As part of the 800th-anniversary celebrations, a photography exhibition will take place from July 10 to October 10. Curated by renowned photographer CédricMATET, it will be held at the Jardin des Plantes. In 2020, this photographer also curated the exhibition “Behind the Masks,” whichfeatures200 portraits of medical personnel.
Practical Information
"People in Their Gardens"
The title of the exhibition is fundamentally linked to itscontent. In fact, for this exhibition, the artist chose to work with anatomical specimens from the Faculty’s anatomy collection. To better understand his project, we interviewed the photographer.
What is your background?
I’m originally fromSète. I attended a design school in Montpellier that is now called ESMA. After that, I enrolled at the Gobelins School of Visual Arts in Paris. Later, I went back to school to earn a master’s degree in Urban Planning and Sustainable Development because I’m interested in cities. In the meantime, I’ve been working in art direction and design at various communications agencies.
What interests me is connecting art to the city, to maps, to cartography, and to people. In my view, an artist must be rooted in their context: urban, political, and human.
Can you tell us about the “Behind the Masks” project?
It was GéraldCHANQUES, a professor at the faculty and a doctor atSaint EloiHospital, who contacted me and proposed this project. I wanted to convey a vision ofwhat healthcare providers can be and the commitments they make.
How would you describe yourself?
If I had to define myself and my work, I would talk abouttransdisciplinarity. I am a photographer, but I’m also a visual artist; I enjoy working with various materials and collaborating with people from different fields.
Can you tell us about your new exhibition, “Man in His Garden”?
It’s been a while since I first thought of writing about the Jardin des Plantes, but I’ve always had a real passion for the anatomy museum I visited when I was a student. Being able to explore botany through the garden, but also to explore humanity and research on the human body—I think that’s fabulous. The project was a collaboration between the two of us, once again with ProfessorCHANQUES.
This project is interesting becauseit takes me out of my comfort zone;I usuallytake portraits, but that’s not the case here.
Furthermore, since all the rooms are designated as heritage sites, I have a special relationship with the curator. She’s the third subject of this project—I can’t work without her. Usually, I direct my model,but here I can’t because of the piece’s fragility—every movement must be carried out by the curator.
It’sinteresting becausethe artwork and the garden exist independently of me.
There are three of us working on this project: Jane, who creates digital art and is a videographer; Luc, who does motion design, among other things; and me, who works with visuals and handles the art direction for the whole project. None of us knows what the final result will be.
How did you choose the anatomical structures?
I first sought advice from ProfessorCHANQUES and the curators to find out which pieces are emblematic of the conservatory. I didn’t choose the pieces based on their aesthetic appeal, since the goal of this exhibition is to tell a story and convey meaning.
The only exception to this is a bust we found—no one knows the identity of the person depicted, its history, or the era it comes from. I found it fragile and touching, so I decided to include it. It’s the only piece I selected based on a gut feeling.
There are some pieces that,unfortunately, we were unable to include because of their fragility. I was also drawn to other pieces, but they didn’t depict the human body and therefore strayed from the subject. I’ll explore those later for another, more personal project.
Some pieces are also too heavy to move. However, that’s part of the exhibition’s story.
For some pieces that we couldn’t bring out to the Jardin des Plantes, we brought the Jardin to them by using branches and foliage.
In 2018, Dr. Valentin FAVIER participated in the MUSE call for proposals, which aimed to support the pedagogical transformation of educational programs. He was selected as a winner for his project titled “Learning Anatomy and Surgery Through Simulation and 3D Printing.”
MUSE “Take-Off”—what is it?
The MUSE project “ Montpellier University of Excellence ” brings together 16 institutions around a shared goal: to establish in Montpellier a research-intensive, thematically focused university that is internationally recognized for its impact in fields related to agriculture, the environment, and health—a university that will serve as a close academic partner for all consortium members, one they can be proud to be associated with.
Through these “Take Off” calls for proposals, it supports the educational transformation strategy of the institutions and components of the MUSE consortium. Over the past three years, I-SITE MUSE has raised 6 M€ to support educational innovations through this program. The project “Learning Anatomy and Surgery Through Simulation and 3D Printing” is one of the projects selected for Take-Off #1. Learn more about it in this article!
Improving Learning Through Simulation: Dr. Favier’s Challenge
Healthcare simulation is a key focus of medical education in the 21st century. To improve the safety of clinical practice and education, the French National Authority for Health (HAS) released a report in 2012 outlining the prospects for the development of healthcare simulation in France.
