Cabillonum is what the Romans called Chalon-sur-Saône.
An ancient name, almost forgotten, that still vibrates beneath the cobblestones of the town where Romain HURDEQUINT (Rom BC) grew up, before leaving to return and settle here with his partner, Elisaveta PROKOPCHUK (Fabrica Minervae) and their daughter. Before returning to create and delve into its ancient history.
This exhibition was born of one objective: to rediscover the buried strata of their territory, but also to dream about them. “Cabillonum” takes us on a fictional journey into a reinvented Antiquity, an imaginary archaeology in which each exhibit deliberately blurs the line between historical truth and mythical fiction.
Among the relics presented here, kylixes marked with woven grapes, gladiator masks and representations of Bacchus mingle with fragments of ancient sporting events, said to have mixed skateboards and Gallo-Roman arenas. All these works take the form of artefacts, like relics found during preventive excavations on the outskirts of Chalon, or popping up more unexpectedly, at the chance of a building site, a garden or a souvenir in every district of the city.
By recreating these objects from scratch, the artists wanted to pay homage to the Côte Chalonnaise's rich wine-growing heritage, to the ingenuity of the hands that make things, to the stories we invent to better understand our origins, and to this town, whose past and present are in constant dialogue.
"Cabillonum" is an archaeological fiction, but also an act of attachment. It's a way of giving Chalon-sur-Saône back its mythologies, real or dreamt.
Welcome to these invented ruins.
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