Passionnés de land art, ils réalisent des œuvres éphémères en pleine nature

What amazes me is the wild side of the sarin. There's the disorder of the wood, the colour of the water. From there, the sand is like the canvas. What am I going to do with it? I do art in nature. In English, we call it land art. For me, it's about inscribing a trace in a natural setting. A trace that can integrate into the space. This trace can be made with the elements that I find on site. I come from a family where the artistic aspect is not present. So I trained myself, I'm self-taught in my way of doing things. I work nearby, I was a nurse, and I've been teaching for 15 years. The spiral is omnipresent, it's everywhere. If we take water, it flows in a spiral. If we take our bones, our bones are twisted in the form of a spiral. Blood flows in a spiral. The universe, the galaxies are in the form of a spiral. So the spiral is really something that is at the bottom of us, and at the same time in the immensity that is around us. And somehow, when we look at the spiral, it does us good. We can't think of anything else, it's not possible. If we think of anything else, it won't work, it will collapse, we won't be able to focus. So there are techniques to be able to let go of all the daily worries. Through my artistic approach, it's my way of showing how I can take care of what is there, pay homage to what is available, and pay attention to what is there, simply. For me, the goal is to be able to show this work, to be able to represent creation, and to be able to transmit it, is important. Personally, what I like is to bring something to rest, that allows me to be at peace, and to be able to look at nature from a different angle. What I like is to get lost in nature. I like this word, to wander, to leave without intention. I only use what I find on the spot. A dead piece of wood, a stone, snow, leaves. That's what I think is great about art and nature, it's accessible to everyone. I think it also affects the childlike appearance that we all have. I walk in nature, preferably in wild places. There, I see different materials, and ideas come to me little by little. It's difficult to explain. I like very soft things, or light contrasts of colors, when you don't necessarily notice the work at first glance. It's a bit like drawing. Drawing on the tree, but without a pencil, just with nature. I always wonder when to stop. In fact, for me, the less you do, the better. I work as a ranger at the Greifensee. It's the largest natural reserve in the canton of Zurich. We are close to people, animals, and plants. Not much like arbiters in nature. These are cormorants. In winter, during migrations, there can be up to a thousand here. But now they've all gone south again. I grew up in the mountains of Tyrol, in Austria, in a small village at the end of the road. I started doing land art as a child. We built huts, we picked up branches, everything we could get our hands on. We spent all our free time in the forest and in the fields. When I do land art, time flows differently. Sometimes fast, sometimes very slowly. I'm very focused, and I really immerse myself in this world. I forget to drink, to eat, it's very intense. This morning, I wanted to connect some of these trees together, because they are always so lonely. And then I came across this old dead tree. And I thought I could bring it back to life. As soon as the wind picks up, it will move. The pieces of moss will fall down little by little. I like this fragility, this ephemeral side of land art. It's a bit like us, we go, we come, and everything ends up going back in the cycle of nature. Yes, it's fragile, a bit like our lives. I like it. It's likely that no one will ever see it before it collapses. But it doesn't frustrate me, I do it for me. And when I like the result, well, I'm happy. I go home happy. At home, I have a piece that I made entirely in black. It helps me to completely get out of reality, to be completely confined in my little cocoon, to be comfortable in there. It's important for me to have this virtual world and at the same time the real world next to it. If one of the two is missing, it's not good. My playground is the Gorges de l'Orbe. I was born in the region, I grew up in the region, I've been walking around this region since I was a kid. I'm attached to it, I think. This place is covered in moss everywhere. Everything is green. It's really an extremely flashy color. That's what I'm looking for. Generally, I'm looking for a color. In my creations, I'm looking to generate a contrast. And this green color, it makes you want to. From the moment I have the image in my head, nothing can stop me. I have to go to the realization, I have to see the result with my own eyes. So you have to get up at three in the morning to collect dozens and dozens of bags of pineapples, for example, of moss. I don't hesitate, I go for it. At the beginning, I did photography in nature. And I wanted to do the Languedart to add something unique to my photos that someone who does landscape photography will never have. My little sticks follow the line perfectly, then go behind the tree, find themselves here, and then the end of the line, it's not terrible yet. I try to do what is called anamorphosis. That is to say, deform an image so that, from a certain point of view, it appears different. If, for example, we draw a large oval on the ground, well, from a certain point, this large oval will appear to be a perfect circle. Well, it seems pretty good to me. Working with small pieces, small things that will be repeated, I find that it gives a feeling where you want to say, wow, I like that. After, in the notion of repetition, it is also pleasant to do because you enter a kind of meditation, you are immersed in nature, you move away completely from reality, and it feels good, frankly. I am a machine designer. I do industrial drawing. I draw straight lines, right angles, everything is governed by standards, it's like that, like that, and then for another world. This job is very useful insofar as it structures me a lot, it gives me a framework necessary for my balance of life. Without it, I think I would get lost, I don't know where, it would be terrible. I think I like to challenge myself. And suddenly, there is this anxiety, effectively, of not being able to go all the way, especially since we often have little second chance. The weather is as it is, if tomorrow it rains or there is snow falling on this place, well, everything will be covered and then I won't be able to finish my work, so I have to go fast, I have to enjoy the time as it is now, everything is done so that the photo is good. There is one thing that I like a lot, it's that all the materials I use come from the earth, and then in the illustrations I make, there is a certain taste from elsewhere that takes over. The art lamp is really, for me, it's making an image of a place that was natural before my passage and that is supernatural after my passage. I am someone who has fun in the forest, who has fun in nature. I feel protected in my little bubble, like a child. It's true that I think I never really grew up.