Interview with the artist Laura Molton about her work Remonter les rivières [Going upriver], on the occasion of the exhibition Zones de (non)être.

The artist’s films and installations take the form of investigations into waterways, listening bodies, invisible pollution, and ambivalent attachments to the land. She is particularly interested in staging phenomena of sonic resurgence.

In Remonter les rivières [Going upriver], she explores the memory of La Hague in Normandy and gathers testimonies from residents marked by the nuclear contamination of local streams. Their accounts intertwine personal memories, local history, and anti-nuclear struggles.

Watch the video here

The work highlights the contradiction between industrial progress and the destruction of ecosystems, reactivating debates surrounding the energy crisis and the responsibility of the French state. The film sheds light on forms of resistance since 1966 and restores a voice to bodies and communities. Molton thus offers a reflection on care, collective memory, and possible futures.

Duration: 5 minutes
Photo credit : 19, Crac

Invitation to the 19 is a podcast produced by *Duuu Radio in partnership with the 19 Crac, Regional Contemporary Art Center of Montbéliard.

In 1921, the Peugeot company acquired a plot of land at 19 avenue des Alliés in Montbéliard. The industrial building, with its emblematic metal framework, would go on to live several lives. But it was from the 1980s onward that the desire for contemporary art became firmly established, turning into a major focus of local policy and, by extension, of the building’s redevelopment.

In 1995, the 19 Regional Contemporary Art Center moved into this former Peugeot repair workshop, with Philippe Cyroulnik taking over its direction. The building was transferred to the City of Montbéliard in 2009, becoming part of the municipality’s industrial heritage and undergoing significant renovation work, notably on its façade. In 2016, Anne Giffon-Selle became the new director of the art center, succeeded by Adeline Lépine in 2022.

Awarded the “Centre d’art d’intérêt national” label by the French Ministry of Culture, the 19, Crac has been working for 30 years to promote and produce contemporary artworks. Mediation activities hold a central place in all its actions, alongside residency projects. Like the artistic program, they contribute to an ongoing dialogue between the venue and its local area.
In 2025, to celebrate this additional decade, the 19 team launched a call for memories, inviting everyone to share an anecdote or meaningful event connected to the venue. The collected testimonies weave together the collective memory of the 19 over time and highlight the artistic imprint of the art center within the cultural and social landscape.

Listen to the podcast here

The 19 thanks France Acquart, Stéphanie Bunod, Arnaud Clety, Sylvie Daval, Tarsila Delaborde, Fatou Diongue, Anne Giffon-Selle, Hana Jamaï, Brandon Koziol, Fanny Maugey, Sandra, and all anonymous contributors for their testimonies. The sound excerpts were recorded during Emilie Škrijelj’s Glitch concert on June 21, 2025, during the C’PARTY, the anniversary celebration of the 19, Crac.

Editing and mixing: Aurore Portales
Duration: 13 minutes
Photo credit: 19, Crac

Interview with the artist Maeva Totolehibe about her works Les fantômes ont soif [Ghosts are thirsty] and Dans un paysage qui ne me compte pas [In a landscape that does not include me] on the occasion of the exhibition Zones de (non)être [Zone of (non)being].

Artist and poet, Maeva builds her work from missing histories, vanished figures, and lost landscapes. Through her narrative installations, she brings to light small, often invisible lives, where emptiness becomes a space of resonance. Her practice connects her Malagasy heritage to the Landes forest, a territory where she does not feel recognized.

The body becomes a transducer of memory and territory, as in the locks of hair in Les fantômes ont soif. They refer to the Malagasy ritual of Sangory, in which cut hair symbolizes a rite of passage. In Dans un paysage qui ne me compte pas, she evokes the gemmeur’s clog, a rural emblem of the region. She engraves into it signs from her childhood: television, the CAF (Family Allowance Fund), and a map of Madagascar.

Watch the video here

In her book Solastalgie, she writes: “We are not children of the land, but of the neighborhood,” giving voice to the discomfort of a denied belonging that connects the gestures in her work.

Duration: 2:20 minutes

Invitation au 19 is a podcast produced by Duuu Radio in partnership with Le 19, Crac – Centre régional d’art contemporain de Montbéliard.

This episode was created on the occasion of a meeting between the artist Laura Molton and the commissioning group from Audincourt, as part of a study for a commissioned artwork related to the Nouveaux Commanditaires initiative, for which Le 19, Crac currently acts as a mediator for the Belfort–Montbéliard urban area, under the mentorship of A Demeure.

The Nouveaux Commanditaires initiative enables citizens facing social or territorial development issues to engage contemporary artists with their concerns through the process of commissioning an artwork.

A group of residents from Audincourt, gathered within the association Engrenages artistiques, have initiated a commission around the heritage of the Autos district, focusing particularly on the Sacré-Cœur church and the Castors houses. Located in a working-class area shaped by the Peugeot industry, the Autos district embodies a century of social, urban, and cultural transformations. It is a place of hospitality, collective building, and civic initiative, marked by self-construction, social diversity, and cultural experimentation. The Sacré-Cœur church—built by residents with the help of leading architects and artists—and the Castors houses, self-built homes created by their inhabitants, stand as powerful symbols of this heritage.

The commission aims to revive this legacy in connection with values of solidarity, transmission, and the common good. It seeks to “preserve memory,” to shed light on an often-overlooked heritage, and to open up a new collective narrative. The commissioners envision an immaterial artwork rooted in the district’s history yet open to other forms and interpretations, created in collaboration with residents, schools, and younger generations.

Listen to the podcast here

With commissioners Edwige and François Dumel, François Nageleisen, Geneviève Pastre, and Brigitte Rimbert, together with the association Engrenages artistiques, Patrimoine et Transmission. With the support of the residents and actors of Audincourt, working for the development and enhancement of the industrial, working-class, and artistic heritage of the Autos district.

In partnership with the Société des Nouveaux Commanditaires and Pays Montbéliard Agglomération.

Duration: 28 minutes
Recording: Morgane Charles
Post-production: Aurore Portales
Photo credit: Le 19, Crac

Interview with the artists Akay & Olabo of Toxoplasma for Bric-à-brac

The exhibition brings together heterogeneous processes and works. It developed organically through a chain of invitations: from the 19, Crac to the Besançon-based association Juste Ici as part of the 12th edition of their Bien Urbain festival; from Juste Ici to the Swedish artist duo Akay and Olabo, who later became Toxoplasma; from Toxoplasma to the many facets of the local territory, and finally to the visitors themselves…

In these interviews, the artists look back on the birth of their collaboration, the development of the bric-à-brac concept, and immerse us in their worlds, where poetry and subversion transform forgotten spaces.

Watch the video part 1
Watch the video part 2

Exhibition produced with the support of the Recyclerie des Forges and in partnership with Jaquautau.