The 2019 Art Symposium in Correns serves as a profound locus for investigating the intersection of "socioplastics" and the phenomenology of the Provençal landscape. Anto Lloveras, operating within a transdisciplinary framework that bridges architecture and epistemology, utilizes the village of Correns not merely as a backdrop, but as a primary reactant in a complex aesthetic equation. By embedding the "international art family" within the domestic and civic fabric of the town—specifically the Castle of Correns and local residences—the project transcends traditional residency models to enter the realm of Nicolas Bourriaud’s relational aesthetics. Here, the "skin of the relational body" becomes a tangible membrane where the consumption of local viticulture and communal dining are elevated to artistic gestures. This environment fosters a collective artifact, wherein the social interactions and the "unstable nets" of human connection constitute the core material. Lloveras’s approach treats the group dynamic as a living sculpture, suggesting that the true work of art is the sustained, intersubjective experience shared among the diverse cohort of international artists, which includes figures such as Niké Nagy and Michael Cartwright. Lloveras’s "Up the River" action represents a critical evolution in his ongoing engagement with the environment, manifesting what he identifies as a "Hegelian synthesis in praxis." This year’s performance functions as an ontological bridge between previous investigations: the hydro-politics of Eau Non Potable (2012), the semiotic inversions of Palindrome (2014), and the optical narratives of The Light in Provence (2015). By navigating the riparian corridor between Correns and Barjols with a symbolic red bag, Lloveras engages in a peripatetic methodology that recalls the Situationist dérive but with a more rigorous focus on material synthesis. The act of gathering flowers in the intense heat is a performative intersection of the body and the botanical, a physical endurance that maps the landscape onto the artist’s own physiology. This synthesis seeks to reconcile the dualism between the subjective "yellow object" of past wanderings and the objective reality of the river’s current. The resulting work is an ephemeral record of movement, where the "site-specific piece" is less a static object and more a rhythmic oscillation between the artist and the terrain.
The aesthetic gaze of Lloveras extends into the intimate choreography of the studio, where he observes the "movements of hands and bodies at work" with the precision of an architect and the empathy of a social critic. This focus on the manual labor of the symposium’s participants—Nagy, Cerny, Jauregui, and others—recontextualizes the act of creation as a facet of socioplastics. By documenting these "stills" of the artistic process, Lloveras emphasizes the artifact of the studio as a site of epistemic production. The interplay of light on ancient wooden doors and the reflection of the limestone cliffs in the river’s surface create a visual language of permanence against which the fluidity of the performance is measured. This contrast is vital; the "unstable nets" used in prior iterations are now metaphorical, catching the nuances of light and shadow that define the Provençal experience. The artist’s role shifts from a singular creator to a medium, capturing the collective "beat" of the group as it resonates within the historical and geological architecture of the region. The culmination of the symposium, the vernissage at the castle’s tower, signifies the final integration of the individual and the collective. In this elevated space, the act of singing and the remembrance of "the fallen ones" anchor the contemporary art practice in a continuum of historical care and communal joy. This vertical movement—from the riverbed to the tower—mirrors the intellectual trajectory of Lloveras’s work, moving from the grounded "praxis" of the walk to the panoramic "view" of theoretical reflection. The symposium thus operates as a microcosm of a functional society where art, politics, and daily life are inextricably linked. Provence is no longer just a geographical location but a "steady beat," a rhythmic pulse that synchronizes the diverse artistic output of the symposium into a singular, cohesive narrative. Through Lloveras’s lens, the 2019 event is a testament to the power of socioplastics to transform a village into a canvas, proving that the most enduring artifacts are those woven into the social and environmental fabric of a place.
BY THE RIVER_______________________________________CORRENS___________________________________________PROVENCE____________________________JUNE 2019
Lloveras, A. (2019). Up the River: Provence 2019. [online] Anto Lloveras Socioplastics. Available at:
ANTO LLOVERAS
SOCIOPLASTICS
