DARArtNouveau at ArtOnPaper 2026
DARArtNouveau is a project within OCTARR's Living Heritage collection, beginning with DARA, a 350-year-old French oak whose material is being given new life through contemporary art.DARA was planted in France during the reign of Louis XIV. Its wood has now been transformed into handmade, pre-industrial paper by papermaker Frédéric Gironde at his atelier in Margaux, France.
For DARArtNouveau, this paper becomes part of a dialogue across centuries.
Each work is presented as a triptych bringing together:
- an 18th-century Cassini map
- a corresponding plate from an 1895 herbarium compiled by botanist P. Populus
- a newly commissioned work on DARA paper, created by a contemporary artist in response to both
Historical cartography, botanical knowledge and contemporary artistic practice meet in a single work.
The participating artists move between drawing, painting, material practice, computational processes and digital techniques. New technologies do not replace the historical objects, but create another layer through which they can be interpreted, connected and continued.
Participating artists
Harshit Agrawal, Frédéric Gironde, Harto, Mathilda Milik, niceaunties, Miguel Ripoll and Nathan Waks.
Installation Views
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