The context

The EPI association (Entreprise Pour l'Insertion) allows people in social difficulty to build a personal project. Two professional activities are proposed : an integration company through the creation and maintenance of green spaces and an integration project through the production of organic vegetables, Les Jardins du Breil. Convinced that art can contribute to the path to professional reintegration, the patrons' request focuses on two areas : the creation of signage for newcomers who often face orientation problems. As well as the creation of a place of conviviality, sociability and rest where all gardeners could meet.

The commission

To respond to this commission and to dialogue with its context, Nicolas Floc'h has chosen to work with an organic form and building materials reminiscent of the earth. With the simplicity of a potato's curves, the architecture of La Patate chaude reproduces an archetypal idea of the shelter, between the cocoon and the cave.

Set in the middle of greenhouses and agricultural land, the work becomes a signal for the site, visible from the departmental road and, by the same token, a spokesman for an activity at the crossroads of social and environmental values. But La Patate chaude is above all the warm companion of all those who work there.

Nicolas Foc'h

Nicolas Floc'h, born in 1970, lives and works in Paris.
He explores artistic practices according to the contexts he invests. His works take many forms - installation, sculpture, film, performance, scenography... - which are presented as open, multifunctional, modular and consumable structures.