The "Bon Vent" exhibition by Rodolphe Huguet presented at the Experimental Plateau is part of the cross-residences initiated in 2013 by Frac Franche-Comté. Invited to a residence in 2017, Rodolphe Huguet developed a privileged link with the Tile Factory Monier in Marseille. Apart from his residence and encounter with a contemporary Tile’s Factory mechanical world, Rodolphe Huguet discovered an architectural element, a priori quite banal, produced by millions of copies: the tile. Interested in its form and function, its mechanized manufacture and its material itself, throughout his stay in this tile factory, he developed a universe of forms where each tile transformed into a unique sculpture with its singular identity. At the mercy of his experiments and discoveries, he kneaded them, made holes, forced to transform them into real objects loaded with a new plastic and political dimension. The tile is no more and certainly has never been for Rodolphe Huguet a simple manufactured object reduced to its first function produced on a large scale, he can see its original functional value which is to protect, to shelter, to enrich oneself with a social and political value, that is telling us more about our contemporary society than any manifesto.
Rodolphe Huguet, Bon Vent, 2018, 32 boats made of folded tiles, raw terracotta engobed, stones, blocks. View of the exhibition at the Frac. © JC Lett / FRAC Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur