‘Composting for the future’ to launch at the Void Art Centre

The artist, who works between Paris, London, and Dakar, said: “I found Derry full of hospitality, very welcoming and warm. I was aware of the history.”

Stéphane likened it to a recent experience of working in Kosovo, where he also found a ‘faith’ in the arts.

"Prizren in Kosovo is a city that has been divided between communities and is recovering from an age-old, long conflict.

"While there I felt an incredible energy and faith in the power of art and culture to regenerate and repair a place, which I also feel here very much within the younger generation. But it is not just a question of age. There is an energy and hospitality.”

Stéphane is participating in ‘Composting for the future’, an exhibition and long-term period of research, which launches on March 23.

It is the first major exhibition adopting new director Viviana Checchia’s ‘socio-permacultural’ approach to art.

It marks Void’s commitment to a living practice of ‘social permaculture’, a group of principles that look to ‘models of co-existence and co-creation in permaculture and our more-than-human world’.

Cecelia Graham, press and marketing co-ordinator at Void, said: “Part of it is celebrating the history of Void. We have invited people who have previously contributed to Void, Paola Bernardelli, Gregory McCartney and Damien Duffy to contribute to a collective timeline that goes back and highlights milestones within Void's history.

"Paola and Greg have been working with the archive over the past few months and have selected some examples or just some material that they want to bring out of the archive and show in the gallery.”

Mitch Conlon, head of sustainable growth at the arts space, said: “Paola and Greg were identified because you wanted someone deeply embedded within the community, who loved and trusted and worked especially hard within Void.

"They were such a key part of Void and played a key role in its evolution.”

In tandem with this work Void has been hosting a social permaculture hub involving training with Stéphane as well as Dorian Braun and Alfred Decker.

During a week-long visit to Derry Stéphane worked with Echo Echo.

“Specifically I've been working with two dancers/performers from Echo Echo Theatre Company on the notion of desensitisation and resensitisation.

"So the fact that we all evolve in very desensitised buildings or spaces – how can we invest these spaces of our everyday lives with a more sensorial position, through dance, through body work, through painting, through video and media?

"Personally I define my work as social practice where the nurturing of relations and togetherness is more important than physical objects. It doesn't mean I don't like sculpture but we have expanded the field of sculpture so that it now includes more than just material functions.”

There will be things to see in the show, he explains.

"There is a video documentation of the work I have done with the dancers. There will be drawings, paintings, which are important to communicate to the audience who were not part of the process. But most importantly it is an ongoing process that is as inclusive and participative as possible.”

For more information visit https://www.derryvoid.com/exhibitions/composting-for-the-future/

Viviana Checchia to take over as new Director of the Void Gallery