Press release, 24 March 2020
The Centre des monuments nationaux presents the exhibition Anima mundi Anne and Patrick Poirier at Abbaye du Thoronet - Le Thoronet Abbey New dates to be determined
Poster of the exhibition “Anima mundi”
Press contacts: Agence Dezarts: Noalig Tanguy +33 (0)6 70 56 63 24 [email protected] CMN Press Centre: Maddy Adouritz +33 (0)1 44 61 22 45 [email protected] Find all CMN press releases at: presse.monuments-nationaux.fr Press release
The Centre des monuments nationaux has invited Anne and Patrick Poirier to present the “Anima mundi” exhibition, a continuation of their work that captures the notion of fragility and the importance of memory. At Le Thoronet Abbey, a masterpiece of Cistercian architecture, the two artists will reawaken the memory of the sites through artworks and installations that appeal to the senses. Displayed along the visitor circuit, these fifteen original creations will enter into a dialogue with the monument, its history and the role of its spaces.
Le Thoronet Abbey, built between 1160 and 1190, accommodated around thirty monks in the 13th century. For over one hundred years, the monument retained within its walls the memory of the passage, rituals, gestures and prayers of these men until it fell into decline, a process completed during the French Revolution. The restoration work, begun in the 19th century, will enable the abbey to recover its original appearance after having been used for agricultural purposes. Passionate about architecture and history, Anne and Patrick Poirier have exhibited in religious buildings for many years, ranging from the Chapelle de la Salpêtrière in Paris in 1983 to their exhibition at the Couvent de La Tourette in Eveux in 2013. Their exhibition at Le Thoronet Abbey will give visitors the opportunity to rediscover the remains of the abbey, where prayer, labour, reading and meditation in silence set the tempo of monastic life.
“Our project offers the visitor to this centre of architecture and spirituality a number of works and installations scattered inside and outside the abbey. We wanted these art interventions to be discreet, unostentatious and proportionate, respectful of this place of the soul and of memory. They appeal both to the senses – hearing, sight and smell – and to memory as well as to the visitor’s spirit, and are inspired by the genius loci”.
Anne and Patrick Poirier, Lourmarin, 25 August 2019
Curator: Laure Martin
La voix des Vents [The Voice of the Winds] & L’arbre aux Cosmos 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris © Anne larmes [The Tree of Tears] 2019, courtesy Galerie & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Jean-Christophe Lett Mitterrand, Paris © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett
This exhibition will be the subject of a publication by Éditions du patrimoine in the “Un artiste, un monument” collection.
2 The exhibition
Designed especially for Le Thoronet Abbey, the fifteen works presented by Anne and Patrick Poirier will trace a subtle path between reminiscence, evocation and metaphor, accompanying visitors as they explore the Cistercian abbey.
The public will move between interior and exterior spaces, beginning with the path leading to the former gatehouse, along which the visitor will be welcomed by La voix des vents [The Voice of the Winds], composed of gently tinkling bronze bells hanging here and there in the trees. This installation, which is repeated within the grounds of the abbey, is inspired by the couple’s memories of their trips to Nepal where, “Buddhist tradition considers these sounds to have the power to ward off evil spirits and give thanks to the gods”. At the entrance to the abbey church, the visitor will hear these tinkling sounds emanating from numerous small bells hung in the nettle tree. Randomly placed and varying in intensity, their echoes, which change according to the power of the elements, create a sound space, an invisible frontier with the outside world.
In the enclosure next to the former tithe barn, the glass vials of L’arbe aux larmes [The Tree of Tears] installation are reminiscent in their shape of the lachrymatories used in Roman funerary rituals. They shimmer in the branches of the majestic holm oak watched by visitors sitting in the shade of its foliage while bronze bells tinkle in the wind. Before returning to the abbey church, at the bottom of the recessed fountain, below the double-flight stone staircase leading to the site of the ancient vineyards, visitors will find oversized eyes like giants’ eyes, which seem to follow them as they walk around. At several points in the circuit, visitors will come across this leitmotiv of the eye, called Du regard des statues [The Gaze of Statues], an anonymous witness to time and history, an observer of nature and of men, a mute guardian of memory and oblivion, omnipresent in the couple’s work.
