From October 7th till December 30th 2017, Passerelle Centre d'art contemporain presents Surfer un arbre, a project led by Nicolas Floc'h since 2016. After a year of research, experimentation, travel and even wandering, this collective project stage in Brest: a film, an installation, a process, a workshop, a community and projects by artists.

Surfer un arbre is a project which brings together about fifteen surfers (amateurs and pros) artists and students, designers, choreographers, art critics and graphic designers. Originally, a 5 meters long red cedar’s trunk has been brought by this artists community in the art center’s main hall. Out of it, for nearly a week, they made alias surfboards. The ancient Hawaiian’s alaia is made out wooden slats. Each surfer-artist creates, cuts and shapes his boards that will then become the vector or support of an artistic slide to be invented. Once completed, the boards went tested right away on Brittany shores. This experience allowed them to test the craft objects and learn about this ancestral sliding technique that requires a great deal of skill and knowledge of the sea.

As a visual artist, Nicolas Floc'h questions the origins, destinations and functions of materials as potential scenarios. As open, multifunctional, modular and consumable structures, his works can be constantly reinvented, reactivated, reconfigured and even reinterpreted by other artists. He develops processes in which each project can take different forms: film, installation, sculpture, performance, scenography. For several years, Nicolas Floc'h has also developed research projects about the sea world.

Surfer un arbre is central within his concerns. Used for a defined form, the tree becomes the source of inspiration and material for many projects. The exhibition at Passerelle Centre d'art contemporain presents a film that document the entire process of project realization, artist interviews and the first experiments on water. Associated artists will also present a collection of works from their research and experience with the project.