Milène Guermont

Milène Guermont (born 1981) is a French artist, inventor, and engineer.^[1] Her public artworks include the INSTANTS monument at Utah Beach commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Second World War, the CAUSSE tomb at Montparnasse Cemetery, and the PHARES sculpture next to the Concorde Obelisk in Paris.

Guermont was born and raised in rural Normandy. She completed her secondary education at Lycée Robert de Mortain, where she obtained a scientific baccalauréat. In addition to the standard curriculum, she completed a non-compulsory fine arts option. Her final examination project, The Fish of Happiness, received a score of 20/20.

She later enrolled in the scientific preparatory classes (Mathématiques supérieures and Mathématiques spéciales), becoming the first female student from her school to do so. She completed these preparatory studies in mathematics and physics at Lycée Malherbe in Caen.

In 2001, Guermont sat for the national competitive entrance examinations for engineering schools and also applied to the architecture school ENSAIS, despite not having followed a specialized preparatory program in architecture. After qualifying in the written examination, she completed an oral examination that included commentary on an image of Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright. She ranked among the admitted candidates and entered the school in Strasbourg.

She subsequently enrolled at the generalist engineering school ENSIACET in Toulouse while also attending courses in artistic expression. In 2003, she was invited as a guest researcher to the Engineering Building at Brown University in Providence, where she conducted research on carbon nanotubes.

In 2004, she entered ENSMN in Nancy and simultaneously attended art courses at the École des beaux-arts de Nancy as part of the ARTEM program. During this period, she developed an interest in industrial design, notably through the study of stair designs by Roger Tallon. Following exchanges with Tallon, she decided to apply to the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, where Tallon had established the first formal design course in France.

Guermont successfully passed the competitive entrance examination to the school and was admitted directly into the third year of study.

Milène Guermont has diplomas in art and engineering.^[2] To materialize her ideas, she has developed several innovations, some patented.^[3][4]

Guermont creates "Polysensual^[5][6] Concrete" to make sculptures that interact (sound, light, vibration) when you touch them.^[7]

Her first solo exhibition, Concrete Landscapes, was held in 2008 at the Town Hall of the 8th arrondissement of Paris. In the same year, she produced First Step on a bridge designed by Rudy Ricciotti in Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, using her patented Colored Engraving technique. Also in 2008, she created Mon Amour for Art Basel Miami Beach, presented by Galerie Bertin-Toublanc. The installation consisted of one thousand concrete blocks and three elements made from her Polysensual Concrete material.

In 2009, her work was exhibited at the New Art Center in New York City and at the Art Center in Salt Lake City.

In 2011, she completed her first sculpture integrated into architecture, M.D.R., for the Sainte-Marie de Neuilly. The work combined three techniques: Craters Concrete, Colored Engraving on Concrete, and Polysensual Concrete.

Her exhibition titled SENSITIVE MEMORIES happened in 2012 at the National Archives of France, it was the first time that contemporary artworks have invested different rooms of the Hotel de Soubise.^[8][9]

Milène Guermont continued her work on the tactility and experience of touch on bigger scales. She created public artworks from a few grams to several tons^[10][11] that respond to their environments, like INSTANTS^[12][13] (installed since June 2014 on Utah Beach) in the Atlantic Wall; PHARES,^{[14][15][16][17]} imagined as a dialogue with the Luxor Obelisk^{[18][19][20][21]} (installed from October 2015 until April 2016 on Place de la Concorde, Paris); or A BEAT on the Eiffel Tower in February 2016.

In July 2016, her artwork CAUSSE, commissioned by an eminent scientist, was installed permanently in the preservation area of the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris. This sculpture was made of high-performance concrete and light.^{[22][23][24][25]}

She collaborates with people from different fields. For example, the architect Claude Parent imagined with her THE PEARL OF LAOS; shown at FONDATION CARTIER. The theater director Jean Lambert-Wild conceived a play with some of her artworks.

She had a solo show called LES CRISTAUX at the Mineralogy Museum Mines ParisTech^[26][27] in 2016.

In 2017, Milène was selected to represent the French engineers at the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), UNESCO's partner.^[28] Her sculpture made of Polysensual Concrete, MINI AGUA,^[29][30] was the artwork shown at the French Pavilion of the International Exhibition ASTANA 2017.^[31]

She received in Brussels the art prize of NOVA XX, international competition of women artists who use hi-tech.^[32][33][34]

In 2018, she had solo shows at Trinity House,^[35][36][37] Westminster, Jérome Seydoux-Pathé Foundation, Town Hall of the 13th arrondissement of Paris,^[38] UNESCO.^[39] PYRAMIDION was exhibited on a boat next to the Musée d'Orsay^[36][37] during NUIT BLANCHE Paris.^[40] It was the only sculpture at Lieu Secret for the festival Badass with Lou Doillon, Agnes Jaoui and Manon Garcia. PYRAMIDION interacts with the public and the WALKING MAN by Giacometti at UNESCO^[41] in particular for the First International Day of Light and La Nuit des Musées. Her pyramid belongs to the "2018, European Year of Cultural Heritage",^[42] The International Day of Women Days in Engineering,^[43][44] the London Festival of Architecture,^[38] the Open Houses of the capital of the UK. Soprano Katerina Mina performs a cappella into PYRAMIDION TWIN at Trinity House, London.

