Sleeping Like the Sun: Adrien Vescovi Drapes Marseille in Colour

A sheet lifts at its corner, settles, lifts again, catching a colour that seems to come from nowhere and everywhere, the ochre of the building it hangs against, the blue that arrives only when the wind allows it. Six hundred sheets breathe through the arcades of the Centre de la Vieille Charité this summer, and by the time visitors reach the chapel, they have already stopped walking like people who are simply passing through.

Above: View of Adrien Vescovi's studio. Below: Preparatory drawing for the Centre of the Vieille Charité. © Julia Andréone

This is Sleeping Like the Sun, running until 10 January 2027, by Adrien Vescovi. In his studio outside Marseille, vats holding up to 400 litres simmer on burners while sheets are stirred with long wooden spoons, and nobody, including Vescovi, knows exactly what will surface. Yellow does not become red in a single gesture; it passes through states that must be accepted rather than corrected. Two lengths of cloth immersed in the same bath will emerge as strangers to each other. This is not a flaw in his method. It is the method, and beyond the studio it continues without him: hung outdoors, the sheets take on whatever the sky gives them, sun, rain, dust, working into the fibre like a second dyer...

(...)

Want to read more of this article?
We are proud to be a subscriber-funded publication with members in 185 countries. We know our readership is passionate about textiles, so we invite you to help us preserve and promote the stories, memories, and histories that fabric holds. Your support allows us to publish our magazine, and also ‘what's on’ information, and subscription interviews, reviews, and long-read articles in our online blog. 

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER? CLICK HERE TO ACCESS CONTENT

Or, to continue reading….


Magazine subscribers automatically get free access to all our online content. We send the access code by email with the publication of each issue. You will also find it on the envelope containing your magazine. Please note the access code changes every issue. 

. . .

Image Credits:

Lead: Sleeping like the sun, Adrien Vescovi., © Olivier R.

All further images as credited in captions.