Artistes, architectes, « Nouveaux Commanditaires » : une expérience démocratique dans les Côtes-d’Armor

This paper proposes a theoretical approach to new combinations and skills of artists and architects in the context of public commissions put forward by the ‘Nouveaux Commanditaires’ (new sponsors) programme. It analyses collaborative processes by focusing on the experiences of the architect Mathieu Le Barzic, who has been involved in carrying out and monitoring several works undertaken in the rural territory of the Côtes d’Armor department in Brittany. In these initiatives, the architect worked in close collaboration with three artists, Tadashi Kawamata at Saint Thélo for the work ‘Mémoire en demeure’, Claude Levêque in Plougonver for the realisation of ‘La maison où j’ai grandi’ and Matali Crasset at Trébédan for the project ‘Le blé en herbe’. These joint works are propositions on an architectural scale situated in public spaces and designed to correspond with the ambitions of the ‘Nouveaux Commanditaires’ programme which aims to reinvent the relationship between art and society. They also correspond with a cultural problem of rural areas by exploring the conditions of appropriation of the traditional heritage by means of artistic interventions