The artist Marie Goussé highlights the mysterious nails of the abbey of Saint-Riquier

How many times have I already passed through the gardens of the Abbey of Saint-Riquier? Dozens of times, sometimes strolling, sometimes running for a report. However, these strange nails that bristle the south facade of the beautiful building had never caught my eye…

When art is inspired by heritage curiosities

There are, however, hundreds, perhaps thousands, planted in no apparent order up to several meters in height. This curiosity, which still keeps a part of mystery today, did not however escape the gaze of visual artist Marie Goussé, who exhibits three of her installations throughout the summer in the gardens of the abbey.

“Artists do not look like the others”, smiles Marie Goussé with simplicity. This Picardy from Compiègne has been working directly with heritage for around thirty years.

For a long time, she had dreamed of creating installations at the Abbey of Saint-Riquier, whose millennial history and successive reconstructions over the centuries particularly inspired her.

The architecture of the place, the space it has, the history and the emotion that can emerge from it… All these aspects feed the imagination of Marie Goussé. In Saint-Riquier, she was thus inspired by the beautiful Alley of Meditation, the large esplanade at the end of the park… and, therefore, by these large rusty nails.

A poetic stroll through the gardens

Le Solfège des Oiseaux: this is the name of the installation created by Marie Goussé around the nails of the south facade. The artist has taken over two other spaces in the gardens.
Under Meditation Alley, she has hung nearly 200 birdcages, painted white and open, which underline the tranquility of this place.
On the vast esplanade at the back of the abbey, Marie Goussé has created a large maze made of textile veils, which delight both children and adults who find a space of calm there.

“These nails are protected”

The artist has stretched cords of color there that form a kind of constellation, or a form of writing depending on what the visitor wants to see there…

I couldn’t do anything about it: these nails are protected, like the facade. I had to file a specific file, determining in particular the tension that my cords were going to exert…

The artist cultivates mystery

Its installation seduces or challenges, it invites us in any case to look at these nails, which could be the remains of trellises that once supported vines or other plantations. Marie Goussé, she remains skeptical. “It doesn’t look like lattice nails,” she says. Their arrangement seems totally random, and there really are a lot of them. »

So what ? Remnants of an old magical practice? Probably not… But Marie Goussé prefers to cultivate the enigma of this curiosity, leaving everyone’s imagination to work. It is undoubtedly that also, the glance of the artist.

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