Dr Tony Shaw: Univers du poète ferrailleur, Lizio, Morbihan (56)

21 September 2019

Univers du poète ferrailleur, Lizio, Morbihan (56)

Libellés : Coudray (Robert), Lizio (56), Morbihan (56)

Robert Coudray (born 1954) is the poet in Univers du poète-ferrailleur (poet-scrap merchant) a little outside Lizio, a tiny village in Morbihan. He has built a magical world of bizarre, fairy tale buildings, with seventy animated creations. Children may love this, but so too do adults: many comments online are that this museum, if we can call it that, brings out the child in the adult. Using recycled materials, he certainly creates a different universe.

Among a number of other occupations, Coudray has been a 'McDo' worker, a hewer of wood, a builder of carnival floats, a teacher, a film maker, and so on. He envied kids who knew what they wanted to be from the start, as he had no idea what he wanted to be. Eventually, a bricoleur extraordinaire is what he has chosen to be, which is obviously something he excels at. 'Useless' natural materials gathered from the tip or elsewhere – wood, straw, soil, hemp, cork, etc – are given a new life. Geese and hens freely weave in and out of the universe here. In the shop there are copies of Coudray's written poems, although the poetry of this place is largely visual: by pressing one of the many buttons at the side of the installations indoors, the weird objects move in a dancing-style movement, the metallic sounds lulling the viewer.

Refusal is written throughout this universe, refusal to conform to society's norms, to be straightjacketed into normality. Pacifist anarchy reigns, and although there are many delights that amused me here, I found the last photo here particularly amusing: a monument in remembrance of deserters. This is dedicated to cowards who don't want their flesh to be turned to pudding; to loving people who prefer their family to their country; to the non-violent who don't want to rip their brothers' guts out; to the wise who fly over wars and whims; to those who don't give in and are unconquerable, refusing to toe any line; to anarchists who belong to no one; to freedom, which has the same value as fidelity; to the smiles of living men in memory of those who died sadly. What a wonderful manifesto!

Unfortunately, Google refused to accept the many very, very short videos I made of the moving installations.