Tales of an outer world

Duo Jeremy Lacombe et Arthur Jules

Couronnes Talantaise, commisioned by the city of Talant, France, 2025.

This project was co-created by Jérémy Lacombe and Arthur Jules with essential technical assistance from Louis Delagne, as part of TRUC (Talant Rassemble l’Urbain et la Culture) program.

It is part of the city's new urban art trail, a route that links history, nature, and contemporary creation.

This project stood out for its artistic intervention on diseased trees marked for removal, in collaboration with the city of Talant.

The starting point of our creation was to imagine a new story around the founders of Talant: the Duke of Burgundy, Eudes III, and his wife, Alix de Vergy.

We imagined a pair of complementary sculptures: a tiara placed on a walnut tree for Alix de Vergy, and a crown on a birch tree for the Duke of Burgundy, Eudes III.

The idea was to replace the crown of the diseased tree with a “Talantaise crown” to “crown” the people of Talant with a symbol that already belonged to them.

To do this, we conducted research in partnership with the museum and the heritage department of Dijon.

As the crown of Burgundy has disappeared, we drew inspiration from existing historical elements to create the tiara for Alix de Vergy.

As for the crown of Duke Eudes III of Burgundy, although it no longer exists, a crown dating from the period 1404-1419 was found at the Chartreuse de Champmol, originating from the tomb of Marguerite of Bavaria. This crown had no particular value and no designated owner.

These artifacts allowed us to tell different stories through time, and these two headpieces were designed as temporal friezes.

Wishing to involve the inhabitants of Talant in the creative process, we exchanged ideas with them in meetings and by email in order to understand their vision of the city. Following our discussions, we chose to highlight elements related to the fauna and flora of Talant (cherries, roses, frogs, owls, etc.). We combined these with other historical or specific elements of the city (coat of arms, currency, the axial window of the Romanesque church of Notre-Dame de Talant, etc.), as a way of revisiting medieval goldsmithing.

"The tiara and crown are designed as durable wooden structures (oak, Douglas fir, cherry wood) and include street furniture.

Find this pair of sculptures in the Square des Montoillots in Talant!

Thanks to Jeremy's family - Laussel and Fau de Rodez - Anthony Trebosc - Jean François Delagne - Severine Cordier - Maria Hilmersson-Landgren - victortournemire

Cygne de Melun, commisioned by the city of Melun, France, 2024.