The Crystal Cave is inspired by municipal history, it offers you a breathtaking view of the village of Saint Laurent les Bains. Work of Hehe within the framework of the Sharing of Waters.
Description
“Crystal Cave is a work that contrasts with the mountains and their Mediterranean vegetation. This giant crystal emerging from the earth echoes the hot spring that gushes out below. »
Eh eh
Crystal Cave
The history of the fluorspar (or fluorite) mine of Saint-Laurent-les-Bains-Laval-d'Aurelle and its interaction with the thermal water spring which gushes out in the center of the village constitute the starting point of the reflection of HeHe for their Crystal Cave. In its slow journey of 17 years between the moment it penetrates the ground and the moment it emerges from the earth's surface at a temperature of 000°, water takes on numerous minerals. The fault it follows runs along the veins of fluorspar.
Fluorite crystallizes in simple geometric shapes. Inspired by these natural forms, the work overlooks the village, on the Mediterranean side of the watershed. It suggests both entry into an underground landscape and mining. From inside the work, caught in the color of the ore that remains buried deep beneath it, the village seems immersed in geological time.
CRYSTAL CAVE also refers to the artistic tradition of artificial caves, which began during the Renaissance and was later popularized by the Romantics. This contemporary version, tinged with science fiction, uses an aesthetic language that evokes the digital, geometry, organic and natural.
Creation: 2021
Design and production: Puzzle & Miroirerie de l’Ouvèze workshops
Technical coordination: AMCT Productions
Eh eh
HeHe is an artist duo composed of Helen Evans (GB, 1972) and Heiko Hansen (Germany, 1970), based in Le Havre. Their work combines art, technology and ecology. Many of their projects explore the possibilities of correlations between energy and environmental phenomena, such as air pollution or energy production.
HeHe was interested in an energy that has hit the headlines particularly in Ardèche: shale gas and oil.
HeHe (c) the artists
In a creation produced in Nantes in 2013, they relied on a spectacular image from the film “Gasland” which shows a person setting fire to water flowing from a tap. By applying this strong image of two opposing elements which come together in the same object, in this case a bathtub, they have once again highlighted – and debated – a technique used to exploit energy: the hydraulic fracturing method. .
With great formal precision, HeHe's works touch the very essence of the often cutting-edge subjects they explore, without ever putting aside the search for a certain form of beauty. It is the fascination that we feel when seeing these works imbued with “high-tech romanticism”.
The site
An inspiring local story…
In 1958, while the fluorspar mine of Saint-Laurent-les-Bains-Laval-d'Aurelle was in full activity, a mine blast pierced the vein of thermal water which circulated in the vein. This gallery was condemned to prevent the breach from drying up the source: the mine ceased all activity in 1968. The history of the mine is an integral part of that of the village because most of the miners were from the country.
“While the mineral-rich thermal water rises on its own and is offered free to the village, the fluorite is buried deep in the earth and can only be extracted with labor. Underground, never seen by visitors to the village, the veins of the fluorite deposit are still there and undoubtedly intersect with the source. " Eh eh.
The climb of the GR72 towards the Crystal Cave work
Although the fluorite extracted in Saint-Laurent-les-Bains-Laval-d'Aurelle was sold as a metallurgical flux, it was a highly decorative material very popular in the 18th century. Fluorite exists in a wide variety of colors. It is now grown artificially in the laboratory, in small quantities, for use in science.
Interview with the artist Helen Evans, from the duo HeHe
Journalist Héloïse Erignac from France Bleu Drôme Ardèche conducted an interview with the artist Helen Evans on July 28, 2021. The artist describes the creative process and the purpose of the work “Crystal Cave”.
France Bleu Drôme Ardèche: The Sharing of Waters – Grotte de Crista July 28, 2021
Access
To access the “Crystal Cave” work from the village, take the GR72 in front of the Tourist Office. Allow 5 to 10 minutes of walking one way.
From the village, you can also go up to the Tower and from there reach the Notre-Dame des Neiges Abbey (terre LOIRE work) 3,9 km away. Follow the signs from the Tourist Office.
As part of the summer PROGRAMMING, guided tours are offered by the Park with the Passeurs du PARTAGE DES EAUX on each of the works on the route (see Agenda section).
Be careful, the work is fragile. You can enter it but it is forbidden to climb on it. Please watch your children. Users are responsible for any damage they cause to people and property.
ARTISTIC ROUTE OF THE SHARING OF WATERS – MONTS D’ARDÈCHE REGIONAL NATURAL PARK
50 allée Marie Sauzet
07380 JAUJAC
+04 75 36 38 60 XNUMX
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All year, every day.
Path that can be slippery in case of rain.
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