Exploration 2 - France

The main activity sector chosen is linked to the vineyards and several trades representing the champagne sector in general. This sector strongly represents the rural landscape close to the city and the historical cultural identity of the territory. It has become a real issue for this sector to develop sustainable practices, notably through the work of the soil.
The scientific theme was the care of the development of the living ground and the necessary resilience for sustainable relationships between soil cultivation, vineyard maintenance and territory in collaboration with Institut Georges Chappaz.

This exploration invited artists to reflect on the complex entanglement between agricultural work, geological time, and ecological responsibility. The programme questioned how care, resilience, and transformation relate to the soil, not as a resource, but as a living entity shaped by human and non-human forces.

Artists explored how manual gestures, natural processes, and material transformation intertwine in situated practices—revealing the gesture as a relational act shaped by place, care, and time. Encounters with Champagne Joseph Perrier and Champagne Goulard revealed how ecological transition in viticulture reshapes not only methods, but rhythms — linking human attention to soil vitality and long production cycles. At the Tonnellerie de Champagne, they discovered how the crafting of barrels becomes a choreography of precision, where oak mediates between earth and fermentation. The visit to Fila Arches introduced a different material ecology, where water, cellulose and hand skills converge to generate high-quality art paper — exposing how industrial processes remain deeply embodied.

A chalk tasting with Georges Orban, oenologist and geologist, turned mineral matter into a sensory experience, linking soil, memory and perception. In the vineyards, Patricia Vazquez, researcher, led a geological reading of the land, showing how layers of clay and limestone shape biodiversity and agricultural knowledge.

Artistic research was led by Delphine Lanson (artistic mentor) and Nathalie Blanc (CNRS researcher in ecological aesthetics). Through movement in vineyards and cellars, somatic and sensory exercises, and writing practices, artists explored how gestures of labour and care might resonate with their own vocabularies.