HORIZON D’ATTENTE is an urban artwork in ceramic tiles and painted by the association INSCRIRE, Françoise Schein and Virginie Levavasseur, with the participation of young people from the Collège des Provinces, the Collège Bucaille-Charcot and people detained at the Cherbourg-en-Cotentin prison.

This project is born from the desire of the Cherbourg artist Virginie Levavasseur, to carry and create a project in her city. She collected all the necessary conditions to create a huge artwork of 450 square meters for the city’s prison facade.

The 2-part artwork, HORIZON and WAITING, refers to the future that each detainee builds patiently day after day. However, INSCRIRE artworks are not just expectations, but invite you to read the social and personal expectations of the words.

Horizon d’Attente is inscribed in monumental letters, which includes the fundamental rights in text and images in the body of the characters. A mise en abîme of meaning towards a waiting horizon or waiting for a new horizon.

A method of creation involving a multiplicity of thoughts.

The artistic creation of this artwork includes an important pedagogical approach, which is one of the long-term series of similar artworks created by Inscrire.

Françoise and Virgine invited students and prisoners to participate in the project and asked them to imagine the symbolic interpretation of the Fundamental Rights. Painted on 6 ceramic tiles in oval shapes, these miniature works dialogue with the monumentality of the words ATTENTE D’HORIZON.

The pedagogical method is divided into 4 parts: introduce the project to students, teachers and prisoners, followed by a painting workshop, focusing on the reflection on each of the articles of the Fundamental Rights.  A school competition exhibition was held, showing pictures of all young students. The jury selects the best drawings and then the author draws on the tiles. Françoise and Virginie lead and supervise all teaching and technical steps. The Inscrire team finalized the project with the help of art students, baked it in the oven, and then arranged all the tiles on the floor to form the 15 huge letters that make up the artwork.

Every Thursday, there is an open market in front of and outside the prison walls. The huge words become the background of market gardeners, florists, bakers, cheesemakers, beekeepers, and various artisans.

Colleges the Provinces
Bucaille College – Charcot
Esam-Ecole supérieure d’arts et médias de Caen/Cherbourg (Superior School of Arts and Media of Caen/Cherbourg)
Trident Theatre
Kap Compétences
Caen National Education Academy

City of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin
Cherbourg-en-Cotentin Remand Prison
S.P.I.P. – Service Pénitentiaire d’Insertion et de Probation de la Manche (Prison Integration and Probation Service)
Penitentiary Services of Rennes
Prefect of the Normandy region
Normandy Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs
Department of Justice
Administration Pénitentiaire Cherbourg
SNCF Foundation
Crédit Agricole Normandie
Fondation le Grand Orient de France
Réseau Canopé

Virginie Levavasseur
Françoise Schein