La Semeuse ~ The Sower is an artwork by Brussels-based artist and researcher Audrey Cottin. The process consists of the burial of her work Seeds Arrangement # 10 (2023), in the garden of Citadel Park near the museum. The conditions and schedule for the sowing are defined and carried out in collaboration between S.M.A.K.’s conservation and curatorial teams, the artist, and the Green Spaces department of the city of Ghent.
This collective process thinks of the garden as a work of art and continues the long-term relationship between Audrey Cottin and S.M.A.K.; the artwork Lift me
(2011) entered the museum collection in 2017, as well as three artworks from the Seed Arrangements series: Seeds Arrangement #0001 (2018), Seeds Arrangement #0002 (2018) and Seeds Arrangement #0003 (2018). La Semeuse ~ The Sower is a project that is part of this continuity. In 2023, S.M.A.K. acquires the artwork Seeds Arrangement # 10 (2023) by Cottin which is the central element of the process. For the first time, Audrey Cottin is burying her artwork in the garden of Citadel Park. In this project, she observes, learns, and valorizes seeds’ shapes, colors, and smells. Some of Cottin’s seeds come from La seed library of "Fraternités Ouvrières” in Mouscron, an association initiated by Josine and Gilbert Cardon in 1969; other seeds come from regular gardening suppliers and few were cultivated and collected by Cottin herself.
Seeds are strong, they can travel via water, wind, animals, and insects for miles, crisscrossing landscapes. In the ground, they can decide the best time to bloom. Semen is linked to our past and future. In the 1980s, the technologies developed in this field opened up new possibilities, although these advances have induced harmful counter-effects. The seeds arrangements pieces are part of a new series that brings together various gardening techniques and practices ranging from square footage to permaculture. This work of art comprises glassine paper, neutral PH paper, seeds, and glue; the seeds are mostly organic and encapsulated between two pieces of neutral PH paper for conservation reasons. The seeds are organized according to their qualities and growth potentials. As part of the process, Audrey Cottin is rubbing a bas-relief representing one of the trades, a woman, La Semeuse, thus connecting the collection of S.M.A.K., the facade of the museum, and the garden of Citadel Park.
This proposal by Cottin continues her questioning on how to be an artist at her own pace as a philosophy and a modus operandi. The place of the artist, the citizen, plants, orality, and the dissemination of knowledge makes it possible to create connections and ideas relating to ecology, art, politics, and public space.
