Structures Artistiques a Utilité Potagère

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This artistic project was born out of the desire of the ‘Food’ collective of the Bouche A Oreille cooperative to bring art to the ‘village kitchen garden’.

The idea was not just to bring gardeners, villagers and visitors into contact with artistic works, but for them to be a vehicle for questioning and reflecting on the environment in which they are displayed: the kitchen garden.

The artistic work of Coline Vergez, scenographer, is always a witness to the environment in which it takes place. She seeks to highlight and question it, while integrating her pieces within it. In this way, the works fit into a logic of harmony between materials, images that make sense and/or their utility.
She created her first work ‘MMMMH!’ in the village of Simorre, as well as 5 ½uvres that make up the Sentier à p’Art – a 4km walking trail starting from Simorre based on the principle of Land’Art.
‘In this project, I want to remain faithful to this way of working and propose works that are fully integrated into the intention of the vegetable garden; that respect its gesture, reveal it and serve it. My artistic approach is intended to be accessible to everyone, in a language that is clear and easy to understand, and that does not compartmentalise. I want to speak to everyone and I want my work to speak to everyone”.

A little corner of the kitchen or…behind the scenes of life.
This first work, installed in May 2020, highlights a central element of the kitchen that plays as essential a role in the processing of food as it does in that of the people who live there: its table.
‘I chose it for its most basic function. It’s the heart of the kitchen, the place where food is cut and chopped, de-boned, sorted, cleaned, weighed, pressed… The place where food becomes a meal. But it’s also the place where people reveal themselves, alone or to each other. I love the idea that a single edge of the kitchen table could have witnessed the birth of love, the passing of culinary or family secrets, the tearing apart of people, the making of major decisions, the creation of projects, the growth of children, the sharing of desires… No matter how insignificant, this little corner of the table works on living things, transforms them and makes them evolve.
Its scale has been enlarged to emphasise its importance, but also to make it a useful structure in the vegetable garden.
Both the chair and the table can accommodate climbing plants and cucurbits, and their heights allow the gardener to pick fruit with ease, while creating a shady spot in summer. In winter, the table is covered in strips of woollen fabric coloured with plants from the garden or picked nearby.

Artistic structures for kitchen use.
Un petit coin de cuisine ou…les coulisses de la vie’ is part of an overall concept that will see other installations created in the same spirit. The idea is that each artistic installation should be made up of three essential elements: it should provoke questioning, it should be useful and it should be legible. These elements will be developed in different ways for each piece. In this context, Coline’s work will question what is not visible to the naked eye: the purpose of market gardening (for what purpose do we cultivate, how do we transform what grows there, what is the future of what we create there? etc.) or will highlight the invisible but essential players in the life of the vegetable garden (its microcosm: earthworm, beetle, lucanus, dragonfly, etc.).
The works will all have a real function within the garden, whether in the gardening process, in providing amenities for native flora or fauna, or in improving the living spaces for gardeners or visitors.
This work will be aimed at a lay audience and is intended to speak to everyone.
Each person will interpret the works in their own way, depending on who they are and what their artistic background is, but the creations will use a very direct and clear visual language.
To facilitate this, humour and paradox will be used to demystify art and make it accessible to everyone.

Gesproken talen : Frans

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