“L’Amer, L’Amour, La Mer”. exhibition-sale tribute to Philippe Sollers for the restoration of the church of Ars-en-Re

A stone’s throw from the Saint-Étienne church in Ars-en-Rête, the Salle des Halles hosts an exhibition to pay tribute to the writer Philippe Solers, who died this year and fell in love with the island. “He came to Ars-en-Re since his birthday, this place was for him synonymous with absolute relaxation,” said Valerie Solvit, director of the communications agency and curator of the exhibition. “The sight of his house was a magic that counted a lot for the wholeness that the island brought him.”

The purpose of this exhibition is to raise funds to continue the restoration of the Church of Saint-Etienne in Ars-en-Re. It brings together works by around fifty contemporary artists, including Bernard Venet, Fabrice Highber, Madeleine Roger-Lacan, Eva Jospin, Vincent Dare, Viaz… accompanied by texts by Sylvian Agatzinski, Julia Kristeva and Jerome Dumoulin.

Drop the church back into the countryside

“This church is a symbol of the village and the Ile de Ré. It is inspiring and central to everyone,” summarizes Valerie Solvit. After a call for donations and four years of construction, the monument, which reopened in 2020, still needs work. “L’Amer, L’Amour, La Mer”, the title of the third edition of the exhibition, refers to the church tower, which also serves as a landmark, i.e. a landmark for sailors. in the sea Black and white, 43 meters high, it is visible from a distance of more than 20 kilometers and warns of the proximity of the port of La Rochelle in foggy weather. For the curator of the exhibition, the title was also obvious. “It comes from a poem by Marbeuf that I had deep inside me and that came back to me. This is an exhibition close to my heart.”

“L’Amer, L’Amour, La Mer”, August 7 to 13 at the Salle des Halles, Ars-en-Ré.

In the video, Rencontres de la photographie d’Arles director Christophe Wiesner reveals the behind-the-scenes of the 2023 edition.