Sound art, theater, and audio-visual installation
La Nuit des Lavoirs was born of a meeting between 6 contemporary artists and Au fil des lavoirs, an association dedicated to safeguarding and promoting Clamecy’s washhouses. This nocturnal, summertime event (Aug 8, 2024 in Clamecy, Burgundy) offered the public the chance to move between three of the town’s washhouses and discover a variety of artistic forms: installations or lively, poetic artistic proposals combining sound, music, performance, illumination, visuals… It provided an opportunity to discover this rich urban heritage and appreciate its architecture, history and site, enhanced by “in situ” artistic works.
In each washhouse, visitors enjoyed a different experience, the result of an encounter between artists and a site. This year, the theme of the washerwomen was chosen as the main theme for the evening. The three art forms on offer were:
- Lavoir de Bethléem: A visual and sound installation showing in turn the luminous sides of this washhouse in memory of the washerwomen who worked there, and the darker sides in memory of the tales and legends surrounding the washerwomen of the night.
- Lavoir des Jeux: A musical performance evoking the location of this washhouse near a marina, with its aquatic soundscape. A continuous multi-instrument improvisation show immersed the audience in a sound universe echoing that of the site.
- Lavoir du quai des Îles: A play based on the memories of washerwomen collected in the 21st century. A light show and a performance with water and pigments accompanied this artistic form to evoke the atmosphere of the washhouses.
Beyond the encounter with washhouses and their contemporary artistic proposals, this event aims to keep alive the memory of washhouses, washerwomen and their culture. These spaces are still of interest today, both for the women’s culture they have helped to develop, and for the questions they have raised about our relationship with water and hygiene.
The artistic creations on offer have been designed by a collective of 6 artists, partly collectively, partly by teams associated with each washhouse. They all aim to draw on the history of the washerwomen, on the spirit of the place, on the sound, visual or tactile perceptions in these washhouses, in order to conceive works whose meaning is anchored in these historical and social spaces.
La Nuit des Lavoirs team
Artists: Lola Ajima, Bruno Bernard, Nicolas Bralet, Christine Gandois, Yukao Nagemi, Chia-Wen Tsai
Acknowledgements: Municipality of Clamecy for logistical support and Association Les Météores for hosting the artists in residence.
In collaboration with the Association Au Fil des Lavoir, who took charge of welcoming the public to the washhouses and accompanying the groups between the washhouses. The municipality of Clamecy contributed to the logistics and technical equipment for the Nuit des lavoirs.
