Ruissellements
Eve George and Laurent Fichot began research on plant imprints by embedding flowers and leaves gathered around their workshop in Côte d’Or into high-quality glass-blown objects. This research takes on special meaning near the Château de Bussy-Rabutin when they discover its “remarkable” garden and its species threatened by climate change. By capturing and sublimating the imprints of these local plants, which have traversed time and styles over the centuries, Atelier George tells the story of the monument and its garden, highlighting their fragility in the face of the ecological crisis.
Interview of Eve George by Caroline Naphegyi, Member of the Mondes nouveaux Artistic Committee
C.N. “Your project combines traces of the natural ecosystem around the Château de Bussy-Rabutin and the craft of glassblowing. Why did you choose this château? What do these glass objects bring to the landscape?”
E.G. “Our glassblowing workshop and the Bussy-Rabutin site are neighbors, in Côte d’Or. When we began this research on plant imprints embedded in high-quality glass-blown objects, we chose plants and flowers gathered around the workshop. Completing this research into a more ambitious work meant having the context to tell the story of each local plant species, their origins, their cycles, the threats they face. The remarkable garden of the Château de Bussy Rabutin has undergone many historical evolutions, also telling the story of humanity’s changing relationship with the surrounding ecosystems. In the 17th century, the French formal garden plan and the terrace inherited the landscape preferences of Versailles. In the 19th century, the Count of Sarcus, a nature lover (his herbarium is still preserved at the Château), evolved the park into an English style. Today, the species that make up these protected, maintained, and tempered spaces still show signs of fragility in the face of climate change. By displaying them in the Château’s rooms, we also aimed to make these movements, which are not easily perceptible to occasional visitors, tangible.”
The ginkgo biloba at the center of the labyrinth is covered with bright yellow leaves. Philippe, the gardener, tells us: “we call it the forty-coin tree, that was its price back then.” It is an extremely long-lived tree, whose resilience surpasses the greatest human catastrophes the Earth has known.
Forty gold glass coins
Perceived by the sleeping water.
In this bedless Acheron
This obol will be thrown,
Ode to these purchased wishes.
May we thus acquire
The lost meanders of time,
Learn that the Earth understands
And paves a passage,
Like the psychopomp journey
Of the world’s oldest tree.
Parterre basin – Forty glass coins gilded with fine gold. Imprints of ginkgo biloba leaves obtained by pouring molten glass directly onto the plant. Each piece results from the combustion of a leaf of the “forty-coin tree” collected in the fall. ©Tadzio
©Tadzio
©Tadzio
©Tadzio
Precipitation
We continue our exploration in the park. Under the woods, a huge trunk is lying on the ground. “It fell, we don’t know why,” our guide tells us.
Philippe continues: “We believe we are quite protected from the effects of climate change here. Yet, we have many beeches in the region, and for this species, +1°C means a migration of 100 km north.”
Beech in two degrees
Migrating in discomfort.
Two hundred kilometers
Despite the earth’s plains,
Against its own will.
Slow down the ash’s race,
Gather its dead leaves.
Fix them in glass, break the spell.
Memory of happy days
When autumn signaled life.
Impressions of beech, ash, and hornbeam leaves, obtained by pouring molten glass directly onto the plants. ©Tadzio
These pieces result from the combustion of park leaves, gathered in autumn. ©Tadzio
©Tadzio
©Tadzio
Evaporation
At the foot of the Château, we follow the water’s course from the source to the basin where it flows. Its cycle is not immune to climate change disruptions.
When we discover the herbarium of Count de Sarcus preserved at the Château, we choose the highest point of the Tower, now bearing his name, to close this loop.
Climbing from the basin
From earth to water
Through the air the source rises,
Cascades down from the hearth.
A burning cascade
Of unanswered questions.
Tour Sarcus – Ivy impressions, growing by the large reservoir collecting the valley’s spring waters.
Each piece of the luminous cascade was obtained by pouring molten glass directly onto the plants. ©Tadzio
©Tadzio
Exhibition funded by the Mondes nouveaux artistic creation support program implemented by the Ministry of Culture as part of France Relance, in collaboration with the Center for National Monuments.
