As part of the 800th anniversary celebrations, a photography exhibition will be held from July 10 to October 10. Created by renowned photographer CédricMATET, it will be held at the Jardin des Plantes. In 2020, this photographer also created the exhibition "Derrière les masques" (Behind the Masks), whichfeatures200 portraits of medical staff.
Practical information
"Humans in their gardens"
The title of the exhibition is fundamentally linked to itscontent. For this occasion, the artist chose to work with anatomical specimens from the Faculty's anatomy conservatory. To better understand his project, we interviewed the photographer.
What is your background?
I am originally fromSète. I attended a design school in Montpellier, which is now called ESMA. After that, I enrolled at the Gobelins school of visual arts in Paris. Later, I went back to school to get a master's degree in Urban Planning and Sustainable Development because I'm interested in cities. In the meantime, I worked as an art director and designer for communications agencies.
What interests me is linking art to the city, to plans, to cartography, to people. In my opinion, an artist must be at the heart of their context: urban, political, human.
Can you tell us about the "Behind the Masks" project?
It was GéraldCHANQUES, a professor at the faculty and doctor atSaint EloiHospital, who contacted me and proposed this project. I wanted to convey a vision ofwhat caregivers and their commitments can be.
How would you describe yourself?
If I had to define myself and my work, I would talk abouttransdisciplinarity. I am a photographer, but I am also a visual artist. I enjoy working with different materials and different trades.
Can you tell us about your new exhibition, "Humans in Their Gardens"?
It's been a long time since I first had the idea of working with the Jardin des Plantes, but I have a real passion for the anatomy museum, which I visited when I was a student. I think it's fabulous to be able to talk about botany through the garden, but also about humans and research on the body. The project was put together by two people, once again with ProfessorCHANQUES.
This project is interesting becauseit takes me out of my comfort zone.I usuallydo portraits, but that's not the case here.
What's more, since all the pieces are classified as heritage items, I have a special relationship with the curator. She is the third subject of this work; I cannot work without her. Usually, I control my model,but here I can't because of its fragility. Every movement has to be made by the curator.
It'sinteresting becausethe piece and the garden exist outside of me.
There are three of us working on this project: Jane, who does digital art and is a videographer; Luc, who does motion design, among other things; and me, who does imaging and is in charge of the artistic direction for the whole thing. None of us knows what the end result will be.
How did you choose the anatomical parts?
I first sought advice from ProfessorCHANQUES and the curators to find out which pieces were emblematic of the conservatory. I did not choose the pieces based on their aesthetic qualities, since the aim of this exhibition is to tell a story and give meaning.
The only exception to this is a bust we found, whose identity, history, and era are unknown. I found it fragile and touching, so I chose to include it. It's the only piece I chose based on gut feeling.
Unfortunately, there were some pieces thatwe couldn't include because they were too fragile. I was also attracted to other pieces, but they did not represent the human body and therefore took us away from the subject. I will deal with them later for another, more personal project.
Some pieces are also too difficult to move due to their weight. However, this is part of the exhibition's story.
For some pieces that could not be taken out to the Jardin des Plantes, we brought the Jardin to them by taking branches and foliage.
In 2018, Dr. Valentin FAVIER participated in the MUSE call for projects, which aims to support the pedagogical transformation of training programs. He was selected as a winner with his project entitled "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 with a common goal: to establish a research-intensive thematic university in Montpellier that is internationally recognized for its impact in the fields of agriculture, the environment, and health, and which will become a strong academic partner for all members of the consortium.
Through these "Take Off" calls for projects, it supports the educational transformation strategy of the institutions and components of the MUSE consortium. In three years, I-SITE MUSE has mobilized €6 million to support educational innovations through this program. The "Learning anatomy and surgery through simulation and 3D printing" project is one of the projects selected for Take-Off #1. Find out more in this article!
