David Nash, Bas Smets and others at the winery estate Les Davids in the South of France

Les Davids is a 320-hectare estate located in the south of France (in the commune of Viens, on the edge of the Luberon Regional Nature Park in the Vaucluse, on the border of the Alpes de Haute Provence).

Les Davids, which now has 50 hectares of vines, surrounded by orchards and gardens, currently produces eleven high-quality organic wines. Spurred on by the relentless energy of owner Sophie Le Clercq and her continuous flow of ideas, Les Davids has grown into a unique place for gastronomy, wine, art, architecture and nature lovers.

In 2021, a new winery by architect Marc Barani opened on the estate. The winery - as impressive as it is discreet - includes, in addition to the winemaking areas, a sales counter and a terrace for wine and food tastings. The estate also houses the studio of Belgian artist Yves Zurstrassen. Several of his works are integrated into the winery, but the most striking is a huge 11 x 2 metre mural in ceramic tiles, which has been placed in the entrance corridor. 

Last summer, Belgian landscape architect Bas Smets designed a 2 km long hiking route oen the estate, opening up new paths to reveal the great diversity of natural and cultivated landscapes on the edge of the Davids.

This summer, as part of the Summer festival 'Les Estivales du Haut Calavon', Les Davids is presenting an exhibition by British artist David Nash. From 16 July to 31 August, you can admire his unique drawings of trees he found on the Les Davids estate, naturally integrated into the landscape.

The festival features talks, performances, concerts, lectures and film screenings by and with important authors, philosophers and cultural figures from France and Belgium, as well as a walk with Bas Smets along his hiking path on 25 July.

More information on the festival here
​More information on Les Davids here
​Images here

David Nash

This summer Les Davids is presenting an exhibition from 16 July to 31 August by David Nash. The exhibition shows drawings of trees on the Les Davids estate, naturally integrated into the landscape.
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​David Nash is a British artist best known for his sculptures and land art installations using wood from trees that have fallen naturally or have been felled due to age or disease. His deep knowledge of trees, both of their life cycle and the changes that take place after they are felled, has fuelled his artistic development. Nash carefully determines how he treats the wood so that its inherent properties can give the work its final form.
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​Drawing has always been an important element in Nash's art practice. He is fascinated by the nature of the pigment itself and often lets the material dictate the form of the image ("from colour to form"). Raw pigment is applied directly to paper through energetic actions, and coloured halos around the main form remain emphatic. Elsewhere, Nash observes shapes and colours in nature, such as oak leaves that take on various colours in spring: from orange and yellow to pale green.

Les Estivales du Haut Calavon

Les Estivales du Haut Calavon, an annual summer festival that organises literary, musical, theatrical and philosophical encounters at the Les Davids wine estate in southern France, will take place this year from 16 July to 1 August. For a fortnight, the wine estate overlooking the Luberon will be the setting for talks, performances, shows, lectures and film screenings by and with important authors, philosophers and cultural figures from France and Belgium.
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​A total of 34 events will be organised, featuring more than 50 personalities from different disciplines. Highlights of the programme include the exhibition "Les Vénérables" by British artist David Nash, a festive ball in honour of the Belgian bank holidays on 21 July and a walk with Bas Smets along the trail he marked through the domain is scheduled on the 25th July.
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​But there are also lectures and readings by well-known Belgian authors such as Vinciane Despret, Bart Van Loo and Jeroen Olyslaegers.
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​The theme of this year's Les Estivales du Haut Calavon is "LES VÉNÉRABLES" (venerable), focusing on recognising and appreciating the elderly, both human and non-human. The event will focus on how individuals within a biological community contribute exponentially to the resilience, diversity and robustness of the community as they age. This phenomenon can be observed in long-lived species such as large mammals and trees, such as the oak tree.

Les Estivales du Haut Calavon
​16 July - 1 August 2024
​​Les Davids
​Route du Banon
​84750 Viens ​ ​
​France
​https://estivaleshautcalavon.fr

Bas Smets

Bas Smets has a background in landscape architecture, civil engineering and architecture. He founded his firm in Brussels in 2007 and has since completed projects in more than 12 countries with his team of twenty architects and landscape architects. Starting from a precise reading of the existing land, his projects reveal a landscape, visible yet unseen. These projects vary in scale from territorial visions to infrastructural landscapes, from large parks to private gardens, from city centres to film sets. ​ 

Bas Smets’ realised projects include the park of Thurn & Taxis and the Saint-Gilles Plaza in Brussels; the public space around the Trinity Tower in Paris La Défense, the Sunken Garden and the Mandrake Hotel in London, the Himara Waterfront in Albania and the Parc des Ateliers in Arles.

Bas Smets had a master in Architecture and Civil Engineering from the University of Leuven and a master in Landscape form the University of Geneva. He has taught in many schools such as the Ecole d’Architecture la Cambre in Brussels, the Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris and the Technische Universität in Graz.

In 2008 he was awarded the biennial French prize for young landscape architects ‘Les Nouveaux Albums des Jeunes Architectes et des Paysagistes’. A first monographic exhibition was produced in 2013 by deSingel International Arts Centre and arc en rêve centre for architecture in Bordeaux.

In 2017 he was appointed General Commissioner for the Biennial of Architecture of Bordeaux, and in 2018 he received the Award for Urbanism from the French Academy of Architecture.