In the abbey church, Oblio (Oubli) [Oblio (Oblivion)] invites the visitor to write a word, a name, a thought, a dream, a prayer on fragments of communion wafers laid out on two copper trays gilded with gold leaf, then to place them in a basin filled with water. A symbol of purification, water here becomes the ephemeral receptacle of many thoughts, the memory of which disappears as their fragile medium dissolves. On the floor, in the axis of the choir Memoria, mundi (Mémoire du Oblio 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, monde) [Memoria, mundi (Memory of the World)] also refers Paris. © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. to the idea of memory, a key focus in these artists’ work and Photo Jean-Christophe Lett. embodied in the recurring motif of a schematic brain. The carpet, in the form of an ellipse, is bordered by Latin words listing the themes indefatigably explored by Anne and Patrick Poirier: memoria, natura, anima, archeologia, utopia… woven in wool, silk and bamboo fibre, materials that absorb the light in different ways, presents a changing image of the work thus emphasising its metaphorical dimension. Echoing Memoria mundi, Reflets de l’âme [Reflections of the Soul], is a pâte de verre brain, lit from within. It stands in the axis of the high altar on an engraved, elliptical mirror, in which the sparkling reflections of its blue, pink and white shades vary like human thoughts and feelings. In the same vein, Les vibrations de l’âme [The Vibrations of the Soul] offers an allegory in sound of emotions where the musicality of two large copper gongs, placed on either side of the transept, now and again, produces an enchanting echo made sublime by the abbey’s acoustics. At the private view, Anne and Patrick Poirier will perform a composition for gongs and cello by Éric Tanguy.
3
Reflets de l’âme [Reflections of the Soul] 2019, Les vibrations de l’âme [The Vibrations of the courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Soul] 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean- Lett. Christophe Lett.
Further on, the visitor will come to the abbot’s bedroom, now La chambre des rêves et de l’oubli [The Room of Dreams and Oblivion], a work inviting contemplation and meditation. In front of its one small window, a red silk taffeta hanging, embroidered with the words Sparire nel silenzio (Disappear in the Silence) and reaching down to the floor, filters the light of this intimate, austere space. From the floor, carpeted with white feathers, a rustic table emerges, on which are placed various objects: books, stuffed birds, a skull, etc, evoking the attributes of Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Jerome, as well as their love of and their interest in nature. Following this, in the monks’ dormitory, the visitor will be able to observe large drawings, arranged on desks, around each of the twenty windows, recalling the manuscripts and antiphonaries patiently drawn up and written out by the monks, in particular the “very rich hours” of the Middle Ages. The contrast between the coloured intensity of the motifs and the sombre, dramatic even, content of the words, reveals, to anyone who knows how to look and takes the time to look, the relevance of the questions and fears that lie within Les chants du désespoir [The Songs of Despair], a work with all the visionary hallmarks of Anne and Patrick Poirier.
La chamber des rêves et de l’oubli [The Room Les chants du désespoir [The Songs of Despair] of Dreams and Oblivion] 2019, courtesy 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean- Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett. Christophe Lett
4
Once outside, a large schematic brain in the centre of the cloister, formed of pebbles of white Carrara marble, recalls those displayed in the abbey church. Visible both from the upper walkway and the level of the cloister galleries, the installation Anima mundi (L’âme du monde) [Anima mundi (The Soul of the World)] is striking in its monumentality and its perfect integration in the space bordered by boxwood, the contours of the brain outlining a luminous mineral garden. Close to the sacristy, placed directly on the floor of the Armarium, where the books were kept, a block of stone gilded with gold leaf, found in an ancient stream that ran at the foot of the abbey, is topped with a sphere of lazurite suggesting the pupil of a giant eye. This sculpture with its contrasting forms and assured refinement, titled Cosmos (L’univers) [Cosmos (The Universe)], refers to the mystery and wealth of the world.
Visitors will continue to travel in time with Archè (L’origine) [Archè (The Origin)], which reveals a marble eye. Emerging from a thick carpet of plants picked from under the trees in the neighbouring forest, as if unearthed from an excavation site, it expresses the idea of a distant, forgotten past, of which the Poiriers are the archaeologists. Walking around the cloister area, the visitor will find Du regard des statues [The Gaze of Statues], in the lavabo where the monks once washed, as if following one of the invisible themes of the circuit created by the artists. At the bottom of the basin, in the crystal-clear murmuring of the fountain, the huge eyes seem to follow the visitor as if conveying mute messages. Returning to the monument, and into the cellar, the visitor will find the last installation, an olfactory work, Le chant de la terre [The Song of the Land], which, through its aroma of grape harvests, crushed grapes, recalls the original function of the site, while also evoking the symbolism of wine in the Christian religion.
