« Pour qui danse sous le jubé », d’Alisha Wessler

Discover "Pour qui danse sous le jubé", a work by Alisha Wessler installed in the chapel of Marguerite d'Autriche. This American artist has created a sensitive, poetic work inspired by an astonishing legend invented in the 19th century. Marguerite and Philibert, on a pilgrimage, were said to have danced between eggs without breaking them: this is what enabled them to marry, following a village custom. With this popular story, history fades away to make way for the spirit of the place: that of a political marriage that became a love marriage.

Suspended above porcelain eggs on a bed of sand are white brass amulets. Made from hidden carved details of the church, they echo the insignia worn by pilgrims in the Middle Ages, who thus preserved the memory of their spiritual journey.
In this installation, these "secrets" are revealed: shining under the light, the precious metal sparkles; the amulets move gently at the end of ribbons that evoke the lakes of love omnipresent in the church. The ensemble invites us on a spellbinding journey between the supernatural and reality.
"Pour qui danse sous le jubé" was created in 2023 by Alisha Wessler for the "Corps de ville" exhibition at H2M-espace d'art contemporain in Bourg-en-Bresse, following a research residency. The exhibition was curated by Ariane Réquin, with texts by Émilie d'Ornano. Thanks to the sponsorship of the Rotary Club of Bourg-en-Bresse, this work can be presented in the place that inspired it.

Alisha Wessler, born in the United States in 1983
A graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2006 and the University of Michigan in 2014, Alisha Wessler is an American visual artist with a relationship to materiality, objects, their uses and their symbolic and ritual force. She has exhibited her work in galleries and museums and participated in residency programs in the United States and Europe. In 2022, she was in residence at the historic Moly-Sabata (Fondation Albert Gleizes) in Sablons, leading to her solo exhibition "To Leave is to Die a Little" at Galerie Tator in Lyon, featuring sculptures modeled in clay from the River Ain. The following year, in 2023, she exhibited at H2M - espace d'art contemporain de Bourg-en-Bresse, as part of "Corps de ville", and gave birth to "Pour qui danse sous le jubé", inspired by the royal monastery of Brou. Her almost alchemical approach to the transmutation of materials produces mysterious works that disrupt our experience of time and reality.

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