800 grams
From grain of salt
to strand of wool…

April 30-May 5, 2024 / 10:30 a.m.-7 p.m.
Free entrance / vernissage Friday May 3 from 6:30 p.m.

The Salt Granaries of Honfleur are one of the most visited sites in Normandy. Classified as historical monuments, an exceptional setting wich is likely to host cultural events and manifestations. They offer visitors the opportunity for a unique and sensitive architectural experience, combining aesthetic emotion with historical knowledge of the city.

Through an in situ work, we propose to reveal the strength and power emanating from these two imposing stone vessels, the beauty of a space rhythmically marked and crowned by the marine carpenters’ vault and its remarkable structural elements: stringers, crossbeams, king posts, and stops.

The installation is crafted with wool, an extremely light, fluid, and moving material. It unfolds in an inverted manner, in contrast to the roof, and incorporates in its design the chestnut wood frame that evokes the overturned hull of ships.

Using only 800 grams of material is also an antithetical evocation of the 10,000 tons of salt that these granaries were able to contain for fishing campaigns, at a time when the exploitation of sea resources was not a critical issue yet. Today, choosing to use a minimal amount of material to create means defending an economy, an ecology of means.

A natural, fragile, and modest material, wool takes shape under its own weight, drawing a chain-like vault, a delicate and ephemeral geometry that can be transformed by a simple draft. Only 800 grams. An almost immaterial surface ripples as visitors pass by, generating a subtle interaction between the artwork and the spectator. 1600 meters of thread. By moving within this
immersive installation, by altering it through the movement of his body, the visitor can feel, perceive, think about the place and its history, feel his own presence, and experience the present day.

« For me, it’s not just about working with architecture and space, it’s also about working with time, working with the people who engage with the place. It’s also a matter of history. » – Daniel Buren

8 key words to discover the exhibition

I
Material close to the body, soft, intimate, wool induces a sensation of fragility. It is knitted as it is unraveled. If you pull on the thread, everything comes apart.

II
Used by weavers and geometers, the framework is a means of organizing space, of imagining it. Weaving, thinking of something to come that has not yet taken shape.

III
Forms are generated by the material and gravity: a thread, attached at one end, the other end being free, creates a vertical line. Attached at both ends, it creates a curve, more precisely a chain.

IV
The thread is a generator; the set of generators creates virtual surfaces. This allows sculpting the void.

V
800 grams for a sensory experience of the artwork and
the place like a plays of forces in balance.

VI
A minimal intervention in the Salt Granaries to
apprehend their monumental character.

VII
In the salt granaries, there is the time of history, and there is the time of the visitor. What happens in the interval matters.

VIII
A back-and-forth between 3D simulation and in situ experimentation of the physical qualities of the material.

The salt granaries, a historic monument

The two Salt Greniers date from the 17th century. Built by the Gabelles farm with Colbert’s approval, most of the stones used for their construction come from the old fortifications of the city. Their oak frame is inspired by marine construction techniques. They are classified as a Historical Monument.

Dimensions: 137.8 long, 39.4 wide, 45.9 at the ridge

Artistic co-direction : Jacquie Guiyoule
Graphic design : Eva Hamard

With all our thanks to the city of Honfleur
and our three sponsors: Happywool, Boesner et Karver Systems