Stéphane Guiran has come up with a remarkable installation composed of quartz flowers, designed for the Chaumont-sur-Loire stable’s indoor riding arena. Titled ‘Le Nid Des Murmures’ (The Nest Of Murmurs), the installation is characterized by a gentle and infinitely poetic accumulation that resonates with the arena’s architecture.
“I imagined a nest made from geodes gleaned in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains,” explains Guiran. “Stone flowers gathered by human hands. Like poems garnered directly from the earth. From these broken geodes, a gentle purity emanates. That of quartz, keeper of murmurs. To white quartz we ascribe the magical gift of reflecting thoughts and feelings. Singing the silent words hidden within us.”
“A sound creation based on children’s murmurings illuminates the poetic journey,” adds the artist. “Assembled against a backdrop set between earth and sky, the four thousand quartz geodes become a huge amplifier of murmurs. An enhancer of silences. Let each visitor leave their dreams there, their wishes and secret fantasies. And those silences will fly away, through the open windows, blown by the wind.”
Guiran’s work is one of the 13 new installations on view at Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, which includes an exclusive multi sensory installation, titled ‘IN/OUT – Artificial Paradises‘, by French artist Miguel Chevalier.
all images © Éric Sander