AQUA
water in all its states
In September 2024, the exhibition "AQUA - Water in all its states", at the heart of the 4th edition of the Ile de la Harpe festival, highlights water as a source of artistic inspiration.
It illustrates how six contemporary artists, through their art and a sensitive perception of the world around them, invite us to an intimate reflection on our relationship with water and contribute to raising public awareness of the environmental issues of our time.
September 5-13, 2024, Château de Rolle
open every day except Monday from 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
EXHIBITING ARTISTS
VICTOIRE CATHALAN
Painting, Installations
Chus Díaz Bacchetta, a graduate of the Llotja art school in Barcelona, her hometown, and of ECAL, has developed a career at the crossroads of diverse cultural influences. In his workshop in Lutry, his concerns around climate change have for several years integrated his quest for identity construction, taking the landscape as a memory and water as a common thread in his artistic practice.
“Nostalgia for the sea sharpens my perception of water and makes its presence indispensable. From the beaches, scenarios of childhood games, to the back and forth between Lake Geneva and the Mediterranean, the alpine water of the Rhône flows from my home land to that of my origins. Essential recurring itineraries on a personal and creative level, these territories contribute to defining the reflection and character of my plastic work.
Victoire Cathalan, Douce IV, 2023
PASCALE ETTLIN
Photography
After studying art and philosophy, Jean-François Delhom, a Swiss photographer, discovered outdoor activities and caving with passion. Since 2001, he has devoted himself to photography and his love of philosophy.
In his photographs, Jean-François Delhom sublimes ice formations and crystalline structures, transforming them into ephemeral natural sculptures that invite contemplation.
Each image captures the complex texture of the frozen landscapes, in the strength of their silence, revealing details that evoke both the fragility and the power of this meeting of water and cold.
Jean-François Delhom will participate in the conference on September 13, 2024 at the Château de Rolle: “Sublime disaster, glaciers in danger seen through the eyes of 3 artists” where he will dialogue with Bernard Garo and Marc Decosterd.
Pascale Ettlin, Le Bois Dormant
FRANÇOIS MONTHOUX
Photography
Giandra de Castro, a Franco-Brazilian photographer, lives in Saint Gervais, at the foot of Mont Blanc and since 2018 has worked exclusively on the reflections of water, at the edge of mountain lakes and rivers near Lake Geneva.
Her artistic expression, very pictorial, frees itself from any reality by focusing exclusively on the reflection of water, the transfiguration of scenes in an aquatic environment, or the abstractions created by the material water (liquid, ice, snow, haze), without shooting gimmicks or retouching during digital development. The optical and dreamlike properties of water and its reflections, the play of textures, shapes, hues and blur create atmospheres dear to Monet or Turner. Each of the works presented expresses the poetic, emotionally soothing qualities of water. A world where poetry prevails over the representation of reality, where the long time of contemplation plunges us into meditation, as compensation for an accelerated world.
François Monthoux, La Grande citadelle de Monthoux, 2024
JULIEN PELTIER
Drawing, Sculpture
L uis, born in Portugal in 1984, architect, has lived in Geneva for almost 12 years where he works for the Territorial Department. He developed artistic work to nourish a long-time passion that he had abandoned: drawing.
Fascinated by the dizzying morphology of the Alps, he began to be interested in graphic representations of these mountains. From his need to create his own territories are born lines representing imagined places, which can be perceived as private, subconscious landscapes, where one can rest. The water element (rivers, lakes, sea) is often associated with these contour lines, even being the starting point of the drawing.
He further explores the boundaries of sculpture with layers of glued paper, located at the limit between the abstract and the figurative, thus creating imaginary topographies where the human presence gradually fades away .
MINÉRAL DESTINY ( lauréat du prix international “créative Saga” / BULGARI/ LVMH Group)
WINNER OF ART
CONTEST 2024
Trained at the Vevey photography school and the CERULEM art school, Delphine is an independent photographer and photography teacher. She lives in Lutry.
"Giving back to nature this fish captured in a frozen moment. Paying homage to the still lifes of yesteryear by associating this precious resource that is water. Overfishing, the pillaging of the oceans, the simple abundance of water are so many reflections that color our daily lives, in a duality imposed by our society Just like human beings, fish flee their environment and migrate to survive. They move to be caught up by societal trends, used to naively decorate the stalls. supermarkets. It ends up elegantly behind a window, in a freezer or in a can." — Deplhine Broggio
The pictorial and ironic compositions aim to interweave the fundamental techniques of still life, with the choice of products whose mass consumption affects the natural environment. These compositions, featuring fish captured in illuminated scenes, are printed then immersed in a swimming pool to capture the aesthetic of aquatic reflections. This critical approach illustrates the disconnect between modern consumption and the recognition of water as a vital resource.