Far from the ephemeral theater, here is the dream of a stone house. One of its windows is still open, as if its inhabitants had just left. Subject to the slow swing of the tide, this silent and solitary house, sleepily askew on the muddy water, lies on the banks of Lavau, a town of 729 inhabitants located in the Loire estuary.
Built with moulded concrete, on stilts, this house is a life size replica, down to the last brush stroke, of "the House of the Port" in this ancient busy port in the days when wood and blue granite was ferried to build Saint-Nazaire shipyards.
Now, like an abandoned inn that has hosted its share of travellers, it beckons the passer-by, and is a milestone, a landmark, a sign on his journey, just like a sculpture reflecting past glory.
But this house leaves its door open to everyone's imagination. Who will think of the lives of its past guests, of the gulls and other birds come to nest, perhaps ; who will think of their childhood home where the shutters are permanently closed, or of all displaced people forced to pack up in a hurry...
For the first time, Jean-Luc Courcoult ventures on the side of Land Art. It is his response to the commission of Estuary 2007, a contemporary art event initiated by Jean Blaise, director of the Lieu Unique, Nantes. Courcoult is alongside visual artists such as Alain Séchas, Felice Varini, Fabrice Hyber, Erwin Wurm. There are thirty artists, whose works are posted along the forty miles of Loire river between Nantes and Saint-Nazaire.
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