This artistic project was born from the desire of the “Food” college of the Bouche A Oreille cooperative society, to bring art into the “vegetable garden”. The idea was not just to put gardeners, villagers, visitors in contact with artistic works, but to be the vector of questions about the environment that welcomes them: the vegetable patch.
The artistic work of set designer Coline Vergez always stands as a witness to the environment in which it takes place. She seeks to highlight it and question it while integrating her work within it. Thus the works are part of a logic of harmony of materials, in images that make sense.
She created a first work "MMMMH!" in the village of Simorre, as well as the 5 works of the "Sentier à p'Art" - a 4km hike from Simorre on the principle of Land'Art.
"Within the framework of this project, I wish to remain faithful to this way of working and to propose works which are fully integrated for the vegetable garden; which respect its growing, reveal it and serve it. My artistic approach is accessible to all, in a readable and clear language. I wish to address everyone and that my work speaks to all."
A little kitchen corner or ... behind the scenes of life.
This first work, installed in May 2020, highlights a central element of the kitchen which plays a role as essential in the transformation of food and of the people who live there: its table.
"I chose it for all that it represents. It is the heart of the kitchen, the place of cutting, shelling, sorting, cleaning, weighing, pressing ... This place where food becomes meals. But also this little corner where humans reveal themselves alone or to the other. I like the idea that only a kitchen table edge could have seen love, culinary or family secrets, beings to be torn apart, big decisions to be made, projects to be created, children to grow, desires shared ... As innocent as it may be, this little corner of table works the livings, transforms it and makes it evolve."
Its scale has been enlarged in order to exacerbate its importance, but also to make it a useful structure for the vegetable patch.
Chair and table can accommodate climbers and cucurbits, their heights allow the gardener to pick the fruits with ease while creating a little shade in the summer. In winter, the table is dressed in woolen strips dyed with vegetable plants or picked nearby.
Artistic structures for vegetable use.
The work "A little kitchen corner or ... behind the scenes of life" is part of a global concept that will see other installations created in the same spirit. The idea is that each artistic installation is made up of three essential elements: it provokes questioning, it is useful and it is accessible. These elements will be developed in different ways depending on each work. In this context, Coline's work will question what is not visible to the eye: the purpose of gardening (why do we cultivate, how do we transform what grows there, what is the fate of what we create there? etc.) or will highlight the invisible actors but so essential to the life of the vegetable patch (its microcosm: earthworm, beetle, stag beetle, dragonfly ...)
The works will all have a real function within the garden, whether in the gardening process, in providing landscaping for native flora or fauna or in improving the living spaces of gardeners or visitors. This work will speak to all. Each person will interpret the works in a personal way according to what he/she is and his/her artistic background, but the creations will use a very direct and clear visual language.To facilitate this, humor and paradox will be used to demystify art and make it understandable for everyone.
