Art Sur Le Causse

Passing through Savignac les Églises you find and indicator signaling Le Causse de Savignac, arriving at the entrance a large sign welcomes you to Le Causse de l’Isle. These seem to refer to the same thing, though all communications of the government and tourist offices use the latter. The leaflet presents ‘A nature reserve covering 410 hectares’, and I somehow expecting an educational facility with information panels on the local ecology. To my positive surprise the area choose a different approach.

A public consultation led to the creation of the Association for the Sustainable Development of Causse de l'Isle (ADDCI) and the Communauté de communes Causses et Rivières en Périgord, acquiring the area in 2008. In 2010 the members of ADDCI voted in favor of a development towards the cultural field. In 2011 and 2012 the first two Land Art exhibitions on the Causse were organised, which developed into an annual exhibition now called Art sur la Causse (more appropriate perhaps as it includes many in-situ installations).

At the same time the restoration of the small vernacular heritage started.

I am not sure if it was done on purpose, but the split between of the heritage conservation in northern section. And looking towards the future through Land art in the southern section, appears very smart to me. As the original land art recognized ‘the future is build on the ruins of the present’ or past. It is interesting to see ancient sections of dry stacked wall morphing into something new, but it is equally valuable to conserve the old.

I visited the 10th Art sur la Causse exhibition in summer 2020. Started in 2011 and 2012 as ‘Land Art exhibitions’, now an annual event more appropriately named Art sur la Causse as it includes many in-situ installations that should not be named as Land art. That said I was quite impressed by Power Button by artist Wieger Franken which I have since been able to spot on the satellite image of the area. An interesting twist on the way Land art, the work consists of a large ‘power button’ that was achieved by turning the soil in the hope to recover a possible seed bank left behind by its former land use.

A series of works by Natalie Cosson titled Apparition/Disparition take existing dry stacked walls as a starting point, playing with the ephemeral and possibly confusing future generations with what actually happened here. The exhibition featured a total of 63 works, 13 works that were added in 2020. The trail is lightened up through a series of quotes, literature excerpts and site specific practical jokes.

Looking forward to the 2021 edition! Find out more about the landscape, history, vegetation, the villages and life on the causse:

The index of this blog.

Causse de Savignac

On this former military zone was used between 1953 to the 1995 for shooting practice (still marked on many maps as ‘Champ de Tir’). A nature reserve covering 410 hectares developed itself, now recognized as a ‘Zone d’Intérêt Naturel, Ecologique, Floristique et Faunistique’ (ZNIEFF II) as the area had been covered by vegetation typical of the dry South-West - Downy oaks, Junipers, Montpellier maples. Home to rare species of butterfly, spider and lizard, with a rich dry stacked stone heritage.

A 3.7 km long trail guides the visitor passed amazingly dense clusters of dry stacked stone vernacular architecture. An architecture without architects, built without mortar according to precise rules, in particular of horizontal and vertical ‘calage’ (wedging). They are characterized by a so-called ‘à encorbellement’ internal vault which is detached from the roof and which is highly resistant to bad weather.

Today almost overgrown by forest, it is hard to imagine these temporary shelters so closely linked to agriculture and particularly to the cultivation of vines dating back to the times this area was indeed covered by vineyards. The trail takes you passed Lassinée, the ensembles of Mallaurin and Dardinelle and five sites of L’Henriette. Some of the cabanes ‘à double parois’ have double exterior walls I have not seem elsewhere, and have not been able to find information on their purpose.

Far from the surrounding hamlets and villages, the cabanes served as temporary shelters and refuges against the overwhelming heat of the summers on the causse. To take a nap, shelter from storms or store tools. The dry stacked stone constructions also had another purpose: getting rid of the stones that the cultivator removed from the fields in order to make space for crops. The area is crisscrossed by (low) walls, dotted with 'queyrous' (pile of stones), 'guérites' (shelters leaned against or integrated into a wall), 'drailles' (path between low walls).