Interview transcript – Neimenster Abbey Residency exhibition – Seeds including Victor Guerin’s Installation – Cracks of Potential, April 4 - June 1, 2025.
Beverley Harrison
I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about the residency at neimënster (Neumünster Abbey) in Luxembourg. How did your artworks come about? Was the theme of Seeds something that was assigned, with different people responding in different ways? And if so, what was your role within that conversation?
Victor Guerin
My residency lasted three weeks – which was both a good amount of time to work, and also quite short, depending on how you look at it. The process began with an open call. The organisers already knew there would be an exhibition of seed photographs by Thierry Ardouin, and they were looking to activate the exhibition with a number of artist commissions. So we each proposed ideas for how we would create work in response to the theme of Graines (French for seeds).
My proposal was for a piece titled Cracks of Potential, and I kept that title throughout. It referred to nature’s resilience – specifically how nature can adapt and grow even in the most hostile environments. I was especially interested in how nature survives within urban contexts – for instance, seeds falling into cracks in pavements and managing to grow there. The project I proposed for the open call involved a single work made from broken pieces of bitumen, arranged to create cracks through which nature could slowly grow.
I actually asked neimënster to split the residency into two parts: two weeks initially, and then one week for installation, with a few weeks in between. Sustainability was at the core of my project, and being based between Jersey and London, it wouldn’t have made sense to bring bitumen with me. I wanted to source materials locally, but I wasn’t sure I’d find what I needed. Working ahead of the exhibition gave me time in case I needed to adapt.
Fortunately, I did find the right materials – in fact, I was quite lucky. When I arrived, there was a renovation site within Neumünster Abbey itself, only about 50 metres from my studio. I was able to source materials directly from there. The studio was wonderful – very large, with an arched ceiling. I began laying out the collected materials immediately. It was an eclectic mix: natural stones, concrete fragments, drilled bitumen, leaves, metal, and plastic. I sorted them by category – shape, colour, material – and as early as the first day, I started shaping the project.
While developing Cracks of Potential and sourcing larger pieces of bitumen, I was also working on several other pieces. In the end, I presented a body of work built around that central idea. Cracks of Potential was the largest and the core piece, but it was accompanied by six smaller sculptures. They were all connected by a shared theme of nature’s resilience and sustainability, each representing different stages of that story.
Beverley Harrison
And when did you decide on the idea of the progression and the development, within the exhibition, moving from things that were somewhat destructive to nature, to things that were indicating growth, to things that were indicating the liminal.
Victor Guerin
The project deals with a serious issue – over-urbanisation. We know some cities are increasingly covered in bitumen, and that has real consequences, especially for global warming. We've all seen how some streets, covered in bitumen, can be five or seven degrees hotter than nearby streets with a few trees.
But although the project addresses that reality, I wanted to emphasise nature’s adaptability. Even when trees are surrounded by bitumen, their roots often find a way through. One of the most symbolic pieces was Neumünster's Scholar’s Rock, made from stone with industrial metal feet and a found concrete block – and embedded within the concrete was a root. It was very thin, barely noticeable, but central to the sculpture. That root was essential.
When I found that root, and other materials like dead leaves or moss growing on stones in contrast to concrete and bitumen, I began to think more about progression – how nature not only resists but evolves. The project had a core message of optimism.
But I also wanted to bring the narrative back to reality. Sometimes nature doesn’t survive. It can’t always adapt. So the exhibition took shape in four stages. First, something familiar: nature growing between stones. Then, a second stage using dead leaves – a metaphor for growth that could have been, but didn’t happen. A third stage – more hopeful – was Cracks of Potential, where a flower and seeds emerge from the bitumen, suggesting nature is reclaiming space. And finally, Liminal, a piece composed of paving stones mounted on industrial metallic feet and spaced apart. It introduces the idea of potential: something might grow there, but hasn’t yet. It ends on a question – will nature return?
The materials I used really led both the conceptual and physical development of the exhibition. And although three weeks may sound short, it gave me the chance to experiment. I had excellent support from neimënster – truly from A to Z – and that freedom was invaluable.
Beverley Harrison
And in terms of construction, did they also support you practically?
Victor Guerin
Absolutely. When I say I had amazing support, I mean it. If I had a question, they found a solution. For instance, when I started collecting stones, I thought I might need to pass rope through them. I asked if they had a drill – and they did. They lent it to me, with full trust. You could borrow tools as long as you brought them back for the next person. It was very respectful and well managed.
