Until June 26, 2016, La Maison de la corniche Asportotsttipi, at Hendaye\u2019s Abaddia estate, is hosting the exhibition La m\u00e9moire des sols<\/i>, thanks to a fortunate collaboration between the CPIE Littoral Basque (stronghold of the Nekatoenea artist residence) and the Frac Aquitaine, which contributed works from its collection.<\/span><\/p>\n Artworks by Dove Allouche, Arnaud Claass, Hamish Fulton, Laurent Le Deunff, Richard Long, Christine Morel, Dennis Oppenheim, or Evariste Richer echo the natural coastal surroundings and the scientific practices of the site. They examine the perception of time through the memory of the land and traces on the landscape.<\/span><\/p>\n Laurent Le Deunff\u2019s installation, Foyer<\/i>, which is the only non-photographic work, brings us back to the origins of the world, through the grace of a circle recalling archeological practices. Sculpted objects stand alongside objects found in nature. This enigmatic inventory questions the trace of reality and its reproduction. <\/span><\/p>\n The trace, as the imprint of humans on the landscape and on nature, takes different forms. With Avongorge<\/i>, Richard Long modestly shows the drawings formed by water projected on a rock wall. Dennis Oppenheim uses the landscape as a support on which he leaves ephemeral traces. <\/span><\/p>\n The walk is a means of expression for the artist who uses nature as a material. And the work of art becomes the memory, the trace of this explored landscape. With Buzzing Fly<\/i>, Hamish Fulton associates photography to text in a montage condensing the memory of a walk in Bolivia. Richard Long describes a two-day walk in A 2 \u00bd Day Circular Walk in the Scottish Highlands, Clockwise 1979<\/i>, a circular journey recounted through a series of words: animals, weather conditions, rocks, etc. Here, the trace is text. <\/span><\/p>\n The trace, as the memory, is also found in nature as a material and therefore uses scientific research in geology, astronomy, etc. Evariste Richer presents his Palette du diable<\/i>, a close-up of a meteorite slice. Dove Allouche <\/i>uses geoscience to create P\u00e9trographie_9 <\/i>from a thin strip of stalagmite. These two works offer a new perspective on time, place, and on the rules which govern our world. For Arnaud Claass, the material can also be botanical with S\u00e9rie Paysages miniatures, <\/i>where he shows, in small scale photographs, the complexity and diversity of the botanical world. <\/span><\/p>\n And of course, the trace of the human figure appears in Christine Morel\u2019s photograph, Sans titre<\/i>. The thin silouhette of a woman stands out against a large rock cavity where the power of the matter reinforces the immobility of the figure. <\/span><\/p>\n All these artists tackle nature in all its forms in order to understand it, reinterpret it, to question its relationship with humans and to expand the viewer\u2019s imagination: mission accomplished. <\/span><\/p>\n