As part of the Parti Poétique’s Transformative Territories project, from January to September 2024, Caroline le Méhauté, winner of the COAL 2024 prize for transformative territories, led an artistic residency at Parti Poétique entitled Soigner la terre. Caroline invited the residents of Saint-Denis to explore their relationship with the earth in participatory workshops, culminating in a sculpture in the form of a circular ruin, erected in the Zone Sensible field.
During this project, she explored our relationship with the earth, seeking to understand how we can take care of what is buried and nourishes us. She studied the earth both as a building material and as an essential component of biodiversity, pointing out in particular that the soil is home to a quarter of all living organisms.
Based in Saint-Denis, where soils tell the story of urban and agricultural transformations, this residency explored the possibility of integrating earth into modern building practices. Caroline le Méhauté worked closely with local residents, engaging them in participatory workshops to share knowledge and build a collective work.
The culmination of this project is an experimental sculpture in the form of a circular ruin, erected in the field of Zone Sensible. The bricks of this work contain plant seeds capable of depolluting the soil. When they come into contact with water, the bricks disintegrate, releasing the seeds.
Read more at Parti Poétique website
