Program

Sillages is a long-term project that involves an unprecedented collaboration between artists and institutions from both island and mainland regions.
The cultural outreach component of the Sillages project is based on an approach that takes into account the unique characteristics of the regions involved. The narratives, imaginations, and modes of transmission are deeply shaped by distinct historical, social, and cultural legacies. Thus, the mediation will be structured as a dialogue to foster a better understanding of the artistic and cultural issues in these island contexts.
Following a successful first edition in 2024–2025, focused on the sensitive geographies of coastal areas and long-term professional support for artists from these regions, the project will continue in 2026 and 2027.

Sillages #1

As part of the first phase of the project, two scouting trips were organized: to Réunion in November 2024 and to Martinique in January 2025.
The artists were selected by a curatorial team composed of recognized professionals with complementary backgrounds, representing a diversity of perspectives. This team, comprising Elsa Briand, Eline Gourgues, Bérénice Saliou, and Ann Stouvenel, reflects a shared commitment to supporting contemporary artistic practices.
This first phase of the project concluded in 2025 with an exhibition of the four artists’ works at the Festival d’art de l’Estran in Brittany.

Sillages #2

Sillages 2 builds on this momentum by initiating a collective reflection: how can we (re)inhabit these territories? Can we bring to light and reveal other narratives, other practices, and other potentials within these often fragmented or marginalized spaces?
Building on the work begun in 2025, Sillages #2 extends the visibility and circulation of the works created by Guy Gabon, Jean-Claude Jolet, Olivier Crouzel, and Andreas Kressig for the Estran Festival. The works will travel to L’Île-Saint-Denis and take their place in public spaces, within the eco-neighborhood surrounding the Maison Fleuve. They will weave their way through the streets, the banks of the Seine, and the island’s gardens and will be on view for one month.
A re-presentation of the works is scheduled for September 2026 at the Maison Fleuve of the cneai =.

THE ARTISTS

• Valérie du Chéné is a French artist whose practice revolves around painting, installation, sculpture, and drawing. She explores color, relationships with others, and the experience of space.
  
  
• Olivier Crouzel is a French artist. He creates contextual art that blends video projections and site-specific interventions, transforming spaces into poetic and contemplative forms while questioning a changing world where disappearance and traces become subjects of observation.
  
  
• Guy Gabon is an artist from Guadeloupe. A pioneer of land art in Guadeloupe and Martinique, she creates multifaceted artistic experiments in natural and urban landscapes to bear witness to the imbalances of our consumer society.
  
  
• Jean Claude Jolet is an artist from Réunion. For the past fifteen years, he has been exploring cultural hybridity and Creole identity through sculptural installations that examine the lingering effects of Réunion’s colonial history.
  
  
• Andreas Kressig is a Swiss artist. He develops ephemeral, habitable structures using assemblages of recycled materials, creating welcoming spaces activated by the public’s physical interaction.
  
  
• Claude Dugit-Gros is an artist from Ilodionys. Her work draws on the applied arts in terms of her technical mastery; she creates an open and inclusive body of work featuring simple, accessible forms. She seeks to establish a connection with her environment that is as poetic as it is practical.
  
  
  

Dissemination

This exploration will focus on the concept of “eco-living,” in the sense that inhabiting a territory is not limited to its occupation or use, but also involves a sensitive and situated relationship—with the place itself, the people who inhabit it, and the stories that run through it. 
Each partner will carry out a specific initiative from their own territory, in collaboration with artists they support (from local scenes or elsewhere). These projects, designed in harmony with the territory in question, are linked by a common thread: exploring concrete and symbolic forms of inhabiting, of reclaiming the territory we inhabit, traverse, or imagine… through artistic gestures, transmitted knowledge, or shared narratives.
On Île-Saint-Denis, at Maison Fleuve, cneai = will present an off-site exhibition featuring works by Guy Gabon, Andreas Kressig, Olivier Crouzel, Jean-Claude Jolet, and new works by Valérie du Chéné and designer Claude Dugit Gros, to mark the official opening of the new venue.

