Description
The site: the Verrerie peat bog on the heights of Burzet
The Verrerie peat bog is located on the Ardèche plateau, in the town of Burzet. It extends over approximately 11 hectares and is part of the upper Loire basin, on the Atlantic side of the watershed. The watershed of the peat bog is quite small and mainly wooded (coniferous plantations and beech-fir forests).
The environmental interest of the Verrerie peat bog has been highlighted by numerous inventories which led the Rhône-Alpes Conservatory of Natural Spaces to become its owner in order to ensure its management (restoration of the environments, monitoring of species ) and valuation. Among the plants it shelters, let us mention in particular the arctic cordulia, the round-leaved sundew and the succise checkerboard.
This site is also marked by an industrial history dating back to the 1760th century, from which the peat bog takes its name: a forest glassworks. Under the leadership of the lordship of Burzet, the glassmaking activity continued until around XNUMX, for the manufacture of goblet and window glass, using all the natural raw materials available on site: silica, potash, wood, peat and water. The ruins are still visible today on the edge of the peat bog.
“On the Ardèche plateau, at more than 1000 meters above sea level, the climatic and hydrological conditions as well as adapted agricultural practices have favored the maintenance of peat bogs (also called narces or sagnes) which are an integral part of the identity of this territory . Often described as immense “sponges”, peatlands play an essential hydrological role: they are capable of storing water during rainy periods, which effectively contributes to the recharging of groundwater and/or the prevention of flooding downstream. . In dry periods, the peatlands empty slowly, guaranteeing a minimum flow in the rivers located downstream and providing valuable grazing areas for herds. These environments are full of unsuspected natural riches: they are home to numerous protected species, whether plants, birds, butterflies, dragonflies or even frogs. They are also champions of storing CO2, this greenhouse gas which contributes to climate change.
The artist HENRIQUE OLIVEIRA
Born in 1973, Henrique Oliveira left his hometown of Ourinhos (Brazil) in 1990 to study visual arts at the University of São Paulo. Moving from the territories of painting to those of architecture or sculpture, Henrique Oliveira's works explore the original nature of materials to redefine their ordinary uses. His work has been presented in numerous solo exhibitions around the world.
The work OUROBOROS
The figure of the Ouroboros was the source of inspiration for this work by Henrique Oliveira. This enigmatic term will only resonate in the ears of certain historians or archaeologists. What it designates, however, will speak to everyone as this figure is present in many cultures around the globe: a snake or a dragon biting its tail and thus forming a ring. Sometimes a symbol of the cycle of time or the seasons, of enclosure and protection, of danger, of rebirth, of unity, of movement, it is this form which turns on itself. If Henrique Oliveira chose not to make his sculpture a literal representation of the snake, he draws abundantly from this symbolic richness.
From his many works that he has presented throughout the world, we already knew him to use a particular technique that he is particularly fond of: the assembly of strips of used wood – notably from Xilempastos, palisades for protection of typical construction sites in Brazil, his country of origin – through which he creates large-format raw sculptures or in situ installations. Playing here with a completely organic materiality, the serpentine form appears for the first time in his work to establish a fruitful dialogue with the site. As soon as he discovered the peat bog, he wanted to design a work that seemed to belong to the site, as if it were emerging from the skin of the ground. Thus, from a distance, its presence is almost animal while it becomes plant-like on approach. The choice he made here to mix reclaimed wood with natural bark further accentuates this organic effect. By breathing new life into what we previously considered waste, it gives shape to the very idea of the cycle of life: birth, development, decay, death, rebirth. The knot shape whose branches return on themselves evokes both the self-fertilizing ecosystem specific to the peat bog and the millennial temporality necessary for water to transform matter into this “vegetable rock” that is the peat, making two phenomena invisible to the naked eye perceptible. In contrast to Gilles Clément's Water Tower, whose stone structure rises towards the heavens, Henrique Oliveira offers here a work with a more fragile, horizontal appearance, echoing the lazy flow of water on this site with exceptional landscape and biological characteristics.
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