Clément Cogitore at Cité internationale de la Tapisserie, Aubusson, France
A centuries-old mastery, an immense heritage, a gaze on the present and the future: the Cité internationale de la tapisserie d’Aubusson—winner of the 2018 “Prix pour l’intelligence de la main” awarded by the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation—is celebrating this year the 10th anniversary of its entry into the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list. On this occasion, L’Officiel Art—a partner of the institution—met with its director, Emmanuel Gérard.
“When I arrived in 2009, we worked to revive the identity of this exceptional place, the Cité internationale de la Tapisserie, and to develop a whole series of functions. We thus set up a training program and launched the first call for projects in contemporary creation, and from 2010 on we established partnerships in order to create synergies, highlighting in particular the departmental museum of tapestry. As is often the case in rural areas, when it comes to identity-based heritage issues there is a debate about how to approach heritage management and its place in the future. These fruitful exchanges were consolidated by the inclusion of Aubusson tapestry in Unesco’s list of intangible cultural heritage, as well as the success of the first call for projects, with nearly 350 applications received, 20% of which came from foreign countries. This ecosystem created a new local dynamic that has also benefited, I think, from the work we have done in the context of our exhibitions and the sponsorship we have managed to generate. We have thus created a rhythm, strengthened by very strong pieces out of our workshops: I’m thinking, among others, of the work of Mathieu Mercier. We also benefited from the ‘return to grace’ of tapestry, which from 2010 on made its ‘reappearance’ in the context of gallery exhibitions and contemporary art events; as well as the fact that the new generations of artists are less attached to the highly restrictive distinctions between the visual and the decorative arts, many are interested in this medium. Why? On the one hand because there is a return of textile art, on the other hand because it seems to me that there are two kinds of modernity: firstly the fact of being in a work in which one can immerse oneself fully, and immersion itself is very contemporary, and secondly the fact that in this digital era one can create a correspondence between the pixel and the tapestry point. This is also a source of inspiration for artists.
In our programming, we try to respond to the maxim ‘surprise me, teach me, entertain me’... After long exchanges with the rightholders, we designed a piece inspired by Tolkien (‘Aubusson weaves Tolkien’, until December 31): this piece arouses strong interest from the visitors, which prompted us to plan a second wall hanging which would also attract the gaze toward a wider audience. But we are also continuing the work of contemporary creation that we have built up little by little, beginning with calls for projects—this year’s was entitled ‘The open work, the tapestry in extension’. Artists are asked to contribute to the creation of a tapestry with the idea of extension into other mediums (leather, ceramic, wood...) so as to resonate in terms of a creative universe. Moreover, with the support of sponsors, we have this year harnessed the imagination of Clément Cogitore, who won the 2018 Marcel Duchamp Prize, and whose work is exhibited at the Centre culturel et artistique Jean Lurçat (June 30 to August 24). Our projects are thus multiple. Their ambition is to federate different types of audiences, and to integrate a large number of partners.”
“Aubusson - Unesco : 10 ans”, four exhibitions: “Aubusson tisse Tolkien”, “Le Mur et l’Espace”, “Clément Cogitore”, “Lumière sur les Ateliers Pinton”, cite-tapisserie.fr, Aubusson, France.