Art to raise awareness about waste : cross perspectives
L'art pour sensibiliser aux déchets
Regards croisés
Published on Wednesday, November 05, 2025
Abstract
Scheduled at the beginning of the residency, this study day offers a new perspective on everyday waste. Rubbish bins, leftovers, scraps and garbage can be transformed,recycled, reused and revived to serve other purposes. Art can be a powerful vehiclefor raising awareness and transforming our practices. This day brings together different typesof stakeholders involved in this issue: researchers, elected officials, artists and cultural actors.
Announcement
Presentation
This colloquium is part of the European OTRart programme (Creative Europe), led by Routes de l'Olivier and of which Avignon University is a partner. It aims to promote sustainable practices, particularly on the issue of waste, through an artistic and creative approach.
The OTRart project is being rolled out in six Mediterranean countries. Each country is hosting two artists in residence to work on this subject and is organising a programme of events and discussions related to the residency. In Avignon, artists Fanny Lavergne and Cornelia Eichhorn will be welcomed to the Villa Créative from 17 to 27 November 2025.
Scheduled at the beginning of the residency, this colloquium aims to change the way we look at everyday waste. Rubbish bins, leftovers, scraps and garbage can be transformed, recycled, reused and revived to serve other purposes. Art can be a powerful vehicle for raising awareness and transforming our practices. This day brings together different types of actors involved in this issue: researchers, elected officials, artists and cultural actors.
It has four main objectives:
- Nurture the imagination and creativity of
- the artists hosted, enabling them to
- interact on the subject;
- Be part of Avignon University's
- mission towards sustainability, raising awareness
- among students, staff and the general public;
- To contribute to the general reflection carried out by the
- network of partners in the OTRart project;
- To contribute to interdisciplinary
- and international research on sustainable development,
- with an Arts & Sciences approach.
Programme
10 a.m.: Welcome address
Céline Bourgeois, Vice-President for Environmental Transition, and Julie Deramond, coordinator of the French team for the OTRart project.
- 10:15-11:00 a.m.: "Accommodating leftovers, or not? The journey of an archaeologist turned anthropologist" by Frédéric Joulian, Anthropologist at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS)
Through his travels in West Africa, Marseille, Japan and Mayotte, Frédéric Joulian explores overconsumption, the second lives of objects, innovations, as well as the ontology of ultimate waste - corpses or plutonium - and the mental, social and symbolic strategies for dealing with it. A Guinean artistic performance will also be screened, helping to establish a closer link with the issues at stake on this day.
- 11:00-11:45 a.m.: "From research to museum: the making of the exhibition Vies d'ordures at the Mucem, Marseille" by Denis Chevallier General Curator of Heritage, Head of the Research Department at the Mucem between 2013 and 2018.
A look back at the different phases of a project that took place between 2014 and 2017, culminating in the Mucem exhibition devoted to the waste economy in the the Mediterranean, curated by Denis Chevallier in association with Yann-Philippe Tastevin: mobilisation of a multidisciplinary team, surveys and collections around the Mediterranean, selection of works, debates on the scenography.
11:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.: Discussion with the public
12:30-2:30 p.m.: Lunch break
- 2:30-3 p.m.: ‘The valorisation of olive by-products’ by Anne-Claire Hostequin, Product designer, project manager at Atelier LUMA (LUMA Arles)
As part of its research activities on materials, Atelier LUMA has conducted a cross-disciplinary project on the valorisation of olive oil co-products. This case study addresses a number of issues: mapping the resources of the bio-region, interdisciplinary research and development, the scale of production and dissemination models.
- 3:00-3:30 p.m.: "Artistic and cultural approaches: sensitivity as a lever for urban change and territorial transitions" by Axelle Poulaillon, Deputy Director General in charge of territorial attractiveness at Plaine Commune. A territory at the heart of Greater Paris
Plaine Commune stimulates and supports artistic and cultural initiatives that promote urban change in its territory. With the support and in alliance with cultural factories , artists and developers, it would like to strengthen the sharing and emergence of cultural neighbourhoods. After an initial phase of implementing an urban-cultural strategy, how can we envisage new perspectives?
- 3.30-4 pm: "Art(s) as a vehicle for transformation" by Indio Vignes and Pauline Duverger, Director and project coordinator of the association Déchets d'Arts
In the context of the Anthropocene, social and collective participation is urgently needed to find answers that can be translated into action. Art is presented by Déchets d'Arts as a vehicle for transformation.
- 4:00-4:30 p.m.: Testimonials from artists, Cornelia Eichhorn and Fanny Lavergne, in residence at La Villa Créative in Avignon as part of the OTRart project
4:30-5:00 p.m.: Discussion with the audience
Useful Information
- Free entry, no reservation required
- A colloquium funded with the support of Europe, Creative Europe project
Subjects
- Europe (Main category)
- Society > Ethnology, anthropology > Cultural anthropology
- Mind and language > Representation > History of art
- Mind and language > Representation > Visual studies
- Mind and language > Representation > Cultural identities
- Society > Geography > Geography: society and territory
- Zones and regions > Europe > Mediterranean regions
- Society > Geography > Nature, landscape and environment
Places
- Amphi AT02 - 74 rue Louis Pasteur
Avignon, France (84)
Event attendance modalities
Hybrid event (on site and online)
Date(s)
- Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Keywords
- art, déchets, transition environnementale
Contact(s)
- Julie Deramond
courriel : julie [dot] deramond [at] univ-avignon [dot] fr - Pauline Grison
courriel : pauline [dot] grison [at] univ-avignon [dot] fr
Reference Urls
Information source
- Julie Deramond
courriel : julie [dot] deramond [at] univ-avignon [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Art to raise awareness about waste : cross perspectives », Study days, Calenda, Published on Wednesday, November 05, 2025, https://doi.org/10.58079/153e9

