Le Transfo is a cultural association founded in 2015 and based in Aulon, a village in the Hautes-Pyrénées located at an altitude of 1,200 metres. It primarily hosts research and creation residencies, which, when relevant, give rise to a variety of forms of presentation: outdoor installations, dinners, readings, encounters, etc. Since 2024, the association has occupied Maison Bertrone, a former Pyrenean dwelling located in the heart of the village.

Le Transfo’s location in Aulon forms the starting point for its programme. The mountain environment is approached as a context that contributes to the projects, and may even influence the forms they take. Artists are invited to consider their artistic practice in relation to this environment, to shift it, and to find possible forms of dialogue with it.

This methodology extends a curatorial research practice attentive to the influence of spaces on the forms, uses and relationships that unfold within them. Architecture is understood here in a broader sense: Maison Bertrone, Aulon, and the Aure and Louron valleys together form a set of conditions that contribute to the conception of the projects.

Le Transfo thus takes shape progressively from the place it occupies, seeking less to define what a contemporary art space in the mountains should be than to observe how it might exist and find its appropriate place.

The invitations extended to artists also contribute to an ongoing reflection on the dynamics that run through spaces described as central or peripheral, and on the modes of circulation that exist between them. Rather than approaching them as opposing categories, Le Transfo seeks to observe what connects them, and the ways in which artistic practices shift and transform from one context to another. Since 2021, Louise Nicolas de Lamballerie has been the association’s artistic director.