Studio Idaë

Set design

Champs Libres

« Thinking is searching for clearings in a forest »
Jules Renard

Champs Libres is an exhibition of 14 artists working with sustainability and ecological transition. Designed for the MAIF Social club and curated by Julie Sicault Maillé, Champs Libres takes the form of a clearing, as in the quote above from Jules Renard.

With a map, the visitor travels around a wooded territory to discover artworks about current ecological issues. Illustrated stamps are hidden in the trunks for every visitor to complete its map.

A carpet on the ground made of recycled fishing nets pictures the aquatic, mineral, vegetal, urban and aerial environments that the artworks relate to, and expanding upon. The scenography intensifies and reinforces the existing architecture with a grid of poles to create a forest. This rhymes with the space without compartmentalizing it. This forest full of 13 diverse artworks becomes a field of communication. Trees are covered with labels and pedagogic drawings about each artist’s specific themes.

At the heart of the exhibition, a clearing opens up and captures natural light coming from the canopy. This is the core of an ecosystem and the meeting point of the environments. The visitor enters its center reflecting on ecological issues. From this new point of view it is possible to embrace all the artworks and the complexity of all their connections.

While planning the structure of this exhibition, a lot of attention has been given to how the materials that went into the exhibition can be reused afterwards. The carpet is made of recycled fishing nets, partitions and platforms from earlier exhibitions have been reused in this project and will have a another life afterwards, the tree-poles will be used for carpentry.