For Cracks of Potential and one of the earlier pieces, both included live plants. But the exhibition space was kept quite dark – both for the photographs and to create a certain theatricality. So there was a challenge: the plants needed light to survive over the two months of the exhibition. Even before I arrived the team, and Sven specifically, had already devised a lighting system – a rig that could be raised and lowered daily to keep the plants healthy. That technical support made a huge difference.
Beverley Harrison
And how did your work relate to what the other artists were doing?
Victor Guerin
That was very interesting. We were all working on different timelines. My initial two weeks were earlier than the others’, so I was very focused and working intensively. I didn’t have much contact with the other artists at first. But during the final week – installation week – we were more in touch, and had great conversations about our responses to the theme of Seeds. The resulting exhibition was very diverse and dynamic.
My work was placed in situ with Thierry Ardouin’s photographs, which was exciting. I knew his work from images, but I hadn’t seen it in person. During install week, we realised there were some unexpected visual correspondences – colours like grey, brown, beige, black, white and red appeared across both his work and mine. There was also a strong visual link between some shapes in my sculptures and one of Ardouin’s seed photographs – Clematis . Those moments of serendipity were really satisfying.
Beverley Harrison
So you didn’t know at first what would be shown alongside your work – it was a happy coincidence?
Victor Guerin
Exactly. I came ready to create the piece I was commissioned to make, and to experiment. I actually made three other pieces that I eventually decided not to include, because they didn’t quite fit the narrative. Neimënster expected just one work from me – but I gave them more, so it became a question of how to integrate them meaningfully and enhance the overall dialogue around Seeds.
Beverley Harrison
So the idea of walking through the exhibition wasn’t introduced later by the curators – it was your own from the start?
Victor Guerin
Yes, that’s right. The exhibition was spread across four rooms, and we had a layout plan from early on. During the first two weeks of the residency, I already had a vision for how the works might be arranged. There was one open question about two sets of sculptures in the first rooms, which we finalised after seeing everything in place. But most of the layout was already clear – so the installation process was really smooth.
Beverley Harrison
Were you thinking specifically about urban development in Luxembourg as well?
Victor Guerin
Yes and no. When I responded to the open call, I’d never been to Luxembourg, so I couldn’t tailor the project to the city. But during the residency, I explored the city on weekends. Luxembourg has a unique topography – dramatic rock formations, bridges, cliffs near the Abbey. The old city is filled with cobbled streets and historic architecture, while the outskirts include industrial areas and waterways. That definitely influenced the first piece, and perhaps also the final one, Liminal.
Beverley Harrison
It seems the renovation site near the Abbey was particularly fortuitous.
Victor Guerin
Completely. When I arrived, Sven had already put aside some material in my studio and pointed out the construction site, and I was thrilled. As a first impression, it was remarkable – to arrive, see my studio, and realise I could start working immediately with materials just there. I put on my overall and started collecting more debris with a wheelbarrow. It was perfect.
Beverley Harrison
Like encountering a stratified history right at your doorstep.
Victor Guerin
Exactly. One of the pieces deals directly with that idea of stratification – what survives and what doesn’t. I might have been the only person pleased that the car park was closed due to the renovations – parking in Luxembourg is notoriously difficult! “Le bonheur des uns fait le malheur des autres.”
Beverley Harrison
And the labyrinth garden in the courtyard – did that influence your work at all? It felt like a mirror to your passageways.
Victor Guerin
During the first two weeks, it was just a construction site. When I returned for the installation, the garden had been completed – it was beautiful. But I didn’t see it in time for it to influence the work. So I think our developments happened simultaneously, but independently.
Beverley Harrison
That’s the impression I had too. I met an architect on the way who mentioned that the garden was a commissioned project. It added another layer to the experience of walking through the space.
I really enjoyed the preview. The exhibition was beautiful, and it was fascinating to see how your work connected not just to Ardouin’s photographs, but also to the other artists’.
The whole exhibition had a powerful sense of growth, movement, and progression.
Victor Guerin
I wanted to embed a sense of movement within the work – sometimes implied, sometimes actual. In some pieces, leaves are suspended as if frozen in the moment they should be falling. In Cracks of Potential, you see the slabs of bitumen shifting, nature piercing through – that’s real movement.
What interested me in the open call for Graines was the question of how seeds endure extreme conditions – heat, drought, flooding, or long dormancy – and remain viable for years, even decades. Ardouin’s work also touched on the movement of seeds – how they travel, how humans and animals play a part in that journey. That epic sense of migration and persistence was a common thread running through many of the works.
Beverley Harrison
Thank you.
Victor Guerin
Thank you.
