Stench of modernism in Lille Church

Lille. Utopia takes over the former church of Sainte Marie-Madeleine with olfactory works of art

You have until 2 October 2022 to discover "Jardin d'Eden" at the former church of Sainte Marie-Madeleine in Lille. An exhibition to smell on the theme of ecology!

What could be more normal than an exhibition called "Garden of Eden" in a church? This is what awaits you for a few more days, until 2 October 2022, in the former church of Sainte Marie-Madeleine in Lille, as part of lille3000's Utopia cultural season. And you'll be surprised: the artist, Peter De Cupere, is proposing an olfactory approach! Look, touch and smell, all in a magnificent setting, with an ecological message.

Peter de Cupere is an olfactory artist. In the exhibition "The Garden of Eden", part of Utopia, he presents a series of works in the church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine in which the sense of smell is essential.

The fragility of nature

While the term "Garden of Eden" evokes the mythical lost garden, the artist's aim is to raise awareness of the beauty but above all the fragility of nature, and to alert us to the ravages of pollution. That's why the exhibition moves back and forth between wonder and sadness. Could we already be standing in front of our soon-to-be-lost 'Garden of Eden', witness to and accomplice in disaster?

The smells remind us of this: while we expect the scents to be very good, sometimes we get a slight but present sensation of nasal tingling, as if an olfactory "itch" were intruding on this artistic journey.

We begin our journey with a giant wooden crate that welcomes us, a miniature barred window inviting us to take a whiff.

One of the confessionals is lit from the inside. A sculpture stands behind the confessional screen. Each sculpture has a scent to decipher, alluding to pollution. The work evokes Salt Flowers. The artist is transporting us to a not-so-distant future, where climate change has caused the sea, and therefore salt water, to cover part of the arable and inhabited land.

Several chapels house works of art. A carpet of orange spices seems to evoke a desert of dunes, where a bird has left its mark...

The most surprising and immersive installation is undoubtedly this large cotton cloud floating in the air. On the ground is a wooden ladder. You realise that you have to climb it, only to find yourself... with your head directly in the cloud, which has a hole in its centre.

What does this cloud have to say about the "Garden of Eden" exhibition at Utopia in Lille?

There's nothing to see inside it, it's all black, but it's all there to smell. A pungent, acrid smell greets us. In fact, this cloud is about pollution...

A giant flower to touch

Among the works of art, you'll also be dazzled by a giant flower, "Flower Fragrum Cardamomi", a monumental 9-metre installation. And for once, you can actually touch a work of art! You can caress the enormous green bulb encrusted with strawberries. The scent lingers on your fingers, like a gift from nature...

Visitors are invited to rub the surface of the sculpture, releasing a fragrance onto their fingers.

The exhibition is also an opportunity to discover or rediscover a historic monument that is rarely open to the public: the desecrated church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine. The majestic, curvaceous building reveals all its charm, as does the work installed since lille2004: "God Hungry", by Subodh Gupta. Hundreds of saucepans seem to be climbing towards the sky.

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