KAUFFMANN Jacques, Ceramic, guest artist, Jardins invisibles

“Provide the right conditions for memory, and it will be able to express itself.”

Slate is an ancient clay, and since no two clays are identical, no two slates can be the same.

My work is based on this “old clay.”

It all started with an intuition based on the relationship between materials. If I can fire clay, what will happen when I fire the material that comes from it? Experience shows that fire allows the material to regain lost space. The slate opens up, releasing the energy of the more or less homogeneous sediments that have accumulated within it over a long period of time. A proposal emerges from this transformation. As if in fast motion, it allows for a possible continuation of the mineral cycle, inscribing a cultural act that gives it meaning.

This dual inscription of the work, both natural and cultural, worked at the level of the intimacy of the material, gives the feeling that something has happened, the origin of which is unclear.