of France
The Cité de l’Histoire takes visitors on a journey through 17 tableaux retracing the major events in French history. Based on a scenography designed by Thierry Rétif, my role in this project, entrusted to me by AAB, is to supervise the creation of the 11 sculpted concrete rooms, which must respect and inspire the atmosphere decided by historian Franck Ferrand. This mission and its responsibilities constitute a two-faceted position, that of artistic director and that of sculptor.
To feel history, to have the sensation of Truth
What’s special about this project is that it brings together several different types of decor on the same site. For example, medieval dressed stone facades stand side by side with tuffeau stone and even boulders from a coal mine on either side of the picture rails. You move from one world to another as you pass from one room to the next. The desire to retranscribe eras and their atmospheres is also reflected in the realism and verisimilitude imposed by the scenographer and historian Franck Ferrand, who ensures respect for the techniques and materials used in each period. In this way, the project deliberately distances itself from a cartoonish, exaggeratedly staged amusement park, instead drawing closer to a certain reality in the form of theatrical immersion.
Later, Thierry Rétif’s prop-makers will dress the scenes with their multitude of everyday objects, found here and there… the final touches before the arrival of the costumed actors, ready to play their roles in front of the first visitors.
Along the way, we discover Joan of Arc, a Viking feast, a 1900 school classroom, a coal mine, a 14-18 battlefield, the interior of a Renaissance château, a Versailles stable, and many other scenes, surprising in their diversity and historical impact, which we realize after the fact.
For me, it was the freedom of my interpretations and decisions that characterized this unique project. Guided by the strong personality and talent of Thierry Rétif, in the direction he wanted to give to the project’s scenography, it was the constant exchanges with him that enabled the entire AAB team to complete the project on time – which was quite a challenge – and to achieve a recognized result.
Playing the role of artistic and technical interpreter, I was able to draw on a wide range of skills to give shape to the various textures and architectural elements of the project.
Not always clearly defined by the scenographer or even the design office, the scenes had elements in waiting, last-minute unknowns to be determined, waiting to be realized. This is what we might call “the spice” of the project, what gives the spice and adrenalin of Beaux projets. Finding solutions, giving shape to ideas and, above all, bringing them to fruition are all challenges I’ve taken on with desire and passion.
Not long ago, I was interviewed at the Gare de Nantes by a local journalist. The journalist asked me how to best describe my contribution to the concrete tree sculpture; as an artist or an artisan? Normally, this type of question would have left me speechless, had I not thankfully prepared a very polite, very vague answer:
“we are a bit of both”