COAL PRIZE 2017
The COAL Art and Environment Prize 2017 was awarded to artist Anne Fischer for her project Rising from its Ashes. The laureate was selected by a jury of personalities of contemporary art and ecology among ten shortlisted artists, at the Museum of Hunting and Nature on 29 November 2017. The event was part of a day dedicated to Art, Culture and Biodiversity organized by the Ministry of Culture, the Museum of Hunting and Nature, COAL, the French Center of Funds and Foundations and the French Agency for Biodiversity.
In eight editions, the COAL Prize has become the international rendezvous for artists who take up the main universal challenge of our time: ecology. This year, nearly 350 artists from 66 countries representing the six continents competed in the international open call. The ten nominated artists were selected for the aesthetic qualities of their proposals, their relevance to environmental issues, their inventiveness, their ability to transmit and transform, and their social and participatory approach. Together, they demonstrate how creation, in its diversity of forms and actions, is a key force in shaping the future of our societies.
LAUREATE
Anne Fischer (France, b.1988) was awarded the COAL Prize in 2017 for her project Rising from its Ashes
Rising from its Ashes is the transformation of plants able to draw heavy metals from the polluted soil of an old mine, in the south of France, into glazes that neutralize them. Linking the industrial past with a local pottery tradition to revitalise a region and its heritage.The abundant mineral resources of the Cévennes developed, amongst others, a pottery tradition along with an intense mining activity. Exploited for centuries before its complete stop in 1995, those mines produced lots of waste that has contaminated rivers and soil with heavy metals, subsequently creating serious troubles for the ecosystem and the people living there.
On the ancient mine site, only 2 species of plants survived, the so called hyper accumulators. A phytoremediation program, based on those 2 plants, has been developed by scientists in order to rehabilitate the polluted soil. Though, without valorisation, the biomass created by the aerial parts of those plants are still considered as contaminated waste. The up-cycling of this biomass into glazes is thus essential.
FINALISTS
Erich Berger and Mari Keto (Austria, Finland) – INHERITANCE – The Ritual of Measurement
Isabelle Daëron (France) – Topique – eau non potable
Abdessamad El Montassir (Morocco) – Résistance Naturelle
La Vallée (France) – Pietra P.
Martin Le Chevallier (France) – Obsolescence programmée
Le Nouveau Ministère de l’Agriculture (France) – Les nouveaux produits du terroir. Les diamants Maquignons
Gideon Mendel (South Africa) – Drowning World
Afour Rhizome (South Korea) – Ce vent dont vous parlez nous porte loin de nous-même
Anaïs Tondeur (France) – Noir de carbone
> Read more about the shortlisted projects
SELECTION COMMITTEE
Raphaël Abrille, curator at the Museum of Hunting and Nature
Olivier Lerude, sustainable development mission of the Ministry of Culture
Thierry Boutonnier, artist, winner of the 2010 COAL Prize
Loïc Fel, philosopher, sustainable development advisor and co-founder of COAL
Lauranne Germond, curator and co-founder of COAL
Julie Tanneau, coordinator of the 2017 COAL Award
Clément Willemin, landscaper, manager of the BASE agency and co-founder of COAL
JURY
Claude d’Anthenaise, General Curator of Heritage, Director of the Museum of Hunting and Nature
Christophe Aubel, Director General of the French Agency for Biodiversity
Monique Barbaroux, Senior Sustainable Development Officer of the Ministry of Culture
Nathalie Blanc, Research Director at the CNRS and director of the LADYSS UMR 7533 laboratory
Chantal Colleu-Dumond, Director of the Domaine and the International Garden Festival of Chaumont-sur-Loire
François Hers, Cultural Advisor at the Fondation de France
Isabelle Le Galo Flores, Deputy Delegate for Spain at the Daniel & Nina Carasso Foundation
Frédéric Martel, writer, researcher and journalist
Lucy Orta, Visual Artist
Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of the Ecological and Solidarity Transition, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the European Union and the Imagine2020 network, the Museum of Hunting and Nature – Fondation François Sommer and in partnership with the French Agency for Biodiversity and the French Center of Funds and Foundations.
Image credits :
© Angelika Markul, photograph taken on the set of The Memory of the Glaciers, El Calafate, Argentina. Winning project of the 2016 COAL Prize.
© Anne Fischer, Rising from its Ashes
Photographs of the COAL Award Ceremony by © Emmanuel Nguyen Ngoc
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