Celestial Bodies

Eight living contemporary artists offer a sensitive and poetic perspective on the body - the dreamlike, emblematic body ; the teeming, ectoplasmic bodies, somewhere between the human and the cosmic…

This poetic evocation takes place within the powerful setting of the Notre-Dame Chapel on Île Barbe. This historic landmark was founded in the 11th or 12th century by the Benedictine abbey located on the island—one of the oldest in France, dating back to before the 5th century—to accommodate the large numbers of pilgrims. Today, it hosts contemporary art exhibitions twice a year that engage in a dialogue with the site.

This event is part of the ongoing and sustained efforts of a local nonprofit organization, Souchaud Art Project, one of whose goals is to actively participate in the region’s “poetic economy” by bringing artists and the public together around sensitive artistic projects connected to heritage sites, rooted in the history and development of the region.

The objective, through a commitment to collective artistic work between artists and the organizing body, is to foster direct and immediate exchange and to engage with a broad audience capable of fulfilling a deep need for access to humanistic, human-scale creations that embody shared values.