Studio Orta

Aux Commandes ! is an exhibition featuring eight recent commissions by the Fondation de France initiative Nouveaux Commanditaires (New Patrons). In the last twenty years New Patrons has enabled the production of more than 400 works across Europe. The emblematic artworks selected for this exhibition at Châteu de Tours reveal the ways in which citizens and artists can engage in territorial development to define their living and work spaces. The exhibition captures the diversity of political issues to which our society responds, the range of artwork commissions seeking to address them, and the pertinence of these artistic proposals to effect change.

Lucy + Jorge Orta present a miniature version of Spirits of the Huveaune, a scale replica of the five permanent figurative sculptures that were installed over a two-year period along the Huveaune valley and inaugurated for Marseille Cultural Capital 2013. Known locally as the Chemin des Fées, the five Spirit sculptures map the presence of the Huveaune, a coastal river in eastern Provence that originates in the massif of Sainte Baume and flows into the Mediterranean Sea at Marseille.

The five Spirits of the Huveaune: Spirit of the source – Marie, Martellières, Saint-Zacharie Spirit of the bridge – Ubelka, Moulin Saint-Claude, Auriol Spirit of the river banks – Manon, Îlot des Berges Park, Aubagne Spirit of the old mill – Gyptis, Parc du vieux Moulin Spirit of the lake – Ophelia, Parc Borély

Spirits of the Huveaune was commissioned by the association Rives & Cultures and mediated by the Bureau des Compétences et Désirs, Sylvie Amar and Anastassia Makridou-Bretonneau.