From July 1st to August 31st, the Rouen-Rive-Droite train station hosts À fleur de mer (At Sea Level), an immersive video installation by Jacques Perconte, a pioneering digital artist in France. Created following a residency in Varengeville-sur-Mer, this monumental work invites travelers to a sensory experience where Norman landscapes, light, and movement unfold on the station walls.
Since the 1990s, Jacques Perconte has explored the plastic potential of video images by intervening directly on digital streams. By subverting compression processes and playing with alterations of color, texture, and form, he has developed a unique visual language that evokes both Impressionist painting and contemporary transformations of the image.
With À fleur de mer (At Sea Level), the artist imagines a "possible garden" situated between land and sea. Inspired by the landscapes of Varengeville-sur-Mer, the installation reveals a nature in perpetual metamorphosis where vegetation, the sea horizon, and light recompose themselves in a continuous movement. The works Brun (Brown), Buis , and Bleu (Blue) interact to create an immersive projection that transforms the station hall into a space for contemplation.
The choice of Rouen-Rive-Droite station resonates particularly with the artistic history of the area. A place frequented by Claude Monet, it in turn becomes a space for experimentation where heritage, landscape and contemporary creation meet, offering travelers a cultural experience accessible to all.
This installation also echoes the exhibition " À Fleur de forêt" (At the Edge of the Forest), on display until November 1st at the Michel Ciry Museum in Varengeville-sur-Mer. Through some thirty unique prints and several video works, this exhibition extends Jacques Perconte's research on the digital transformation of the landscape and offers a new perspective on the Normandy region, between representation and abstraction.
Presented with free access, À fleur de mer is part of a desire to invest in everyday spaces to create a dialogue between contemporary art and heritage, and to offer the greatest number of people an unexpected encounter with creation.
This project was made possible thanks to the exceptional support of MTCA and in partnership with SNCF Gares & Connexions.
This project is part of the focus on the Dutch art scene led by Normandie Impressionniste, with the support of the Mondriaan Fund and theEmbassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
