Agenda 2023

Cyanotypes on paper.

"Those who see us, who guess us, suspect us, and the others who cross the visible. During my walks and research, I shared the paths the living had traced in these wild areas, it was for me the only way to penetrate into the thick forests. I realized that we humans always share the trails of the boar, the paths of deer, during walks or foraging. Spaces are already mapped: territories, vital paths are entangled in a space of convergence. The tracking leads me to meet the animal from a distance.  Gradually, the information collected allows me to imagine other ways of living, of thinking. Momentarily, there is a kind of indistinction between the animal and me. This experience insinuates our closeness, and therefore imposes, as Baptiste Morizot puts it, our diplomatic obligations with the living."

This exhibition finds an ideal setting at château de Champchevrier : you can often see a deer by the window at the back of the castle !

In a mystical dialogue between his sculptures and the remarkable collection of tapestries entitled "Les amours des dieux" (17th century, Manufacture Royale d'Amiens, based on cartoons by Simon Vouet) housed at the Château de Champchevrier, young artist Gwendal Houplain invites us this summer to meditate on the timeless nature of the human condition, punctuated by our universal drives for desire and death. Gwendal Houplain is obsessed with mythology and humanity's relationship with reality through the stories it tells. Discovered by visitors after the suite Les Amours des Deux by Simon Vouet, his installation of the God Argos puts these myths into perspective - not without a sense of humour: Argos' eyes film the visitor live, who can discover himself by means of a QR code... Somewhere between mythology and George Orwell! Finally, in the archive office, Gwendal will be showing visitors some no less surprising vanities. 

Free for visitors with a Castle entrance ticket.