Le Thoronet Abbey © Paloma Barret - CMN Cloister of Le Thoronet Abbey © Paloma Barret - CMN
5 Biographies of Anne and Patrick Poirier
Anne and Patrick Poirier at Le Thoronet Abbey, 2019 © Ambroise Tézenas – Centre des monuments nationaux
After studying at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris, Anne and Patrick spent four years at the Villa Medici in Rome. Right from the beginning of their stay, in 1968, they decided to work together. Setting aside their respective egos, they combined their ideas, their sensibilities and their works, signed by both, were the fruits of this common effort. They were no longer solitary artists working in their own studios in search of a personal language, but travellers, site surveyors, discoverers of different civilisations, religions and cultures (East, Middle East, Central America, United States, etc.). Rejecting the conventional roles of sculptor and painter, instead, they assumed those of archaeologist and architect that are interchangeable according to the circumstances. The question was no longer one of formal research but, through an artistic approach grounded in the humanities, one of a voyage through memory, which they considered a fundamental, the basis of any understanding between human beings and societies. As children of the war, (born respectively in 1941 and 1942), they reveal the fragility of civilisations and cultures, and their aesthetic is often one of fragment, ruin and catastrophe. For over fifty years they have developed a polymorphous and visionary body of work.
Personal exhibitions : Neue Galerie-Sammlung Ludwig, Aix-la-Chapelle (1973); Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin (1977); CAPC, Bordeaux (1977); Musée national d’art moderne Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1978); Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (1978); MoMA, New York (1978); Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (1978); PS1, New York (1980); Autumn Festival, Chapelle Saint-Louis de la Salpêtrière, Paris (1983); Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (1983); The Brooklyn Museum, New York (1984); Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich (1988), Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna (1994); Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne (1999); The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (1999-2000); CREDAC, Ivry-sur-Seine (2001); La 6 Verrière, Brussels (2004); Festival d’Avignon, Chapelle Saint-Charles, Avignon (2009); Couvent de la Tourette, Eveux (2013); Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes (2014); Musée d’art moderne et contemporain Saint-Etienne Métropole, Saint-Priest-en-Jarez (2016-2017), Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden, Cragg Foundation, Wuppertal (2016-2017), Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris (2017), De Pont Museum, Tilburg (2018-2019), Villa Medici, Rome (2019).
Group shows : Biennale des Jeunes, Paris (1973); Venice Biennale (1976, 1980, 1984); documenta 6, Kassel (1977); Istanbul Biennale (1989); Vienna Festival (1991); Lyon Biennale (2000); Busan Biennale (2002); Buenos-Aires Biennale (2002); Valencia Biennale (2003); Havana Biennale (2006); Echigo-Tsumari Triennial, Japan (2015); Carambolages, Grand Palais, Paris (2016), FutuRuins, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Italy (2018-2019), Eldorama, Tri Postal, Lille (2019), Homer, Louvre-Lens, Lens (2019). Their works can be found in public and private collections throughout the world.
In France, they are represented by the Galerie Mitterrand, and in Italy by la Galleria Fumagalli.
Since the loss of their only son Alain-Guillaume in 2002, Anne and Patrick Poirier live and work in Lourmarin in Provence.
The exhibition has the financial support of the Galerie Mitterrand, Paris and Laura Skoler, New York.
