La compagnie des animaux (The company of animals)

For Charlotte Dumas, our degree of humanity is measured by the place we give to animals in our way of living and inhabiting the world. The decline in their presence in our societies affects our sensibilities and our capacity for empathy. Through photography and film, the Dutch artist offers time for attention, which she believes to be essential, to animals that have a collaborative and companionable relationship with the human species. Charlotte Dumas is putting on a two-part exhibition, presenting a collection of works produced over the last fifteen years and a new work based on the horse, linking the Lot and the Kyoto region of Japan. The exhibition is complemented by the Champ Libre project, an artist-in-residence scheme run by the Maison des arts in collaboration with the Fermes de Figeac agricultural cooperative. The artists are chosen by a committee of farmers, and are then welcomed for three months at the heart of the farms. The artists are chosen by a committee of farmers and then hosted for three months at the heart of the farms. The result is a variety of proposals: an exhibition, a discovery trail of works in situ at the farmers' homes, a travelling work in the cooperative's shops, each proposal responding to the nature of the artist's work. Exhibition co-produced by Les Abattoirs with the support of DRAC Occitanie and Crédit Agricole, in partnership with the Fermes de Figeac agricultural cooperative Curator: Thomas Delamarre