Simon Boudvin was born in 1979 in Le Mans. He lives and works in Bagnolet.
He studied at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in the studio of Giuseppe Penone (1998 – 2003) and at the Ecole d’Architecture de Paris-Malaquais (2000 – 2004). He is involved in residencies and is regularly invited to produce exhibitions and editions in institutions in France and abroad.
He has been teaching at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Paysage de Versailles since 2018.

Simon Boudvin proceeds by measuring and analysing. Like the human or social sciences, Simon Boudvin’s artistic practice is never off the grid. Considering the tangible, his research unfolds in context through encounters with environments and histories that are often marginal or hidden. At the crossroads of art and architecture, his work process induces interventions with essential political stakes, which do not forget an attention to form, and produce poetic narratives.
The project conceived by Simon Boudvin is the result of an investigation into the extraction of limestone from the quarries of the Oise region. FORMATS (Saint-Maximin) is an abstract sculpture presented in the courtyard of the Fountains, made from blocks of stone called “éveillée”, chosen for their shape, their material and their genesis: their section reveals a multitude of fossilised shells. Oise is an artist’s book linked to the sculptural proposal. It is presented as an iconographic journey through the quarries, composed of original photographs and documents, witnesses of the territories and the people.
Together, the installation and the book allow us to experience the massive blocks of rock and to see the country from which they were extracted.

The production of the OISE project is accompanied by La Maréchalerie – centre d’art contemporain.

The production of the sculpture FORMATS was supported by Degan Pierres & Granulats and Bourson et Fils.
Oise is a book published by Building Books and La Maréchalerie.

As the contemporary art centre of ÉNSA Versailles, La Maréchalerie contributes to the experimental and prospective dimension of the higher education establishment and offers the public outside the school an awareness of the challenges of contemporary artistic creation through a close relationship with the work.

Each year, three artists are successively invited to engage in a personal reflection on the territorial and spatial context of the contemporary art centre. The research conceived by the artist gives rise to a monographic exhibition produced in situ, an edition conceived as an artist’s document, and a programme of educational and mediation activities – visits, workshops and meetings – which encourages an open debate between the artists, the school’s staff and visitors wishing to become familiar with the visual arts.

Dedicated actions encourage the sensitive experience of the students of ÉNSA Versailles, through the programming of workshops led by the teaching teams and invited artists, and through the exhibition mediations, visits and workshops, carried out by student monitors.

As an experimental laboratory and resource centre for the French National Education system, La Maréchalerie offers a programme of activities that is part of the Petite Ecole d’Architecture project, which is designed to be the body in charge of the Artistic and Cultural Education of ÉNSA Versailles. In the long term, it will deploy a series of measures designed to raise awareness among young people of contemporary architectural and artistic practices.