art by boat

Hortillonnages
Amiens  2011 
     art, villes & paysage

14 gardens and 14 installations

Rodolphe Keller - en attendant la vague (waiting for the wave)

sequel on yesterday's post

Frédéric Sanchez - Sept Royaumes (seven kingdoms)

we can't get any closer, I have to zoom in

Doriss Ung - Du ventre jusqu'au ciel

same here, zoom in to view a tiny bit

Atelier Sensomoto - Up Side Down

Collectif Multipleix - Port 157 ouest

Wagon Landscaping - Le Jardin d'Erode

We just happened to read about this art and garden event when stopping in Amiens for the night.  Unfortunately not open the day we were there, and leaving the next morning we couldn't wait until 14h where most of the installations and gardens are accessible.  All pictures were taken from the banks.  More gardens and installations are hidden on other islands in 'Les Hortillonnages'

until 15 October 2011

Amiens' floating gardens

We're travelling south and stopping for one night in Amiens, Picardie, France.

One can't miss the breathtaking space inside the Cathedral of our Lady of Amiens, the largest gothic cathedral in Europe.

This is the region of the Somme river, where one of the most tragic events of WW I took place.  A commemorative wall to the 600.000 soldiers that were killed in this region.

The labyrinth in Notre Dame d'Amiens cathedral on which devote people would 'walk' on their knees towards the centre while praying.  My husband did it on foot and was busy for quite some time...

I love mazes and labyrinths and by pure chance do we get to experience a particular one...

Les hortillonnages or 'floating gardens', a mosaic of 300 hectares of market and floral gardens.  Countless canals - 65 KM - and little islands, a barge trip with a little 'bayou' feeling.

Dating from the Middle Ages and cultivated by market-gardeners.

hundreds of people have vegetable and flower gardens here

very popular during the good season, little shacks and chalets everywhere

The farmers sell their vegetables (3 crops a year) on the local market

only accessible by boat

every year there is a contest for the nicest flower garden

and some 'island' owners provide funny touches of outsider art

I do spot a land art sculpture and learn that there is more on other islands and on the lakes... will have to find out more...

a few hours later, after dinner on the banks of the Somme, we walk back to the car and see...

two silent immobile figures on the water waiting for something...

waiting for what?   ... I'll tell you tomorrow

Bestes, Bestiaux et Bestioles

A castle (yes, another one, and there are more to come) with a permanent collection of contemporary art. 

Apart from the permanent collection - of which I will show pictures in future posts - there is a temporarily exhibition.

Bestes, Bestiaux et Bestioles
(I've taken the liberty of translating this into Beasts and Bugs)

Starting with "La Galerie des Chevaux" - 'the horse gallery' which is part of ... the permanent collection.  Yes, I know, a bit confusing to mix both exhibitions...

Georg Ettl  (site in German) - Chevaux d'Oiron

replacing the painted canvases of the favorite horses of Henry II 

kinetic sculpture

Nicolas Darrot - Yggdrasill

The impressive Galerie Renaissance

with the whole story of the Trojan war painted on the walls

animals on the ceiling... which brings us back to the theme of the exhibition...

Saint Clair Cemin - Licorne

Thomas Grünfeld - Pégase Licorne

permanent collection

a space entirely clad with mirrors

Nicolas Darrot - Drones

hard to take good pictures because of the mirrors

Yannick Demmerle - drawings

Carole Fékété - Le Singe (the monkey)

Douglas Gordon - Unnaturalhistorie - video

a tiny part of Sol LeWitt in the back, more on that later

Goliath Dyèvre - Chiroptoir

nest for bats accessible from outside, with a flashlight (with dead batteries) to watch the bats through the tiny window.

Greta Alfaro - In ictu oculi - view the whole video HERE - 10min 35 sec

Johan Creten - Muses et Méduses

Goliath Dyèvre - La danse des abeilles (dance of the bees)

Beste, Bestiaux et Bestioles

until 02 October 2011

Château d'Oiron

Centre des monuments nationaux

F-79100 Oiron

www.oiron.fr/

www.monuments-nationaux.fr/

related posts

Claire Morgan at Oiron

Charles Ross at Oiron

Thomas Grünfeld at Oiron

Bodys Isek Kingelez at Oiron

more to come