Curated by Marion Vignal and organized in partnership with the Maison Bernard endowment fund, the exhibition will highlight the visionary brilliance, imaginative power and creative freedom of this extraordinary structure conceived in symbiosis with nature and the human body

The event will feature works by more than 20 artists and designers, both modern and contemporary, as well as a number of special commissions specific to the project. These creations will dialogue with Antii Lovag’s architecture, from its multiple spherical spaces to the seaside cactus and succulent garden. In this exceptional setting, an eco-responsible temporary installation will be mounted as part of a workshop conducted in cooperation with Villa Arson in Nice. Invited to conceive a performance at Maison Bernard, the choreographer Némo Flouret will present DANCE PARC: a playground project, a creation arising from a unique interaction between architecture and contemporary dance, with the backing of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels.

Built in the 1970s, Maison Bernard is the fruition of an encounter between two free-thinking personalities brimming with innovative ideas, Antti Lovag and Pierre Bernard, and a landscape: the Estérel massif, with its vivid red rock formations overlooking the Mediterranean. Lovag knew the region well, having colla- borated with the architect Jacques Couëlle on the construction of the Port-la-Galère private residential compound in the 1960s. An adventurous industrialist, Bernard, was impressed with Lovag’s ideas, far from the conventions and standards of the time, and asked the architect to build him a holiday home in Théoule-sur-Mer, near Cannes. Conceived in harmony with nature, the house took shape after nearly ten years of construction using artisanal techniques.

The result is an ovoid structure devoid of right angles, nestled in the landscape as an homage to the curve on every scale. In Lovag’s view, no form was better suited to human living spaces than the sphere. He abhorred conventional, inflexible layouts and sought above all to emphasize functionality in the spaces that he conceived, designed and furnished down to the smallest detail. Joined by a deep bond of friendship, Bernard and the architect — or “habitologist,” as he defined himself — pursued their structural adventures, building a few kilo- meters away the future Palais Bulles, acquired by Pierre Cardin shortly after Bernard’s untimely death in 1991. Restored by Bernard’s children in 2015 with the help of the architect Odile Decq, Maison Bernard remains one of the finest examples of Lovag’s organic architecture and his conception of well-being.

Selection of works from the exhibition

A select group of artists and designers have been invited by Marion Vignal, in collaboration with Isabelle Bernard, co-owner of the house and co-founder of the Maison Bernard endowment fund, to create a work especially for the exhibition. These artworks and installations are conceived in resonance with the spirit of the venue, envisioned as an arena for creative experimentation. They also constitute an extension of the program of artist residencies initiated by Isabelle Bernard in 2015 for the creation of original works specifically for Maison Bernard. Paul-Armand Gette, Susanna Fritscher, Emma Dusong and Yves Gellie have produced works and installations that strike a counterpoint with the architecture, emphasizing its inherent originality.

For Genius Loci Maison Bernard, the composer Jérôme Échenoz brings the voice of Antti Lovag back to life in an audio installation. The artist-designers of Studio GGSV take over the windows, transfiguring the light and the landscape. The designer Marion Mailaender chose one of the bedrooms as the setting for an original textile creation, and the ceramic artist Sabrina Le Bachelier, who integrates astrology into her creative practice, is creating a sculpture inspired by Maison Bernard’s astrological birth chart. In the succulent and cactus garden, the ceramist Safia Hijos cultivates a subtle dialogue between the plants, the red rock out-croppings of the Estérel massif and her ochre- colored creations evoking both the outer cladding of Maison Bernard and the earthenware produced in the nearby town of Vallauris. Facing the sea, Charlotte Chesnais unveils a piece of wooden outdoor furniture conducive to contemplation. The designer Marcin Rusak continues his exploration of the plant world with a monumental work that evokes the sensuality of nature, echoing that of the house. The artist Rachel Robinson, who collaborated with Antti Lovag, contributes a bronze sculpture that offers a different point of view on the horizon. Xavier Veilhan, a visual artist with a passion for contemporary architecture, sets his focus on Lovag’s curved forms with a site-specific installation that further develops the approach initiated with his series Architectones in iconic sites from the history of architecture.

Special Commissions

Invited by Marion Vignal to devise a unique interaction between dance and Antti Lovag’s architecture, the dancer and choreographer Némo Flouret conceives a promenade performance entitled DANCE PARC: a playground project, with the backing of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels. With this creation, the artist pursues his research in choreographic forms that break free from the conventional framework of the performance venue. The choice of including contemporary dance emerged as a way of developing a dialogue between architectural forms inspired by the human body and the dancers’ bodies in movement. The performance will take the viewers on a circuit in which the dancers will act by turns as guides, interpreters and players of the space.

In Flouret’s choreographic trajectory, the idea of “extremity” has always been a key starting point for generating gestures, movements and spatial scenarios. DANCE PARC: a playground project is a hide-and-seek in dance, an interplay of perspectives that incites viewers to perceive the sensual shapes of Maison Bernard through the lens of bodies that embrace, move across or contrast with the details of the architecture, transforming it into a playground. Némo Flouret has been developing a site- specific approach to choreography for several years. His creations occupy spaces that were not intended to accommodate dancers in movement, ranging from post- industrial sites with the piece 900 Something Days Spent in the XXth Century to the Louvre museum with Forêt, in collaboration with the dancer and choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.

The Performance by Némo Flouret

To celebrate nature and in keeping with Antti Lovag’s ideal of becoming one with the environment, Genius Loci is joining forces with the Villa Arson (Nice) to host an exceptional workshop in the gardens of Maison Bernard, under the direction of Samuel Nguyen. The artist, a 2022 graduate of Villa Arson, develops a collective, participatory practice based on a quest for “social ecology.” For an exhibition at Ricardo Bofill’s Les Espaces d’Abraxas in June 2023, Genius Loci offered Nguyen carte blanche to produce works on site in dialogue with residents of the housing complex. With students from Villa Arson, he will co-create an installation conceived in resonance with the spirit of the place in the gardens of Maison Bernard. This site-specific creation is part of an ecological, sustainable approach, adopting a low-carbon strategy in every phase, from design to execution to post-exhibition reuse.