A groundbreaking artistic experiment is currently on display at LUX Valence, showcasing the innovative work of French artist duo Anne-Lore Mesnage and Charles De Borggraef in their exhibition "L'Envers du monde" (The Reverse of the World). Since 2022, the two artists have been traveling through the Vercors plateau in southeastern France aboard a caravan transformed into a giant camera obscura, creating monumental analog photographic works through their unique itinerant approach.
The artists' methodology involves literally immersing themselves in the landscape they photograph. Using their caravan as a massive pinhole camera, images of the surrounding environment are projected directly inside their vehicle, completely enveloping them in what they call the "antre-paysage" (landscape-cave) - a space-time of luminous projection. Each photograph is experienced from within through a manual and patient process that stands in stark contrast to the frantic pace of popular digital photography.
Their refined and sincere approach serves to highlight the natural heritage of the region, revealing the authentic composition of locations without superfluous ornamentation. In the manner of documentary photography, these raw analog works captured from within the caravan serve as slow witnesses to the authenticity and grandeur of the territory's landscapes. The duo shares their creation along the roads with local residents, who in turn experience this unique landscape-cave environment.
The exhibition at LUX invites visitors to follow the artists' odyssey and engage in a journey across the plateau, measuring themselves against its cliffs and immensity while sharing the challenges the artists encountered behind each photograph. Conceived as an immersive sensory experience, the scenography is built around René Daumal's work "Mount Analogue," representing the ascent of an imaginary mountain that becomes a metaphor for an inner quest filled with obstacles, successes, failures, and accidents to overcome.
This ambitious project follows a major commission from the departmental service of the Sublime Roads of Vercors, working in close collaboration with the Heritage Conservation service. The exhibition, curated by Sylvain Besson, will run until November 23, 2025, at LUX SCÈNE NATIONALE, located at 36 bd du Général de Gaulle in Valence. Visitors can learn more about the artists' work through their respective websites, with Anne-Lore Mesnage's portfolio available at www.anneloremesnage.com and www.rn7.photography, while Charles De Borggraef's work can be found at www.horschamp.photography.
