Climate Canary
by Frédéric Montfort
As we know, artists are lay priests. Their task is to draw a circle on the ground and indicate to the community the unity on which it is founded. This unity takes root in our immediate environment; the gods are first of all the local gods, the gods of the land – so that some religions have been called pagan (paganus, “of the land”).
In Saint-Etienne, our Athena, a centre located on the outskirts formed by the railway line, is obviously the slag heap. Strange goddess of the underground forests, useful in the forge, in the home and in war. We celebrate Saint Barbara, but this is just another name for the goddess bona dea, the good goddess.
Both art and religion are an opportunity to renew our piety with regard to sane idols. Not a Golden Calf, but a wall of coal.
There are the votive stones. And there is the sacrifice, necessarily, that the gods demand: the canary, whose lungs will bring good or bad omens.
Everything here is organized like a temple, in which our gods, more or less ancient, minor or major, no longer sleep.
Exhibition at L’Assaut de la menuiserie, Saint-Etienne 2019