Artist Liat Segal recommends visiting Centre Intermondes for contemporary art in the old port city of La Rochelle in France and participating in their artist residency program for international creators in various mediums:

Centre Intermondes is a cultural center that hosts an international residency program for contemporary artists working in all mediums. The center is located in a beautiful building from the 19th century with a gallery, studios, and well-equipped apartments. It’s inspiring how a small city in France like La Rochelle, located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, invests so many resources for the benefit of culture and art. Over the years, the town developed around the ancient port and is rich with centuries-old architecture. Today, La Rochelle regularly hosts several important art events and festivals. I participated in the Zero1 festival for digital art and stayed for three weeks during the installation of the exhibition Vessel Streaming in Centre Intermondes.

The exhibition Vessel Streaming, curated by Dr. Diego Jarak, was divided into two spaces in the city. The first was in Centre Intermondes’s gallery, and the second was in the Chain Tower in the old port. The Chain Tower was built in the 15th century for protection and was the gate of the ancient port of La Rochelle. Even today, the massive chain mechanism is feasible near the tower.

The exhibition explored the human need to control space and time. In the Chain Tower, I built an installation containing 1,300 glasses; These, half filled with water and containing a small magnet, were placed on a large surface. A mechanism moved powerful magnets beneath the surface. As it affected the magnetic field at specific locations selected by an algorithm, it moved the tiny magnets within the glasses. In their movement, the magnets created waves in the water trapped in the glasses, thus creating an image that changed over time. The dynamic image in the water glasses was influenced by information about the movement of vessels passing through the nearby port. At the same time, a computerized drawing machine was placed in the gallery in the Centre Intermondes. An algorithm automatically operated the machine, which painted using a brush into which ink was injected. The machine painted on paper the same routes of the vessels that passed through the port of La Rochelle. Vessel Streaming created different visual expressions of the same information from various references at the two exhibition locations.  

One of the advantages of the Centre Intermondes is the cooperation and accessibility to cultural institutions and other spaces in the city, as well as the involvement of the city’s residents in its activities. The residents of La Rochelle donated the glasses used in the installation, and local artists interested in the project offered their time and skills. 

In conclusion, I had a wonderful and productive stay at Centre Intermondes in La Rochelle (and very tasty, too!) in a pleasant and beautiful place where interesting acquaintances and conversations took place.