Improving learning through simulation: Dr. Favier's challenge
Healthcare simulation is a major objective of medical education in the 21st century. To improve the safety of clinical practices and teaching, in 2012 the French National Authority for Health (HAS) presented a report outlining the prospects for the development of healthcare simulation in France.
So what exactly are surgical simulators?
Surgical simulators are educational tools that form an integral part of this concept. They enable young surgeons to learn about surgical equipment, anatomy, and operating techniques, but are also useful throughout continuing medical education for refresher training. Another major advantage is the possibility of developing new surgical techniques, allowing more experienced surgeons to perform innovative procedures or test new instruments.
The project objectives
The project is intended for surgical interns, who will have the opportunity to practice on these simulators. The work currently underway is 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. This was used to advance his surgical simulator project. In particular, it was used to:
- Remuneration for a Master's 2 intern in computer science for research and algorithm creation in order to set up the simulation.
- Mechanically test the simulation platform.
- The purchase of materials needed to carry out the simulation and perform 3D printing.
For the past 10 years, the Jardin des Plantes has been organizing summer tours to give the general public a better understanding of our botanical garden. Discover the program for summer 2021.
Tours for young and old alike
Open to all, the summer tours of the Jardin des Plantes cover several themes:
- The medicinal plant collections of the Jardin des Plantes
- Richer Mountain, at the crossroads of history and ecology
- The Martins greenhouse and its collection of succulents
- Visits to the Permaculture Edible Garden
- Herbs and sensory squares
Practical information
ADDRESS
Henri IV Boulevard,
34000 Montpellier
One hundred years ago, students from the Faculty of Medicine in Montpellier unveiled works of art in the Jardin des Plantes and the faculty's historic building to celebrate its 700th anniversary. To replicate this symbolic gesture on the occasion of the 800th anniversary, an association was created 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 pour une Cérémonie Historique des Etudiants en Médecine de Montpellier (ACHEMM). The association has 19 members and is chaired by Allan Guilliey, a fourth-year medical student. Its goal is to bring the project to fruition, from concept to completion, including finding artists to exhibit their work at the new Arnaud de Villeneuve Campus.
An event redesigned in the wake of Covid-19
Originally, this exhibition was to be introduced by a gala organized by ACHEMM students. Numerous European institutions were to be invited at the end of 2020, and the association had the opportunity to speak at the COIMBRA group congress initially scheduled for June 2020. This group, founded in 1985, aims to bring together and promote excellence in European universities, with a view to sustaining high standards of teaching, research, and academic mobility at the international level, while creating special cultural links.
Unfortunately, health restrictions have forced a rethink of the event, so a preview of the exhibition will be held in July 2021 to showcase the students' work.
A colossal task
To carry out this project, the students in the association had to invest a lot of their time and energy. In order to exhibit meaningful works, the students issued a call for projects to local artists. Around twenty artists sent in their work, and the students chose thirteen of them based on those that seemed most artistically suited to the project.
Next, the association members had to approach local authorities to obtain funding to pay the artists. These institutions provided invaluable assistance in bringing this project to fruition.
Finally, a great deal of organizational work was carried out over the course of these two years to promote this exhibition and, through it, the history of the Faculty.
Transmission as a common thread
The theme of this exhibition is transmission. In 2017, the 800-year-old faculty was enriched with a new, state-of-the-art site: the Arnaud de Villeneuve Campus. The works in this exhibition link these two sites, combining classicism and modernity, realism and abstraction to represent both places and, through them, both eras.
The centerpiece of this exhibition, created by Nicolas Daubanes, is a DNA molecule, reminding us that although the Faculty is spread across different sites, all 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 p.m. They will be conducted in accordance with social distancing measures. Registration is required:
The association would like to thank all its partners (DRAC, FRAC, the Hérault department, the Occitanie region, Pumkin, CROUS, the University of Montpellier, Montpellier Métropole, and the City of Montpellier) for their support, as well as Professor Gérald CHANQUES and the Faculty services who worked to ensure the smooth running of this project.
