Rinke exhibition at the CCCOD: uniting the rivers and peoples of Europe

Klaus Rinke is one of the major figures of German and international art. Seeking to understand and grasp reality in its physical and material dimension, a significant proportion of his work endeavours to make the main abstract notions which are the basis for our relationship with the world perceptible: time, space and gravity.  

Dealt with by the artist as a material in its own right, water is a dominating theme in his work. While exploring Europe, Klaus Rinke collected water from each of the major rivers. His “Instrumentarium” sculpture, manages to make the waters of the Loire, Rhine, Tagus and Danube mix, so transmitting a message of peace and unity at a time when the artist is worried by the rise in nationalism and inward-looking attitudes.   

A second exhibition, “Düsseldorf mon amour” , pays homage to the Kunstakademie which revived art after 1945, where Rinke taught for 30 years alongside Yves Klein and Daniel Buren.  

A series of conferences around the River Loire

As part of this dual exhibition, the CCCOD and Mission Val de Loire are organising a multidisciplinary series of conferences focused on the different ways of understanding the Loire.  

The first conference L’ensablement de la Loire : mythe ou réalité ? (The silting of the Loire: myth or reality?) will take place at the CCCOD on 23 November at 6.30 p.m. This conference on the hydro-sedimentary dynamics of the Loire will be given by Stéphane Rodrigues, a university professor in Ecology and Population Biology at the University of Tours, and, in particular, head of the Interdisciplinary Themed Project (CIT) “Loire & Fleuves” (Loire & Rivers) within the Intelligence des Patrimoines (Understanding Heritage) 2 programme.  

Upcoming scheduled conferences

• Quelles eaux pour quels paysages ? (Which waters for which landscapes?) - 25 January at 6.30 p.m. at the CCCOD

The three types of water and their associated and man-made landscapes, by Yves Lüginbuhl, agricultural engineer, doctor of Geography, director emeritus of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).  

• Espèces exogènes et biodiversité : un métissage écologique ? (Exogenous species and biodiversity: ecological crossbreeding?) - 18 January at 6.30 p.m. at the CCCOD.

Ecological balance, exogenous species and invasive species by Jean-Pierre Berton, professor emeritus at the University of Tours, member of the scientific council of the Loire-Anjou-Touraine Regional Nature Park (PNR), of the Commission of Natural Aquatic Environments (COMINA) for the Loire Basin Body, and of the Scientific and Technical Council of Mission Val de Loire - 18 January at 6.30 p.m. at the CCCOD.  

• Ce que nous cache la Loire (What the Loire is hiding from us) - 22 March at 6.30 p.m. at the CCCOD

River history and archaeology, by Virginie Serna, archaeologist in hyperbaric environments, chief heritage curator. Specialist in the field of water regions (landscapes, navigation, risks), she joined the general inventory mission of cultural heritage of the Ministry of Culture as policy officer. She is associated with the Lamop university body – UMR 8589 – University of Paris 1 and has long been leading excavation programmes in the Loire.