Vincent Lamouroux: Par nature

On October 13, 2016, the House of Martell launched a new corporate foundation in Cognac with a cultural and multidisciplinary vocation. Envisioned as a creative ecosystem, the Fondation d’entreprise Martell will offer a rich and varied schedule of events promoting the discovery and experimentation of culture and savoir-faire, as well as nurturing exchanges and collaborations on a local, national and international scale.

Located in the historic Gâtebourse building, whose modernist architecture makes it a landmark in Cognac, the Fondation d’entreprise Martell just openned with its first exhibition as a preview of the future schedule of events. An ambitious program of improvements will then begin on the interior of the building, with the ground floor and roof top terrace reopening to the public in spring 2018, followed by a gradual opening of the other floors as the work is completed. The entire 6,000 square-meters of the Fondation d’entreprise Martell will be accessible in 2020/2021.

The Fondation d’entreprise Martell displays Par nature (By nature) by the French artist Vincent Lamouroux on the ground floor of the building until January 31, 2017. This immersive artwork, which occupies more than 600 square-meters, is curated by Nathalie Viot, the foundation’s director and produced by Less Is More Factory, offering an enticing glimpse of the future cultural schedule of the Fondation. 

Vincent Lamouroux’s installation is an artificial terra incognita, a mineral and botanical landscape that is—by nature—white. This work, as a form and as a field of experience, offers the possibility of an infinity of viewpoints. It invites visitors to wander along the extraordinary undulating walkways whose elevation speaks to and stimulates the adventurous of spirit.

The white halo fades out around the edges of the work as the sand is spread by visitors’ footsteps. Thus, the imprecise contours offer a choice of entering the landscape or observing from a distance, allowing all to embark on a journey in space and time. The artist has cultivated, down to the finest detail, the appearance of a wild landscape, fixing the dunes and considering the unstable properties of matter. The white veil he has cast over the work is as much the sign of an effacement as the evocation of a beginning. Par nature suggests the power of patient forms whose movement is beyond time.

“The Fondation d’entreprise Martell will be curious, open and transversal. Its mission is to become an original space in Cognac which stimulates pleasure and curiosity, and nurtures creation and innovation. It will bring together, around projects of variable dimension, artists and artisans, new technologies and traditional savoir-faire. The Fondation d’entreprise Martell will be fluid, adaptable, visible and accessible. Visitors will experience diverse environments, materials, skills and artistic approaches. They will come to hear, to see, to feel, to make, to invent, to read, to dream,” explains Nathalie Viot, Director of the Fondation d’entreprise Martell and Curator of Par nature.

Contact Fondation d’entreprise Martell 
info [​at​] fondationdentreprisemartell.com

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