Video / Object. 2025
Edition of ceramic pieces produced between Portugal and the Basque Country, created through a collaboration between Cécile Mestelan, ceramicist, and Benjamin Artola.
The project explores the notion of “slow water” and proposes domestic objects that encourage mindful and economical use of water.
The forms, along with variations in size, glazing, and texture, reflect the handmade production process. The slips, hand-painted like small vignettes, create a visual cycle evoking water-related transformations.
The collection includes vases, cups, ollas, and watering vessels (chantepleures), each designed to accompany everyday gestures of care, watering, and hydration.
Painting & Art Direction. 2023
Public commission
Photos : Oihan Brière
Art direction for the new cultural offices of the Basque Country Agglomeration Community (CAPB).
The CAPB serves as the cultural showcase for the 158 municipalities of the Northern Basque Country.
The project includes a series of nine murals as well as the design and production of furniture in collaboration with designer Quentin Delion.
The painted series pays tribute to natural phenomena found at sea, in the mountains, and in the rivers of the Basque Country, to the renewal of life and the variations of light across the four seasons.
Painting, In situ. 2023
Public commission
Jaiotzak is a series of six murals for the town hall of Sohüta in Soule, Basque Country.
The series explores hatching and emergence in natural environments, particularly rivers.
These emergences are brief metamorphic moments during which aquatic insects become winged beings. The river is also a place of gathering and passage for the “swallows,” the name given to Souletine grandmothers who crossed the border to sew espadrilles and seek refuge during times of war.
This project was supported by the Berpiztu grant from the Basque Country Agglomeration Community.
Poster selection. 2013–present
- Fête de la Musique — Poster design. 2023
- Teen — Poster design. 2021
- Water Get No Enemy — Film poster. 2021
- Le néant ne nous mangera pas — Poster design. 2020
- Atabal — Visual campaign. 2020
- La fille du bunker — Film poster. 2017
Fête de la Musique
Poster design
Les Baigneuses
Biarritz 2023
Poster design
Les Baigneuses
Biarritz 2023
Teen — Poster design
Concert poster for Teen
Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NYC, 2021
Concert poster for Teen
Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NYC, 2021
Water Get No Enemy — Film poster
Directed by Arthur Bourbon, 2021
Directed by Arthur Bourbon, 2021
Nothingness Will Not Devour Us — Visual communication
Solo exhibition, SMAC
Atabal, Biarritz, 2020
Solo exhibition, SMAC
Atabal, Biarritz, 2020
Visual campaign
SMAC Atabal, Biarritz, 2020
SMAC Atabal, Biarritz, 2020
Video / Object. 2022
Limited edition, entirely handmade for the design studio Ummagumma.
This all-wood object evokes a sail resting on water.
The sail fits simply into a groove carved into the hull and can be replaced at will, allowing each person to create their own variation.
VOILÀ sails can be placed on a windsurf board or sailboat, individually or in multiples, transforming the silhouette as desired.
Produced in an edition of 100 pieces, the series oscillates between decorative object and design piece — a minimal form inviting projection and travel.
Art direction, scenography, and the visual campaign were also created for the project.
Object. 2022
Limited edition, entirely handmade. Loop is a wooden bench designed in collaboration with designer Quentin Delion for Studio Zompazitu’s mobile cinema.
Conceived as a free and evolving module, it can be recomposed according to spaces and uses.
Its graphic shapes and interchangeable colors make it both functional and expressive. A bench that adapts, observes, and accompanies each screening.
Art direction, scenography, and the visual campaign were also created for the project.
Object. 2022
Photos : Oihan Brière
Limited edition, entirely handmade. Rémi is a modular wooden bench designed in collaboration with designer Quentin Delion for Studio Ummagumma, on the occasion of the exhibition “Le néant ne nous mangera pas” at SMAC Atabal in Biarritz.
Its colorful circular seats, inspired by the suns present in the paintings, alternately become seats or small tables. Their interchangeable heights allow for adaptable uses and configurations.
An evolving piece of furniture at the boundary between sculpture and domestic function.
Animation. 2021
Film – 46 min
Fifteen years after the civil war that devastated the country, Liberia is slowly rising from the ashes and moving toward a brighter renewal.
Professional surfers Damien Castera and Arthur Bourbon meet children of the war who, in certain regions, have traded their assault rifles for surfboards. The film follows Liberia’s reconstruction and encounters with these new generations who have replaced weapons with surfing.
Direction: Arthur Bourbon
Scenario: Damien Castera
Animation: Benjamin Artola
Motion design: Léonard Mercier
Production: HAND Studio & ALMO Film
Awards (selection):
-
Jury Favorite — FIFAV La Rochelle
- Best Film — International Surf Film Festival, Anglet
Music video. 2017
This is a cardiac coherence exercise. When the element rises, breathe in through your nose. When it falls, breathe out through your mouth.
Direction: Benjamin Artola
Production: Pelicanparis
Animation and special effects: Machine Molle
Assistant: Léon Lachamp