#7
Paul Ardenne
Anthropocène art 2 - Green Soul
Anthropocene art is fundamentally a creation driven by the idea of renewal. What does it mean to “renew”? It's about rebuilding links, because they've been distended or broken. It's to “connect”, a term referring back to that of “religion” (from the Latin religare), a disposition conveyed by faith in something. Faith, on this occasion, in a new contract, the Social Contract of the 21st century, the Socio-Ecological Contract.
In order to establish this contract, and in addition to faith, several other ingredients are needed: voluntarism, energy, a proven optimism for the idea that a future is possible and that it will no longer be that of the contaminated world, and finally, narratives, a fabula, a “storytelling”, as we would say today - a sum of “narratives” that persuasively, stylishly and sensitively support the idea of a world to come that will be redeemed, repaired and reinscribed in a virtuous trajectory.
This conference will attempt to define the nature of the “narrative” specific to the positive Anthropocene culture that seeks renewal in creative fields such as dance, theater, music, film and comics. We're talking about close contact, gentle sensuality, slower gestures, returning nature to its own music, rebalanced human-non-human relationships... All within the framework of an ecoculture in search of pacification, where the aim is, to quote green activist and documentary filmmaker Cyril Dion, “to replace the current dominant, materialistic and consumerist narrative”.
Speakers
Paul Ardenne has a degree in History and a doctorate in Arts and Art Sciences. He is a contributor to the journals Art press, Archistorm and INTER-Art actuel, and is the author of several books: Art, l’âge contemporain (1997), L’Art dans son moment politique (2000), L’Image Corps (2001), Un Art contextuel (2002), Art, le présent (2009), Un Art écologique. Création plasticienne et anthropocène (2018), L’Art en joie. Aesthetics of joyful humanity (2023). He is also a novelist and specialist in architecture (Terre Habitée, 2005; La Bonne ville, 2019; Le Boost et le frein – Comment l’humain bâtit au 21e siècle?, 2021…).
As a curator of contemporary art, Paul Ardenne has designed numerous exhibitions, the most recent of which are “Dendromorphies. Creating with trees” (Paris, 2016), “Courants verts. Creating for the environment” (Paris, 2019) and “L’anthropocène et après” (Saint-Denis de la Réunion, 2020). He has produced several programmes on France Culture devoted to art in the age of the Anthropocene (“L’art est l’environnement“, January 2023) and is a regular contributor to the series of programmes The World in Images, on the ARTE television channel.
Partners
