CLOÉ HARENT
FACTORY #3
LES HOMMES OISEAUX
In partnership with the company Edeis, which manages part of the Francazal airport site in Cugnaux (Toulouse Métropole territory), the Toulouse Municipal Archives and the Cugnaux Town Hall, Cloé Harent revisits the contemporary history of the former Francazal airport, an industrial wasteland with a remarkable heritage, for two months. This serie is on display at the Quai des arts in Cugnaux from 17 October to 14 December 2019.
Cloé Harent writes a story, halfway between reality and fiction, in which a Bird-men family, with an outwardly sensitivity, slowly fades from our memories. In 2019, she found herself in front of buildings, a 75-year-old wrecked framework of air force life. As empty places full of stories, is it possible to make them talk? It is hard to find remains. Between quest and investigation, Cloé Harent goes in search of the slightest clues to recontruct a fictional story, interweaving several layers of memories, images of the past and evidence of the present. Everything is available, the Mess (reception area), the boiler room, b1 (offices) and the former CIET CG7. It also has in its possession the sole “military” identity to embody its thousands of people who populated these places.
Some intact details show the dream of an elsewhere. The photographer tries to understand their language. Numbers, letters, punctuation and maps. She picks out the fresh traces of a past occupation. As a privileged witness of the talent state of this emblematic place with its outdated charm, Cloé Harent becomes aware of the value of the photographic act, an ideal medium to tell the end of a cycle and the possibility of new horizons.
EDEIS :
Edeis is a major player in the engineering and infrastructure management sector. Thanks to its innovative and sustainable vision, the group assists its clients in the implementation and operation of their development operations, planning and enhancement of spaces and territories.
The Edeis group supports its clients with innovative and sustainable solutions in fields as varied as urban management, mobility, digital, building, industry and infrastructure management. With its ability to offer a complete range of integrated solutions, Edeis designs, builds and operates the infrastructures of tomorrow. More innovative, more sustainable, more connected, Edeis’ solutions and achievements are in line with users’ aspirations to live in a healthy and functional environment.
CLOÉ HARENT : Born in Castelnaudary in 1998, Cloé Harent is a photographer. In 2019 she graduated from the EPTA (Photographic and Game Design School) in Toulouse, with the Special Jury Prize. Cloé Harent experiments a new approach of documentary photography associating different kinds of plastic forms. She seeks to give rise the conditions for a dialogue between blurred images, archival images, and topographical approach to the landscape. In order to get a better understanding of the present, she summons up the sensitive traces of the past. The notions of memory and passing time are also at the heart of her photographic research.