17. Dix pieds sous terre
Digging the ground, embedding, burying, entombing the body to have better access to the soul.
A solemn descent towards the centre of the garden, through a dark corridor, followed by a sudden access to light, directly in harmony with the sky.
Here, the “body and soul” concept is taken to the extreme, in a sober and purified creation.
Instead of trampling on the garden, you go into it completely, finding yourself with your eyes at ground level. Above our heads, it blossoms, dense and vigorous, it overflows, abounds with disturbing plants. Coming to curl up at its centre, we find we are alone, nose in the air or amongst wild grasses, fully immersed, in the scents of plants.
It involves creating a “bubble” where you can change your point of view and look: the plant we would have trampled on from our full height becomes an extraordinary object of contemplation. In this microscopic observatory, you bend over, examine, touch, and let yourself be completely imbued with the magic of the place.
DESIGNERS
Tony Balmé is just starting out professionally, having come from a traditional training background (CAP, BEP [vocational training qualifications]). After this, he had a taste of a more industrial method while studying for his baccalaureate and a BTS [advanced vocational training qualification] in “Industrial Automation in Wood and Furnishings” at the École Boulle. Using the expertise he gained from these two approaches, he is now working on various projects, from design through to implementation, and is collaborating with landscape architects, designers and artists, amongst others.
Ingrid Saumur has been a young graduate of the National Higher Institute for Landscape in Versailles since July 2009. She originally came from the countryside of the Poitou area and went to the Boulle School, before attending the National Higher Institute for Landscape in Versailles in 2005. She loves urban walking and other ordinary journeys and approaches landscapes through strolling around them. As a freelancer, she designs and creates gardens for private individuals in the Paris region and is currently working on a Landscape Workshop for the Ile de France Facilities Management as a landscape architect cartographer.
Fabien David is a young man from the Paris suburbs and graduated from the National Higher Institute for Landscape in Versailles in 2009. He does freelance work, mainly for the “Coloco” association and Gilles Clément. He is currently working on a management strategy study for the deprived in the city of Montpellier. At the same time, he is doing multidisciplinary work, ranging from graphic projects and photographs to other urban installations. His projects and his principles are simple, and he is committed to economy, ecology, action and exchanges with people. He works with others for others. The Chaumont-sur-Loire Garden Festival is the opportunity for him and his team to test things out, and above all to exchange ideas.
Frank Boulanger, who is a Parisian by adoption, has been a freelance graphic designer since 2002. He set up the PENSION-COMPLETE studio with Eric Leuliet in 2002. The “pension” [guesthouse] is open and regularly visited by gifted fellow artists, whose presence complements and enriches the spirit of the group. Alongside this work, Frank takes photographs for individual exhibitions, for exchanges with the show-business world or for collaborative projects.
Fabrice Ramalingom is a dancer and choreographer who started working in particular for Dominique Bagouet, the iconic French choreographer. In 1993, he created the “La Camionetta” Company with Hélène Cathala. They choreographed 11 shows together. He choreographed “Implication” on his own in 2000, then in 2004 “Touche” and “Miss Bolivia”. He also experienced being an associate artist at the Équinoxe Theatre in Châteauroux (1998), at the Nîmes Theatre (1997-2000) and at the National Theatre of Sète and the Thau Basin (2004-2007). In 2006 he founded his new company: “R.A.M.a.”. In 2010, for the 30th anniversary of the Montpellier Dance Festival, Fabrice will present “Prototype 20.10 / Vanishing Point” (provisional title) at the Agora Theatre, cité Internationale de la Danse [International City of Dance]. Alongside his choreography work, Fabrice has continued his work as a performer: “Flowing along” by Hervé Robbe (1994), “CPAD” by Yvonne Rainer, reworked by the “Knust” Quartet (1998), “Past/Forward” by The White Oak Project Company/ Mikhail Barishnikov (2001), “Barakooda” by Yves-Noël Genod, “Lugares Comunes” by Benoît Lachambre (2006) and “Quintet Cercle” by Boris Charmatz (2007). Since his first job as a performer at the National Choreography Centre in Montpellier, he has been interested in and committed to communication and education in their various forms (professional training, contributions at universities, master classes, danced lectures, courses and workshops for amateur adults or children). He is also involved with professional companies such as Philippe Decouffle’s or those of the National Choreography Centres: the one in Montpellier directed by Dominique Bagouet, then under the management of Mathilde Monnier or the one in Tours directed at the time by Daniel Larrieu. In 2005, he was appointed artistic adviser for the EX.E.R.CE dance training of the National Choreography Centre in Montpellier, directed by Mathilde Monnier.
