Château La Coste
When in the presence of the minimal architecture of Tadao Ando, it’s as though one is in Japan. Further upstream, the sculpture park and the pieces in the adjoining Land’Art evoke – in their way – the best American foundations. Floating over 125 hectares of vines, however, is the vision of Irishman Patrick McKillen…Near Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade, a small village near Aix-en-Provence, the landscape welcomes rather unique pieces such as Aix by Richard Serra which gives the hillside a slice of life with its three giant ‘razor blades’ in oxidized steel. Below, the soft color palette of the Wall of Light Cubed – a cuboid in gray and pink limestone and red marble – by English painter Sean Scully, plays with the soil.
Perched atop the field, the Chapel of Tadao Ando doubles as a pearl cross made out of red glasses designed by Othoniel: spiritual, the architectural monument of glass and metal traps the walls of an ancient sixteenth century chapel which is surprising in its humility. Overlooking the field sits the music pavilion by Frank O. Gehry and the futuristic form of the winery designed by Jean Nouvel. We already know that on the way back we will cross the ecological engineering of Andy Goldsworthy, Liam Gillick’s colorful sliding panels and marvel at the reflection, in the main basin, of the giant spider by Louise Bourgeois and the slender cone by Hiroshi Sugimoto pointed towards the sky.
