A living Valley, a sensitive evocation of the Hérault Valley

The context

In line with their respective approaches to experimentation and knowledge sharing, the Vallée de l'Hérault Community of Municipalities and the Montpellier 2028 – Terres de culture association are continuing their creative residency programs.

The "A living Valley, a sensitive evocation of the Hérault Valley" residency, supported by the team of the Vallée de l'Hérault Community of Municipalities, allows a pair of artists to develop a research and creation project at the heart of an emblematic heritage area and a territory labeled a Grand Site de France.

The residency is conceived as a space for encounters between the site, the artists, and the local area . The abbey is not a destination but a starting point: it is simultaneously a place of reception and creation, a transmitter and receiver of culture. Artists are thus invited to share their research, meet with local residents, and draw upon the cultural, heritage, musical, educational, and community resources of the region.

This creative residency provides a time for research and exploration. The aim is to allow the emergence of a unique artistic perspective on the territory, its history, its transformations and its possible futures .

The theme: a living and sensitive valley

What if the Hérault Valley were a living being? A body traversed by voices and silences, movements and emotions, memories and plans . Its landscapes would be its skin, its paths its lifelines, its waterways its circulation. This image invites us to see the territory differently: to perceive what remains, what transforms, and the bonds that women and men forge with it.

The residency invites artists to create a sensitive evocation of the valley based on four questions: What do we see? What do we hear? What do we feel? What do we remember?

As the seasons and hours pass, perceptions shift. Night opens up another realm of exploration. When the landmarks of day fade, other sounds, other activities, and other presences reveal themselves. What becomes of a familiar place when listened to in the dark? What does the valley tell us while most of its inhabitants sleep? How does the dry cold of January sharpen or numb our senses? How does the north wind numb reason, and how do the rains bog down morale, just like the vineyard paths?

To consider the valley as a living entity is also to be aware of its vulnerabilities: the losses, the transformations it has undergone, the ruptures that have left their mark on the landscape, as well as on collective memory. How do its inhabitants experience the changes underway today? What forms of adaptation are they inventing? This exploration will encompass the full range of emotions linked to the territory, from joy and attachment to sadness and anxiety.

By travelling through the territory, the artists will be able to collect the stories of its inhabitants, record its sounds and seek to make perceptible what usually escapes the eye or the ear: vibrations, slow movements, almost erased traces, discreet presences, major elements obvious to those who come from elsewhere, emotions.

To create a portrait, to give voice, to draw a character, to tell a life story, to talk about needs, to weave desires, to build projects.

The expected approach

The residency is aimed at visual artists and musical and sound artists, with the idea of ​​a partnership that will foster dialogue between these practices or develop two complementary research projects. The formats are open.

The creative process will be enriched by meetings, collections, amateur art workshops, and experiments with local residents, stakeholders, and the public, particularly young people. Their perspectives and experiences will inform the artists' approach. The local council will support this outreach.

The artists will specify the place they wish to give to these exchanges in their approach and, where applicable, in the work(s).

The research will be able to draw on landscapes and villages, heritage sites, archives, libraries, associations, the music school and local resources.

Particular attention will be paid to the artwork's capacity to live beyond the residency period, to be presented, shared, reactivated, or, where relevant, to circulate within the region. However, the artwork's permanence is not a requirement: the methods of preservation and presentation will be assessed based on the nature and quality of the proposals.

The artist/pair may also be asked to provide some form of editorial content for their research, making the creative process, the encounters made, the materials collected, and the artistic choices accessible. This aspect can contribute to the gradual creation of an archive related to the residency cycle.

The CCVH, with the support of the Montpellier 2028 – Terres de culture association, will organize the presentation sessions for the residency. The first presentation session must take place before the end of the 2026-2027 school year. This date will be determined in consultation with the cultural department team of the Vallée de l'Hérault Community of Municipalities.

A presentation of the work is also planned for autumn 2027 during Event 27 , organized by Montpellier 2028 – Terres de culture. The presentation details and possible future developments for the project will be defined with the artists according to the form of their creation.

• Period: eight weeks which may be non-consecutive between January and April 2027, with time spent on site adapted to the needs of the project (to be adjusted according to the cultural programming schedule of the former abbey).