The renowned Château d'Eau photography center in Toulouse, France, will reopen its doors on November 22nd following extensive renovations, marking a significant milestone for the historic venue that holds the distinction of being France's first photography center when it opened in 1974. The famous brick building, founded by Jean Dieuzaide, has undergone comprehensive improvements including enhanced accessibility, improved visitor flow, a redesigned visitor route, and garden-side enhancements that complete the architectural transformation.
During the renovation period, the center remained active by hosting programs at the former MATOU (Musée de l'Affiche de Toulouse), ensuring continuity in its cultural mission. The reopening will be launched with Sophie Zénon's major exhibition "L'humus du monde" (The Humus of the World), which will occupy all three available spaces in the center through March 8, 2026.
Zénon's exhibition represents nearly thirty years of artistic creation spanning from 1996 to 2025, featuring over one hundred works that showcase her diverse artistic practice. The artist was specifically inspired by the site's distinctive circular configuration, which she interprets as a metaphor for the cycle of life and death – themes that have been central to her work throughout her career. "I worked on the idea of the circle as a metaphor for the cycle of life and death, for transformation and rebirth," Zénon explained in an interview about the exhibition.
The comprehensive exhibition spans multiple spaces including the Tower with its basement and ground floor, as well as Gallery 2. Rather than limiting herself to photography alone, Zénon presents a diverse array of media including artist books, videos, three-dimensional objects, and paper sculptures. Her multifaceted approach reflects what she describes as "protean" work that incorporates different visual languages while maintaining an emphasis on craftsmanship and manual techniques.
For this specific exhibition, Zénon created four unique skulls made from hard porcelain in Limoges, each hand-embroidered by textile artist Aurélie Lanoiselée around the theme of the four elements: water, air, earth, and fire. In a remarkable personal touch, these skulls were crafted using MRI scans of Zénon's own skull, which were then modeled in resin to create molds for the porcelain casting process.
In an innovative curatorial approach, Zénon collaborated with four major Toulouse museums – the Musée des Augustins, the Musée des Arts Précieux Paul-Dupuy, the Musée Saint-Raymond, and Les Abattoirs – to incorporate works from their collections into her exhibition. Rather than the traditional model where artists respond to museum collections, Zénon reversed the process by selecting objects, paintings, sculptures, and videos that represent her "elective affinities" and artistic influences. These institutional works punctuate her own creations, creating what she describes as a "portrait of who I am and what drives me."
The museum directors and curators enthusiastically supported this collaborative approach, recognizing it as an opportunity to bring their collections into dialogue with contemporary artistic practice. This initiative aligns with the broader cultural dynamic of both the City of Toulouse and the Château d'Eau team's commitment to expanding such collaborative programs.
Zénon's artistic focus draws heavily from her academic background in shamanism in Northern Asia and her exploration of humanity's relationship with death and the deceased. These scholarly influences have shaped her artistic vision, which she describes as being "entirely devoted to these notions" of memory, history, and the passage of time. The artist emphasizes that her studio serves not merely as a place of execution but primarily as "the place of thought," where she develops universes that allow works to converse with one another while respecting the architecture of each exhibition space.
Accompanying the exhibition is a specialized publication produced in collaboration with Lia Pradal, founder of Païen publishing house based in Ariège. Rather than creating a traditional exhibition catalog, they developed an artist book dedicated to "L'herbe aux yeux bleus" (The Blue-Eyed Grass), Zénon's most recent body of work focusing on obsidional plants, which is displayed on the ground floor of the Château d'Eau Tower.
The exhibition's title, "L'humus du monde," encapsulates Zénon's artistic philosophy and approach to her work. She describes it as "a title that is read as much as it is breathed," evoking the sensory experience of walking through a forest after a summer storm, where the warm ground carries the scents of leaves, earth, and mushrooms – aromas of both decomposition and nourishing fermentation. This evocative title successfully reconciles the concepts of historical stratification, the passage of time, and renewed vitality, embodying what Zénon sees as the perpetual cycle of death and life that defines her artistic exploration.
