Interview. A Summer in Le Havre: Epi 8 comes back to life on the beach thanks to Stéphane Vigny

At the beach of Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), ear number 8dismantled in February 2024, comes back to life thanks to the artist Stéphane Vigny who reproduced it “in its used state, just before its removal and at real size”, i.e. more than 36 meters long.

A work produced as part of the 8th edition of Un Été au Havre, in partnership with the Groupe Partouche Casino du Havre and the Syndicat Mixte du Littoral 76.

- : How did Gaël Charbau contact you to take part in a Summer in Le Havre?

Stéphane Vigny : I have known Gaêl for a long time. He has been a work support since his Parisian beginnings since I met him during my first Parisian exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo when I did the Pavillon residency in 2007. He came to discover artists. We talked for the first time. Then he came to see my work in a gallery. And from there, we worked together several times during collective exhibitions, but not only, in Paris or abroad.
When he suggested I come to Le Havre, the mixed coastal union was dismantling this groyne number, the last wooden groyne, to be rebuilt in concrete. They asked Gaël: “Do you know an artist who could make a work of art out of it?” That’s how it started. Knowing my work and my interest in technical and functional objects, Gaël asked me if I was interested in working on this object.

What is the initial idea behind your work for “Épi”?

S. V. : I start from a very simple idea, which is, as I often do, a movement of an object as is in space and to present it further by perhaps considering that the part of this ear of corn which was buried and which I did not know was also an interesting structure.
It turned out that in the investigation of the project it was discovered that what was under the ground was not that aesthetically interesting for this project because it was only piles driven several meters deep.
At that point in the work – it’s almost December 2023 – this discovery that the basement didn’t have the elements that I fantasized about – I said we’re going to take all the elements existing at the time of the scouting and reconstitute them this time with the rustication technique, which consists of remaking rather natural elements with cement mortar modeled in the faux bois style.
It’s a verisimilitude, something that evokes wood but is obviously not a carbon copy.

A work over 36 meters long

Tell us about Epi…

S. V. : Everything was done in separate parts in the workshop. There are over 36 meters with of course missing parts so it is not 36 linear meters. There is a good third of the piece that does not emerge beyond 90 centimeters. There is the first part which is about two meters away. After having installed it in Le Havre, I hope that it will not be too present, that it will also have a form of discretion, of integration into the environment.

How did you work?

S. V. : The original elements of the ear were repatriated to my workshop in Sarthe to work. And today, I am asked if it is possible to recover these elements to have real witnesses.
I had asked to recover what it was possible to recover to have a model, beyond the photo report that I had been able to do beforehand.

Spike between the permanent catalog of A Summer in Le Havre

Your work will remain beyond September 22, how did you react to this announcement?

S. V. : I am proud. It is a chance that I am asked to do this but it puts additional pressure because it is as if we were writing a book. As much as a work in an exhibition is temporary, it passes, if it is missed we forget it does not matter, as much now when I will return to Le Havre I will see all the places where it bothers me.
It is always very rewarding, especially in a city like Le Havre which has a strong architectural heritage and history, especially facing natural elements like the sea.
Beyond that, there is also the desire to make an object of memory.

A Summer in Le Havre: until September 22, 2024.

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