Edge-Stones: Vière et les moyennes montagnes
Richard Nonas

Patrons - Bernard Bartolini, Maire de Prads-Haute-Bléone & les membres du conseil municipal
Mediator - Nadine Gomez
Supporters - "Edge-Stones:Vière et les moyennes montagnes" a été réalisée dans le cadre de l’action Nouveaux commanditaires proposée par la Fondation de France et du projetVIAPAC (Via per l’arte contemporanea), route de l’art contemporain reliant Digne-les-Bains à Caraglio en Italie offrant une visibilité internationale au hameau de Vière. Projet réalisé grâce aux financements : de la Fondation de France, de la Commune de Prads-Haute-Bléone, du Fonds Européen de Développement Régional (FEDER) dans le cadre du programme ALCOTRA "Ensemble par-delà les frontières" porté par la Réserve naturelle géologique de Haute-Provence avec le soutien financier de la Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
Hameau de Vière, Commune de Prads-Haute-Bléone, Alpes de Haute-Provence, France, 2011

The context

"I am not trying to revive the village of Vière, I am not trying to recall it as it was in the 13th or 19th or even 20th centuries. (...) For strangely enough, Vière itself persists powerfully. (...) its beauty and power survive."

Located in the heart of the Alpes de Haute-Provence, once the capital of the municipality of Prads-Haute-Bléone, the hamlet of Vière is an exceptional geographical and heritage site that has gradually been deserted during the 20th century. Eager to invent a future for this unique place to which they are deeply attached, the city council and the inhabitants of Prads have resorted to the New Patrons action. Thanks to the mediation of Nadine Gomez-Passamar, they were able to introduce the American sculptor Richard Nonas to Vière and commissioned him to create a work.

The commission

Born from Richard Nonas' encounter with this abandoned hamlet, "Edge-Stones : Vière et les moyennes montagnes" consists of two main interventions : on the one hand, three stone alignments that mark the boundaries of the village with the forest, and on the other hand, the cleaning and "stabilization" of the Romanesque church, whose collapsed roof has been covered so that it can serve as a makeshift shelter for hikers. Stabilization rather than restoration, to take note of the "imperfect ruin" of the village, imperfect in the survival of the remains, but especially in the persistence of the desire of men to invest this territory.

*The citations are from Richard Nonas' study for this project. The full text will be published in three languages.