Exhibitions by Anne and Patrick Poirier in Provence (new dates to be determined):
- Anne and Patrick Poirier. Mnémosyne, at the Château La Coste, Le Puy Sainte-Réparade – www.chateau-la-coste.com
- Anne and Patrick Poirier. Errances, at the Domaine du Muy, Le Muy – www.domainedumuy.com
- Ulysse, Voyage dans une Méditerranée de légendes – Ulysses, journey into a Mediterranean of legends (collective exhibition), at the Hôtel Départemental des Expositions du Var, Draguignan – www.hdevar.fr
7 Visuals available to the press
1. Memoria Mundi. 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, 2. Reflets de l’âme [Reflections of the Soul]. 2019, Paris. © Anne & Patrick Poirier. Anne & Patrick Poirier. courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean- Christophe Lett
3. Les vibrations de l’âme [The Vibrations of the Soul]. 4. Les vibrations de l’âme [The Vibrations of the Soul].2019, 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett
5. La chambre de rêves et de l’oubli [The Room of Dreams 6. Oblio. 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne and Oblivion]. 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett © Anne & Patrick. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett
8
7. Oblio. 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean- Christophe Lett
8. La voix du vent [The Voice of the Winds] and L’arbre aux larmes [The Tree of Tears]. 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett
9. Les chants du désespoir [The Songs of Despair]. 2019, 10. Les chants du désespoir [The Songs of Despair]. 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Patrick courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. © Anne & Poirier. Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett ADAGP. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett
11. Cosmos. 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. 12. The Studio of Anne & Patrick Poirier at © Anne & Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean- Lourmarin, 2019, courtesy Galerie Mitterrand, Paris. Christophe Lett © Anne &Patrick Poirier. ADAGP. Photo Jean- Christophe Lett
9
13. Le Thoronet Abbey © Paloma Barret - CMN 14. The Cloister of Le Thoronet Abbey © Paloma Barret – CMN
15. Anne and Patrick Poirier at Le Thoronet Abbey, 2019 16. The Abbey Church of Le Thoronet Abbey © Ambroise Tézenas – CMN © Paloma Barret – CMN
17. The Abbey Church of Le Thoronet Abbey © Paloma Barret - CMN
10 Le Thoronet Abbey
Founded by Cistercian monks deep in the forests of Provence, Le Thoronet Abbey was built between 1160 and 1190, and completed in 1250. It is a Romanesque architectural complex with characteristic Cistercian architecture: purity of line, simplicity of internal space, harmonious proportions. Le Thoronet Abbey is one of the three Cistercian abbeys in Provence, along with those of Silvacane and Sénanque. Le Thoronet Abbey © Dominique Grandemange
In the 13th century, around thirty monks lived in the abbey. However, less than two centuries later, it had begun to decline. Suppressed in the French Revolution, the abbey was sold as a national property to private owners who used it for farming. In the 19th century, the abbey enjoyed the keen interest of scholars and men of letters, Prosper Mérimée in particular who included it on the first list of historic monuments in 1840. Starting in 1854, the State progressively began to buy back the site. Thanks to major restoration work and archaeological excavation campaigns it gradually recovered its original appearance. Le Thoronet abbey became established as a model of the concept of spatial layout, light and the relationship with nature. Many great architects (Le Corbusier, Fernand Pouillon, John Pawson, etc) have found inspiration for their creations in its architecture. The abbey is also an important venue for musical events and many vocal ensembles perform here every year. The site is managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux, which ensures its conservation, organises events and keeps it open to the public. Le Thoronet Abbey welcomed 96,226 visitors in 2019. Le Thoronet Abbey © Marc Tulane
Abbaye du Thoronet © Marc Tulane
11 Practical information
Le Thoronet Abbey 83340 Le Thoronet
+33 (0)4 94 60 43 96 www.le-thoronet.fr
Opening hours
Open daily 1 October to 31 March: 10am – 1pm / 2pm – 5pm 1 April to 30 September: 10am – 6.30pm
Last tickets sold 30 mins before the monument closes.
Closed 1 January, 1 May, 1 and 11 November, 25 December
Prices
Individual: €8
Group rate: €6.50
Schools rate: €30
Free admission Under 18s (with their family and excluding school groups) 18-25-year-olds (EU citizens and non-EU citizens who are long-term residents of an EU country) 1st Sunday of the month from January to March and November to December Disabled visitor and one accompanying person Job seekers (upon presentation of proof, valid within the last 6 months), visitors in receipt of tax credits or benefits Journalists
Access
By car: From Aix-en-Provence: A8, exit no.35 Le Cannet des Maures or N7 to Cannet des Maures, then D 79 to Abbaye du Thoronet. / From Cannes: A8, exit at Le Cannet des Maures, N7 to Fréjus then immediately take D17 to l’Abbaye du Thoronet and D79 (tunnel with a height limit of 4 metres).
12 CMN in short The archaeological sites of Glanum and Carnac, the abbeys of Montmajour and Mont-Saint-Michel, the Château d’If and the Château d'Azay-le-Rideau, the ramparts of Carcassonne, the Arc de Triomphe, the Villa Savoye and the Villa Cavrois are just some of the 100 national monuments entrusted to the Centre des Monuments Nationaux by the State. The Centre des Monuments Nationaux is the leading public and cultural tourism operator in France, with near 10 million visitors per year. It conserves and opens to visitors exceptional sites, whose diversity illustrates the wealth of French heritage. Based on an adapted tariff policy, the CMN facilitates the discovery of monumental heritage for the widest possible public. With a self-financing level of more than 85%, the Centre des Monuments Nationaux’s system of equalisation of resources enables it to promote solidarity between different regional territories. The monuments that benefit from this system enable cultural and scientific initiatives to be conducted within the entire network of the CMN. Moreover, the CMN is currently conducting restoration projects with the aim of opening the Hôtel de la Marine to the public in 2021 and the Château de Villers-Cotterêts by 2022. The CMN is also asserting itself as a leader in the application of digital technology to the world of heritage. It reasserted its determination to be part of innovation through the creation of the Heritage Incubator in 2018, bringing cultural public services ever closer to different audiences’ expectations.
