Eclairages
Regards sur les collections du musée

Collections form the foundation of any museum, shaping its identity and giving it a face. They are the raw material available to curators, whose role is to shed light on what lies dormant in storage. However, another perspective on collections is possible: that of individuals whose approach is neither historical nor scientific—the subjective and unique gaze of artists or architects. The museum has thus invited seven of them to update certain aspects of the collections and to critically examine the very principle of such an assemblage of works, as well as the conditions of their conservation and display. “Éclairages” thus combines collection presentations with contemporary art exhibitions, allowing the public to discover hidden treasures or to rediscover familiar works from a new perspective.

Architects Jean-Gilles Décosterd & Catherine Cotting focus on one of the key parameters of exhibition spaces: light—its variations and its decisive impact on the “climate” of a space. For “Éclairages,” the two architects propose expanding the concept of “exhibition climate” by creating a luminous layer whose intensity varies according to climate changes. This dynamic lighting system, autonomously controlled by weather sensors installed in the Alps through the Swiss Experiment project of the Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (WSL/SLF), will directly connect the interior of a museum room to its environment. The installation is complemented by two (anti-high-tech) materials used in architecture that interact with the local climate: compacted earth and a pollution-reducing paint.

Ariane Epars, on the other hand, intervenes in the space through sound, making the entire collection of the museum—its artists and works—audible and thus present within the space. This project extends a concept originally developed for the 100th anniversary of the Palais de Rumine. By broadcasting the names of all the artists and the titles of each of their works, she creates a virtual space for a collection that is still awaiting real exhibition spaces to fully unfold.