RELATED EVENTS

• Sept. 19–20, 2026 = Inauguration of Maison Fleuve, the new Cneai location on L’Île-Saint-Denis, accompanied by a series of lectures and events both inside and outside Maison Fleuve.
• SEP > DEC 2026 = Maison Fleuve - Island Fertility & River Roots
  
  
  

SILLAGES #2 BRINGS TOGETHER:

PROJECT PARTNERS

• The Artists’ Documents Network (Réseau dda) is the federation of regional Artists’ Documents associations. It implements projects developed in collaboration with its members to promote the work and visibility of artists from the regions where its members are active.
  
  
• Documents d’artistes Caraïbes et Amazonies is a documentary archive that contributes to the promotion and recognition of professional artists from Guadeloupe, French Guiana, and Martinique.
  
  
• Documents d’artistes La Réunion (DDA La Réunion) carries out its mission among artists living and working on the island through a platform that provides visibility and support for contemporary visual artists from Réunion.
  
  
• La Station Culturelle, founded in 2018 in Fort-de-France, Martinique, is an association that promotes access to cultural venues, supports emerging Caribbean artists, and strengthens the connection between artists and the public. It offers residencies and supports creators in their professional development at the local, Caribbean, and international levels, while providing assistance with project development.
  
  
• The Cneai—a composite, navigable, engaged, sheltered, and imaginative art center—is a space for research, production, artist residencies, and the dissemination of contemporary art. Since 1997, the Cneai has been dedicated to the intersection of theoretical research, experimental practices, and support for artists and audiences. The art center houses three collections: Yona Friedman, FMRA, and Multiples, as well as a publishing house and a “Floating House,” a boat designed by the Bouroullec brothers dedicated to artist residencies.
  
  
  
  

ASSOCIATED PARTNERS

Driven by a network of dedicated stakeholders, it is currently supported by the Plaine Commune Urban Community and the Ministry of Culture—DRAC La Réunion—as part of the national initiative “Mieux produire, mieux diffuser” (Produce Better, Distribute Better), in collaboration with the City of L’Île-Saint-Denis.

SILLAGES #2 BRINGS TOGETHER:

• Lannion-Trégor Communauté, an urban community, has been the organizer since 2021 of the Festival d’art de l’Estran, which takes place across three municipalities: Trébeurden, Trégastel, and Pleumeur-Bodou. The Festival d’art de l’Estran is a biannual art trail presenting, over two weeks in September, a dozen visual artworks (sculpture, installation, photography, performance, and sound art) within the coastal landscapes of the Pink Granite Coast. The featured works are ephemeral site-specific installations.
  
  
• Documents d’artistes Bretagne (DDA Bretagne) works to document the work of visual artists active in the region and supports them throughout their careers by mobilizing professional networks around their practices and projects.
  
  
• Documents d’artistes Caraïbes et Amazonies is a documentary collection that contributes to the promotion and recognition of professional artists from Guadeloupe, French Guiana, and Martinique.
  
  
• Finis terrae – Centre d’art insulaire is pioneering a unique program in France for artist-author residencies, based on the island of Ouessant and extending to other island and coastal regions. An annual residency program enables French and international artists to develop an artistic reflection or create a work in connection with the local context.
  
  
• Métropole Grand Paris is the only intermunicipal community in Île-de-France to hold the status of a Métropole. It comprises the City of Paris and 130 municipalities, including all municipalities in the inner suburbs as well as seven municipalities in the outer suburbs.
  
  
• Plaine Commune is a Public Territorial Institution (EPT) comprising 8 cities and 1 delegated municipality north of Paris. They are united around a common project in an area undergoing unprecedented changes in the Paris region. Plaine Commune is also the Territory of Culture and Creation in Greater Paris.