Conferenpress conference
Following the actual completion of the first two phases of the work, the objective of the press conference on 26 September 2022 was to maintain communication around this major project of contemporary artistic creation. It brought together all the stakeholders involved in this project (artists, artisans, institutional partners, media), around the projection of a documentary project on the work, at the cinema Le Méliès de Bayeux; and, a press conference below the work, in the cathedral transept.
The installation of such a work effectively presupposes the deployment of several parallel projects (masonry, creation of replacements, restoration of the south and north bays) and mobilizes a large number of craftsmen.
The almost dialectical relationship between the monumental heritage sector and that of artistic creation in such a place is exemplary.
The artist Véronique Joumard talks about the project ( Video link on the image):
One public commission at Bayeux Cathedral
This large Romanesque building erected in the 11th century, the «Guillaume Cathedral», a masterpiece of ducal Normandy, proved to be a laboratory for the introduction of the Gothic style in France as early as the 12th century. Classified in its entirety as a historical monument in 1862, the cathedral has benefited from several successive restoration programs over the past thirty years. The roofs of the bedside, of the ambulatory, of the nave were thus taken over, the belfry, the library of the chapter, several balustrades and other high masonry were also restored. The large bays of the two transept arms remained in repair following the storm of 1760, when the original creations of the master glassmakers disappeared. These eight large windows are now the subject of a contemporary creation of stained glass windows, entrusted to Véronique Joumard, as part of the public artistic commission carried out by the Ministry of Culture.
This procedure is the will of the State and the multiple partners that accompany it (Normandy Regional Council, Calvados County Council, Bayeux City Hall) to contribute to the enrichment of the living environment and the development of the national heritage by the presence of works of art outside the institutions specialized in the field of contemporary art.
La luat the heart of creation
From time immemorial, the eight bays of the transept have produced in the cathedral a light both pale and raw at the heart of the crusade. This white light naturally illuminates and reveals the splendour of the interior architecture, to the point of singularizing the building for visitors who have become accustomed to it. His perception breaks with the coherence of the different luminous and colorful atmospheres from the nave to the choir, and with the unity usually sought in the interior spaces of a cathedral.
In the building, Peace is the subject of a very special spiritual theme. Following the events which marked the Norman territory in 1944 and which announced the end of the Second World War, it appeared that this fraternal value deserved here attention proportional to its universal dimension. And the work on the light could also make sense in this place.
The main idea of the design of the stained glass windows for the eight windows of the transept is therefore to play the optical qualities of glass prisms integrated into the clear glass windows. Their presence, through natural light and the passage of the sun, causes many colourful stains inside the cathedral, preserving the transparency and clarity of the luminous atmosphere known at the heart of the Crusade.
After several researches and tests with different forms and qualities of prism, it turned out that it is the shape of the crystal, whose size recalls that of diamonds, that produces the best effect. Its many facets refract the light rays by dissociating the light according to the wavelength of the different colors that compose it, and thus create multiple moving rainbow in the sky, from the ground to the ceiling of the frame. The high lead oxide content of the crystal gives it its refractive qualities and its great transparency, the crystal irises the light that passes through it.
The crystal is literally set, using reinforced metal rods, in the glass “antique cathedral” slightly bullé, slightly greyed out from the bay. Each crystal is at the crossroads of two lines, one vertical, the other horizontal. Randomly located in different places in each of the bays, the crystals compose, like a score, a rhythmic drawing that could be described as musical.
Echoing this first principle, which consists of the bottom two thirds of each bay, the top third uses dichroic glasses. Manufactured by multiple melting of different metals (titanium, chromium, aluminium, zirconium, magnesium or silicon), these dichroic glasses in turn create various colors and reflections, reflecting, depending on the angle of view.
Thus, evoking again the drawing of the facets of the crystal, the high eardrums and other polylobes are composed of triangles of changing colors, chosen for each of the berries according to their orientation in the sun. Depending on the angle of view and the outside light, again the colors will change.
Also the research on the light, on the luminous atmosphere, the color, their sensitive articulation in the interior spaces, guided the desire for a contemporary artistic intervention, for the creation of stained glass windows in the transept of the cathedral.
As part of a particular historical, cultural and aesthetic landscape, this intervention accompanies the development of this architectural and spiritual heritage. In this context, within this building but also within the city, it aims to produce a new cultural and artistic perspective for all audiences.
This project for Notre-Dame de Bayeux Cathedral is proving to be a perfect innovation both in terms of aesthetics and in terms of technical implementation. It combines the qualities of a real artistic success and a sensitive promise made to all visitors.
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