Find CMN on Facebook : www.facebook.com/leCMN Twitter : @leCMN Instagram : @leCMN YouTube : www.youtube.com/c/lecmn
Monuments placed under CMN responsibility to be opened to the public
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Hauts-de-France Occitanie Château d'Aulteribe Tours et trésor de la cathédrale d'Amiens Tours et remparts d'Aigues-Mortes Monastère royal de Brou à Bourg-en-Bresse Château de Coucy Château d'Assier Château de Chareil-Cintrat Villa Cavrois à Croix Abbaye de Beaulieu-en-Rouergue Château de Voltaire à Ferney Château de Pierrefonds Château et remparts de la cité de Carcassonne Trésor de la cathédrale de Lyon Château de Villers-Cotterêts Château de Castelnau-Bretenoux Ensemble cathédral du Puy-en-Velay Colonne de la Grande Armée à Wimille Site archéologique et musée d'Ensérune Château de Villeneuve-Lembron Château de Gramont Ile-de-France Château de Montal Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Château de Champs-sur-Marne Site archéologique de Montmaurin Chapelle des Moines de Berzé-la-Ville Château de Jossigny Forteresse de Salses Cathédrale de Besançon Château de Maisons Fort Saint-André de Villeneuve-lez-Avignon et son horloge astronomique Villa Savoye à Poissy et sa loge Château de Bussy-Rabutin Domaine national de Rambouillet Paris Abbaye de Cluny Domaine national de Saint-Cloud Arc de triomphe Basilique cathédrale de Saint-Denis Chapelle expiatoire Bretagne Maison des Jardies à Sèvres Colonne de Juillet – Place de la Bastille Grand cairn de Barnenez Château de Vincennes Conciergerie Sites mégalithiques de Carnac Hôtel de la Marine Site des mégalithes de Locmariaquer Normandie Tours de la cathédrale Notre-Dame Maison d'Ernest Renan à Tréguier Abbaye du Bec-Hellouin Domaine national du Palais-Royal Château de Carrouges Panthéon Centre-Val de Loire Abbaye du Mont-Saint-Michel Sainte-Chapelle Château d'Azay-le-Rideau Hôtel de Sully Château de Bouges Nouvelle Aquitaine Crypte et tour de la cathédrale Tour Pey-Berland à Bordeaux Pays-de-la-Loire de Bourges Château de Cadillac Château d'Angers Palais Jacques Cœur à Bourges Abbaye de La Sauve-Majeure Maison de Georges Clemenceau à Saint-Vincent- Tour de la cathédrale Grotte de Pair-non-Pair sur-Jard de Chartres Château de Puyguilhem Château de Châteaudun Site archéologique de Montcaret Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Château de Fougères-sur-Bièvre Sites préhistoriques de la Vallée de la Cloître de la cathédrale de Fréjus Maison de George Sand à Nohant Vézère : Abri de Cap-Blanc, Grotte des Site archéologique de Glanum Château de Talcy Combarelles, Grotte de Font-de-Gaume, Château d'If Cloître de la Psalette à Tours Gisement de La Micoque, Abri de Laugerie- Villa Kérylos Haute, Gisement du Moustier, Abri du Trophée d'Auguste à La Turbie Grand Est Poisson Place forte de Mont-Dauphin Château de La Motte Tilly Tours de la Lanterne, Saint-Nicolas Abbaye de Montmajour Palais du Tau à Reims et de la Chaîne à La Rochelle Site Eileen Gray-Etoile de Mer-Le Corbusier à Tours de la cathédrale de Reims Château d'Oiron Roquebrune-Cap-Martin Site gallo-romain de Sanxay Hôtel de Sade à Saint-Rémy-de-Provence Abbaye de Charroux Monastère de Saorge Abbaye du Thoronet
The annual card « Passion monuments », available on line for 45 €, allows its holders to an unlimited free access to the sites of the CMN and offers many other benefits. www.passion.monuments-nationaux.fr
13