So what exactly are surgical simulators?
Surgical simulators are educational tools that are an integral part of this concept. They enable the training of young surgeons, helping them become familiar with surgical equipment, anatomy, and surgical techniques, but are also useful throughout continuing medical education for refresher training. Another major benefit lies in the ability to develop new surgical techniques, allowing more experienced surgeons to perform innovative surgical approaches or test new instruments.
The Project's Objectives
The project is intended for surgical residents, who will have the opportunity to practice on these simulators. The work currently underway is now focused on several objectives:
A project made possible by MUSE
As the winner of the project, Dr. FAVIER received a €10,000 grant from MUSE. The grant was used to advance his surgical simulator project. Specifically, it was used to:
- Compensation for a Master’s 2 intern in computer science for research and algorithm development to implement the simulation.
- Perform mechanical testing on the simulation platform.
- The purchase of materials needed to conduct the simulation and produce 3D prints.
For the past 10 years, the Jardin des Plantes has been organizing summer tours to help the general public learn more about our botanical garden. Check out the summer 2021 program.
Tours for all ages
Open to everyone, the Jardin des Plantes’ summer tours cover a variety of themes:
- The medicinal plant collections at the Jardin des Plantes
- Richer Mountain: Where History and Ecology Meet
- The Martins Greenhouse and Its Collection of Succulents
- Tours of the Permaculture Edible Garden
- Herbs and the Senses
Practical Information
ADDRESS
Henri IV Boulevard,
34000 Montpellier
One hundred years ago, students from the Montpellier Faculty of Medicine unveiled works of art in the Jardin des Plantes and its historic building to celebrate the 7th centennial. To recreate this symbolic gesture on the occasion of the 800th anniversary, an association was founded by current students in 2019.
The Birth of an Association
To carry out this project,the Association Carabine Montpelliéraine (ACM) and the Syndicat des Internes du Languedoc-Roussillon (SIRL) have joined forces to createthe Association for a Historic Ceremony of Montpellier Medical Students (ACHEMM). The association consists of 19 members and is chaired by Allan Guilliey, a fourth-year medical student. The association’s goal is to bring the project to fruition, from concept to completion, including the search for artists who will exhibit their works at the new Arnaud de Villeneuve Campus.
An event redesigned in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Originally, this exhibition was to be launched with a gala organized by ACHEMM students. Numerous European institutions were to be invited to the event in late 2020, and the association had the opportunity to speak at the COIMBRA Group conference, initially scheduled for June 2020. Founded in 1985, this group aims to bring together and promote excellence among European universities, with the goal of sustaining high standards of education, research, and academic mobility on an international level, while fostering unique cultural ties.
Unfortunately, due to health restrictions that have forced a rethinking of the event, an opening reception for the exhibition will now take place in July 2021 to showcase the students’ work.
A colossal undertaking
To carry out this project, the students in the association had to invest a great deal of their time and energy. To showcase meaningful works, the students issued a call for submissions to local artists. About twenty artists submitted their work; the students then selected thirteen of them based on which pieces seemed artistically most suited to the project.
Next, the association’s members had to approach local governments to secure funding to pay the artists. These institutions were invaluable in helping to bring this project to fruition.
Ultimately, a tremendous amount of organizational work was carried out over the course of these two years to showcase this exhibition and, through it, the history of the Faculty.
Transmission as a common thread
The theme of this exhibition is transmission. Indeed, in 2017, the 800-year-old Faculty was enriched by a new, state-of-the-art campus: the Arnaud de Villeneuve Campus. The works in this exhibition bridge the gap between these two sites, combining the classical and the modern, realism and abstraction, to represent both locations and, through them, both eras.
The centerpiece of this exhibition, created by Nicolas Daubanes, is a DNA molecule—a reminder that, although the Faculty is spread across different sites, all of these campuses share the same DNA and are part of its history.
Artists and Their Works
Visit the exhibition
Guided tours will be offered on Saturday, July 10, and Sunday, July 11, starting at 2:00 p.m. They will be conducted in accordance with public health guidelines. Registration is required:
The association would like to thank all of its partners (the DRAC, the FRAC, the Hérault Department, the Occitanie Region, Pumkin, the CROUS, the University of Montpellier, the Montpellier Metropolitan Area, and the City of Montpellier) for their support, as well as Professor Gérald CHANQUES and the faculty staff who worked to ensure the smooth running of this project.
