vanessa Gœtz, from the graphic design studio Pentagon; Véronique Marrier, head of the graphic design department at the Centre national des arts plastiques, and François Taillade, director of Le CyclopAssociation will discuss the project and choices for Le Cyclop’s new visual identity, while retracing its graphic evolution since the creation of the Association and the impact of various graphic designers.
Visit of the exhibition & tasting.
By Pierre Berthet & Rie Nakajima, François Taillade, and Catherine Bosc-Bierne.
The 2023 Season entitled Murmures en fractales brings together visual artists Pierre Berthet and Rie Nakajima, who offer a kinetic and sound installation around Le Cyclop. Here, visitors can explore the installation in the form of a stroll commented by the artists, followed by a tasting of local products, by Catherine Bosc-Bierne, peppermint producer.
As part of the cross-community event CC2V: 2 ValléEstival.
Conference: Chomo art village: a man-made dream in the middle of the forest.
By Roberta Trapani.
To coincide with the European Heritage Days event, and the opening to the public of the art village created by Chomo in the forest (an art brut site in Achères-la-Forêt), the Association invites Roberta Trapani, doctor in history of art and specialist in art brut and architecture without architects. The aim of this conference is to allow the public to discover the whimsical universes of Chomo, Jean Tinguely, and Niki de Saint Phalle.
In partenership with the association of the Amis de Chomo and Patrimoines irréguliers de France.
Conference date tbc.
As part of the partnership between Le Cyclop Association and the Sorbonne Université Paris IV, an annual invitation is offered to a student-researcher to present their work around an artist, or a concept associated with Le Cyclop.
Creative workshop around the principle of the ludion, a physical process used in Le Tableau Générique of Le Cyclop. With artist Philippe Bouveret.
Workshop focusing on the creation of anthotypes, a photographic process based on natural plant and flower materials. With artist Laurence De Leersnyder.
Creative writing workshop, as part of the Patrimoines en poésie event. In partnership with the association Le labo des histoires, and the Région Île-de-France.
For exactly ten years, Le Cyclop Association has opened the site to contemporary creation. The impressive force of Le Cyclop and its structure provide or impose a certain number of artistic guidelines. The role of the Association is to accompany artists in the creation of artworks around four main axes linked to its history: joint creation; the correlation between music and the visual arts; performance, and nature, which is of course, the setting of this remarkable work. Le Cyclop has become a place of regular meetings and exchanges between the public and guest artists.
Dust and Spores on a dancer’s Cloths
Performance / Sunday, 22 May 2022 at 11am & 3pm
Four dancers, dressed in white, perform a choreography, where the primary intention is to smear their clothes with earth and forest plants. This performance reminds us that nature cannot be understood without recognizing that the air, human beings, micro-organisms, the soil, minerals, and machines are more inseparable than ever.
L’appel de la nuit (The Call of the Night)
Light installation from 22 May to 6 November 2022
Caty Olive has created a light installation for Le Cyclop, which is activated at dusk on Saturday and Sunday evenings. Providing a soft, luminous, and ephemeral transition between day and night, this installation reveals all the beauty of the metal and subtle assemblies designed by Jean Tinguely and Seppi Imhof, reminiscent of a kind of metallic lace. It also highlights the graphic layout of Niki de Saint Phalle’s mosaic.
Juste avant le point de rupture (Just before breaking point)
Exhibition 18 June to 6 November 2022 – Opening Saturday, 18 June 2022 at 8:30pm
Two artists, Jennifer Caubet and Thomas Teurlai, who work, amongst other things, on installation and volume, are presented as an aloof duo, both in terms of form and the occupied space. Their shared interests merge in moments of tension and breaking points, which both develop in their respective installations.
Sang Corrompu (Corrupted blood)
Performance Saturday, 15 October 2022 at 8:30pm
Offsite at Hans-Walter Müller's residenceat Cerny Aerodrome (Essonne).
Éric Giraudet de Boudemange, the artist-in-residence for 2021 at Le Cyclop, is invited to showcase the fruit of his work, entitled Sang Corrompu. It is a poetic and philosophical reflection on the post-truth era, expressed by glass puppets manipulated by both breath and fluids.
Video programme – Guest curator: Jean-Baptiste Delorme – Heritage Curator at the Cnap.
In collaboration with the Conservatoire national des plantes aromatiques, médicinales et à parfum*, Le Cyclop Association is launching an artist’s residency programme in the autumn of 2022 to explore our relationship to the environment, plants, and living creatures.
*National Conservatory of Aromatic, Medicinal, and Fragrant Plants