Our good friend the sound artist Martin Smith relocated to a small village north of Carcasonne in the Languedoc district of France. When he bought his charming little gold miners cottage, he realised that it came with a piece of land ten minutes walk from the village. The land consists of a very steep slope, which levels out towards a tiny stream and includes a small woodland area. The sloped area would have been terraced at one time to grow vines although it is really too steep to be of any practical use, with the exception of a few olive and almond trees, which hang on to the rocky slope and help to keep it in place.
We have been working with Martin to create a sculpture garden, where he hopes to curate exhibitions as well as house a permenant collection. In a clearing in the woods we are planning a performance space to bring music, performance and theatre to the heart of the french countryside. This is a long term project with a limited budget. Over the course of a few years, we have cleared pathways through the dense woodland, and opened up spaces where sculptures can be displayed. We have spent time rooting out brambles and wild asparagus, while encouraging wild fennel, thyme, myrtle, cistus, dog roses, astrantia, various grasses, cow parsley, snowy woodruff, ferns, agave and sedums which grow wild in the surrounding hillsides. We are trialing a number of hardy grasses which we hope will help to bind the loose gravel on the slope and protect the soil against winter flood erosion. Plants here have to be hardy enough to withstand winter floods and snow storms as well as long periods of drought in the summer. With barely a trickle of water flowing through the stream in the summer, watering is just about impossible. The clearings in the woodland should be more amenable growing space and we are encouraging the ferns which are already dotted around the forest floor.
Our aim is to use Permaculture principles, taking our time to understand the site and working with nature to carve out a Mediteranean forest garden full of cultural exchange.
Walter is working on an artwork which involves one hundred standing stones and a cliff face containing 199 eyes, to commemorate an atrocity committed by the only crusade in the south of France during the 12th Century. The crusade was sent by Pope Innocent III to wipe out the Cathars, a religious sect whose headquarters were in Las Tours.
The land lies on the south slope of a valley to the North West of the village. Entered from the road above, the ground falls off steeply before levelling out into a small woodland.
Looking up towards the entrance from the road, you can see how steep the slope is.
In some locations it is a bare rock face which we will utilise in our artwork.
Over time we hope to create different spaces within the woodland. This location is identified for dining.
View of the village with the Cathar castles on the hill in the background.
A frame hung in the middle of the clearing in the woods lets the visitor know that art is afoot!
A sculpture by Walter is the first artwork to be placed on site.
Working with the landscape we are encouraging local wild flowers, grasses, herbs, aliums and succulents to grow, while suppressing unwanted plants that will overtake the others, such as wild asparagus and brambles.