THINKING SUSTAINABILITY

Thinking Sustainability is a bold programme created in 2024 by Audrey Bazin, artistic director for the Louis Roederer Foundation, and designed to respond to the ever-changing perspectives and situations associated with sustainable development.

This international programme is built around two key directions:

– The Thinking Sustainability Prize, which rewards a photographer who tackles an issue linked to sustainable development, through the prism of natural sciences or humanities.
– The Thinking Sustainability Research section, which brings together a collection of texts by thinkers and researchers from all over the world, whom the Foundation has invited to write on the subject of their choice.

These fascinating, freely accessible photographs and research projects are produced around the world by people committed to improving understanding of environmental and social issues. Thanks to their expertise, they provide us with food for thought and pave the way for possible changes, whether in the natural sciences or the humanities.

To ensure a diversity of points of view, each edition of Thinking Sustainability sees a complete change of commissioners and members of the jury for the Photography Prize, as well as thinkers and scientists for the Research section. All are selected for their unique voice and vision and the fresh perspectives they bring, often distinctly separate from those usually put forward. These voices, whether emerging or established, have complete freedom to tackle the subject of their choice, suggest a photographer to cham- pion, or vote for the work they wish to support. In this way, we discover a wide range of photographic perspectives and deeply inspired texts. The Louis Roederer Foundation is proud of these cartes blanches, a guarantee of free and visionary expression.

The aim is to contribute to an in-depth reflection on sustainable development, offering solutions and reasoning to anyone who is curious and keen to better understand the issues at stake on a large scale.

Fondation Louis Roederer ©Adam Ferguson, Lake Huffer, Big Sky

THINKING SUSTAINABILITY PRIZE

This Prize rewards a photographer who tackles an issue linked to sustainable development, through the prism of natural sciences or humanities.

Discover the Prize

Fondation Louis Roederer ©Mónica de Miranda, Whistle for the wind, The Island

THINKING SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH

A collection of texts by thinkers and researchers from all over the world, whom the Foundation has invited to write on the subject of their choice to contribute to a better understanding of the many facets of sustainable development.

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Conversation with Audrey Bazin,
Artistic director of the Fondation Louis Roederer

Audrey Bazin

Audrey Bazin © gkayacan

You are launching the Thinking Sustainability programme.
What was the thinking behind it?
A photography prize linked to sustainable development has existed since 2021, but I wanted to rethink it by creating a much broader programme, commensurate with Louis Roederer House’s historic commitment to preserving biodiversity and, by extension, the Foundation’s. This international programme is both sincere and demanding. It has two main focuses:

– The Thinking Sustainability Prize rewards a photographer who tackles an issue linked to sustainable development, through the prism of natural sciences or humanities.

– The section, Thinking Sustainability Research, brings together a selection of essays by thinkers and researchers from around the world who have been given free rein by the Foundation.

How is the Thinking Sustainability Prize organised?
I spent many months putting together a jury and selecting nominators who were different from the usual awards. I wanted new voices as well as established ones. The jury, which needed to be interested in sustainable development, is multinational. It has experts in photography as well as a poet, a philosopher, a multidisciplinary artist and directors of organisations, to benefit from a cross-disciplinary view of the candidates’ proposals.

The nominators, also experts in photography, represent all the continents (America being divided into two: North and South). They are from the continent they represent, or have lived there for at least five years, to ensure they had an in-depth knowledge of the local cultural ecosystem. They each had three months to select 3 photographers from their continent to take a thoughtful look at sustainable development in their own region.
The jury then had three months to explore and study the 54 entries. Each member voted for their favourite artist by continent, then for their winner from the 6 finalists.
The prize for the winner is €8,000. Her or his series of photographs will be accompanied by a critical text written by an art historian from the same continent as the photographer.
The awards ceremony will take place on November 2024 in Paris, in a place that I am particularly fond of, an epicentre of creation and reflection: the Institute for Ideas & Imagination.

What about the Thinking Sustainability Research cluster, which is largely international?
The sustainable development we imagine is linked to our experience, which is necessarily local. It cannot be the same in Brazil, Senegal, India, Australia or Japan. I asked researchers to write on the subject, choosing one representative from each continent. They were all given carte blanche.

A text by Barbara Cassin, of the Académie française, on the notion of Kosmos will introduce this Research section. I also invited Brazilian scientist Patricia Medeiros to present her research into new food products that respect the ecosystem and offer farmers decent living conditions; Senegalese architect Nzinga Biegueng Mboup will share her thoughts and achievements in bioclimatic construction; and German playwright Tobias Rausch will talk about the representation of ecology in the theatre to recreate the link between us and nature through the arts. I would love to talk to you about all the other texts too, they’re so fascinating!

True to its commitment to share knowledge, the Foundation wished to publish all the finalists’ texts and photography projects on this dedicated website. Making the entire Thinking Sustainability programme freely available means we can offer these new perspectives on sustainability to as many people as possible.

Is this ambitious programme intended to be long term?
Yes, this project has obviously been designed for the long term. It needs to be in a state of perpetual development, just like our thoughts, which are always on the move.

About the Louis Roederer Foundation

The Louis Roederer Foundation, presided by Frédéric Rouzaud, supports contemporary artistic creation and the transmission of knowledge. Founded in 2011, the Foundation accompanies ambitious cultural initiatives led by renowned institutions both in France and abroad. It provides steadfast support to the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Jeu de Paume and the GrandPalaisRmn in Paris, the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici, and the Villa Albertine in the United States.

Through the Discovery Award at the Rencontres d’Arles Photography Festival, the Revelation Prizes at the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes and the Deauville American Film Festival, as well as its carte blanche collaboration with Le Fresnoy, the Louis Roederer Foundation actively fosters the emergence of talented artists.

With the Photographic Research Grant from the Bibliothèque nationale de France, its support for international researchers at the Institute for Ideas & Imagination in Paris, and its global Thinking Sustainability programme, the Foundation contributes to a better understanding of the world and enhanced mutual respect.

The Foundation also engages in the viticultural domains of the Roederer Collection by initiating cultural actions specific to each site.

To perfect its commitment to the arts, the Louis Roederer Foundation is building its own collection of works by emerging and established artists, whether represented or not, and offers carte blanche collaborations in various artistic fields.