Grand Prix – Contemporary Creation Call 2013

Creation – Goliath Dyèvre, French designer born in 1980, living and working in France (Paris), and Quentin Vaulot, French designer born in 1983, living and working in France. Weaving – Atelier de la Lune, Aubusson Porcelain – Atelier Charty Bonneau, Saint Maurice, La Souterraine Low-warp tapestry, cotton warp, wool weft Dimensions – Each piece 1.80m H x 7.20m W Limoges porcelain Colors: dyed by Thierry Roger, Aubusson

Both designers, Quentin Vaulot and Goliath Dyèvre, here present a fictional scenario: a mad scientist has locked himself in a museum and has taken fragments of ancient verdure tapestries from the 16th and 18th centuries. He has worked in a secret laboratory on genetic manipulation protocols aimed at creating verdure patterns that are more resistant to contemporary climatic challenges.

Five tapestries illustrate five experimental protocols designed to rejuvenate the ancient colors, giving them a new brilliance. Laboratory tools made of porcelain are dedicated to the protocols, which, from left to right, are: 1. Isolation, 2. Injection, 3. Crossbreeding, 4. Light exposure, and 5. Sound exposure.

Symbolically, this project is about re-injecting life into the Aubusson tapestry, overcoming the ravages of time that dull artworks—an impossible mission. It is about re-composing new verdures by scientific means, ensuring them a new life in a modern, technological world where humanity could preserve a nature in distress.