Milene was one of the three "Entrepreneurial Women of the Year" of Usine Nouvelle^[45], one of the eight speakers on "Women's Achievements and Professional Attainments" at the international symposium MoMoWo in Turin^[46][47] and became an Honorary Fellow of Queen Mary University in London.

In 2019, she belonged to the French Delegation of the Global Summit of Women that occurred in Basel and received the PEACE HERO AWARD.^[48]

In 2020, she became an Eisenhower Fellow in a worldwide competition that identified 25 women leaders. She received the Marcia & Hap Wagner Award in legacy to the American engineer and philanthropist.

In 2020, 80 companies of French Excellency^[38] were federated to create a habitable total artwork in the neighborhood of New Athens in Paris. It questioned the notion of immersive arts. She created a concept of an alphabet made of "art-objects" that can be expanded beyond the walls of the site in Paris.

In 2021, her monument-artwork made of ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced concrete BALANCE was installed at Père Lachaise Cemetery next to the sculpture of Balzac. She also received the Projects Woman of the Year trophy of Trophées des Femmes de l'Industrie, the Hap & Maria Wagner Award from Robert Gates in Philadelphia, and the "Monograph Collection" art grant from ADAGP. One of her PLANETS was exhibited at the Fine Arts Museum of Laval. Her first textile sculptures were exhibited in the inhabitable total artwork by Gio Ponti in dialogue with some furniture by Piero Fornasetti and drawings by Camille Henrot.

In 2022, she had an artistic residency at the Invisible Dogs Art Center in Brooklyn and gave her first lecture at an Ivy League school, Columbia University.

In 2023, Milène has a solo show at the Villa du Temps retrouvé museum; in particular her MADELEINE FONDANTE dialogues with a sculpture by Auguste Rodin. She is exhibited in the show JOY curated by Paul Ardenne at the Guillaume gallery in Paris. She also receives a grant from ADAGP in partnership with ARTE Studio for a video portrait.

In 2024, by decree of the President of France and promotion of the Prime Minister, Milène Guermont was named to the rank of Knight of the National Order of Merit. She was distinguished as 1 of the 100 women of culture of the year who speak French all around the world ("100 Femmes de Culture") with Katherine Elizabeth Fleming and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Milène Guermont has represented FEMMES INGENIEURES (Women Engineers) and IESF at international institutions such as WFEO since 2017.

Milène is a member of numerous juries, like that for the diploma of l'École spéciale d'architecture, the artistic competition "Art et Sciences" at the Sorbonne, Ecoles d'Art Américaines de Fontainebleau, LVMH and the World Architecture Festival.

• (en) ART & CULTURE(S) NUMERIQUE(S) : PANORAMA INTERNATIONAL by Anne-Cécile Worms and Dominique Roland. Text by Véronique Odé. Editions Centre des arts d'Enghien-les-Bains. 2012. (ISBN 2-916639-21-7)
• (fr) ART ET ANIMALITE - DOSSIERS SUR L'ART under the direction of Hélène Singer. Text by Vincent Delaury. Editions Ligeia. With the support of PARIS MUSEES. 2013. EAN 9770989602007
• (en) LE GRIS by Annie Mollard-Desfour with the preface by Philippe Claudel. Editions du CNRS. 2015. (ISBN 2-271-08897-6)
• (en) CULTURE ET CREATIONS DANS LES METROPOLES-MONDE, under direction of Michel Lussault and Olivier Mongin with the help of Sylvain Allemand and Edith Heurgeon. Text by Anne-Marie Morice. Editions Hermann. 2016. (ISBN 978-2-7056-9299-5)
• (en) PHARES by Ehab Badawy, Jean-Paul Viguier, Alain Niderlinder, Milène Guermont. Editions PublishRoom – Texte Vivant. With the support of the CNF de l'UNESCO, the RMN and the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, 2017. (ISBN 978-2-36723-088-7)
• (en) MOMOWO - WOMEN'S CREATIVITY SINCE THE MODERN MOVEMENT (1918–2018): TOWARD A NEW PERCEPTION AND RECEPTION, by Helena Seražin, Emilia Maria Garda and Caterina Franchini. SRC SAZU. Založba ZRC, France Stele Institute of Art History. 2018. (ISBN 978-961-05-0106-0)
• (fr-en) MILENE GUERMONT, Touchez svp by Ophélie Ferlier Bouat (preface), Paul Ardenne (foreword) and Annette Ardisson, Ehab Badawy, Marie Clémence Barbé-Conti, Patrick Baudry, Edward Bosley, Émilie Bouvard, Béatrice Bouvier, Jean-Louis Cohen, Pierre Cornette de Saint-Cyr, Vincent Delaury, Chris Dercon, John Dudley, Vincent Fournout, Jean-Jacques Gay, Véronique Godé, Francis Gouge, Milène Guermont, Gail Harrity, Marc Lénot, Anne Marie Morice, Alain Niderlinder, Claude Parent, Sophie Radix, Gaëlle Rio, Bruno Robert, Yves Sabourin, Marion Vignal and Jean-Paul Viguier. Art Society Editions. 2025. (ISBN 978-2-9572397-7-1)

• Official website of Milène Guermont
• Official website of PHARES