Anne Balthazard

A graduate of the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris, Anne Balthazard deploys a protean artistic practice where sculpture, ceramics, drawing, and installation converge in a spirit of learned 'bricolage.' Her work does not seek fixity; it is rooted in a deep attention to gestures and the processes of material transformation. Each piece is conceived as an open hypothesis, a proposition that questions its own limits and allows thought the freedom to shift.

Deeply involved in collective and transdisciplinary dynamics, Anne nourishes her research through encounters, notably through participatory projects (Auberfabrik, La Semeuse at the Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers) and choreographic collaborations. Since 2023, she has co-organized the Usinage exhibition cycle in Montreuil, affirming her desire to cross perspectives and practices. Her work, presented at events such as Nuit Blanche, is an invitation to perceive material not as an end, but as a passage, revealing the beauty of metamorphoses and the power of making together.

For her residency at Rocabella, Anne Balthazard joins the 'Les Gardiennes de la Mer' (Guardians of the Sea) project with an approach centered on spatial and material experimentation. Drawing inspiration from the figure of the freediver and the fluidity of the marine element, she plans to create sculptural installations that act as visual echoes of the body's movement in the depths. Between the hanging gardens and the shore, she deploys her visual 'hypotheses' to transform the estate into a place of dialogue between earth and sea.

Her work at Rocabella revolves around ceramics and assemblage, using gathered or transformed materials to evoke the sentinels of the coastline. Anne seeks to explore the notion of 'protection' through lightweight structures or organic forms that seem to emerge from the neoclassical architecture of the villas. This project is a study of vulnerability and resilience: by installing her works facing the immensity of the azure, she invites visitors to reflect on the fragility of our marine heritage. Through her sculptures, Anne Balthazard makes Rocabella the stage for a poetic metamorphosis where the artistic gesture becomes an act of vigilance and care for the living world.