Fabrice Hyber

Fabrice Hyber initially studied science before entering the École des Beaux-Arts in Nantes. Schooled in drawing and painting, he has explored all modes of expression, broadening his work to different mediums, including video, sculpture and performance. In the 1990s,  Hyber returned to Vendée, his childhood home, to create la Vallée (The Valley), a space of inspiration and reverie, which he opened up to artists and the public. In this small 250-acre valley next door to the family farm, Fabrice Hyber has sown some 300,000 seeds in a little more than 20 years, giving birth to a young forest of 100,000 trees.  By doing so, he has gradually transformed the fields into a forest, and the landscape into a work of art. In 1997 he was awarded the Golden Lion at the 47th Venice Biennale for Eau d'or, eau d'or, ODOR, a project conceived for the French Pavillion, featuring a recording studio and a working television studio. Education and the passing on of knowledge are also at the heart of his work. In 2013 he launched the Les Réalisateurs (The Producers) programme, in collaboration with the l’École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Nantes and Audencia Business School, designed to encourage young artists to discover new means of production. He also launched a plan to create multidisciplinary courses, like Hyber-fabrique in Pantin in 2021. Officer of Arts and Letters since 2012, he was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 2018, and in 2021 he was appointed ambassador to ONF-Agir Pour la Forêt, an endowment fund for the National Forest Office in France.