RESONANCES endowment fund

ITER is an international research program based in the department of Bouches-de-Rhône, France. The program aims to demonstrate the feasibility of creating hydrogen fusion energy for peaceful purposes. ITER unites representatives from 35 countries who are committed to constructing the largest tokamak in the world. The project is designed to show that hydrogen fusion could be the next step toward producing energy that respects the environment and the climate, is accessible for everyone and offers a clean and vast solution for the future.

As part of the pre-existing relationships established with the ITER program, local officials, business representatives, stakeholders, and other interested parties have expressed the desire to help create an artistic work proposed by renowned sculptor, Jean-Paul Philippe,¹ to express the values associated with ITER. This artistic project was born from the desire to reflect the goals of the ITER program through a Tuscan stone sculpture, at the same time oriented in the direction of Italy and turned toward the ITER site. The sculpture will make a connection between another symbolic work by the artist, the “Site Transitoire,” built in Asciano, Italy, and the position of the commune of La Roque d’Anthéron in its relationship with ITER.

The statue is designed to reflect sunlight toward the ITER machine on certain symbolic dates throughout the year.

As a result, six people have anonymously established an endowment fund which aims to gather the necessary financial means to realize the work, entitled “Résonances.”

Jean-Paul Philippe agreed to this support, and on 18 March 2021 the Municipal Council of La Roque d’Anthéron accepted the donation of the statue and will install Philippe’s work in the commune.

The endowment fund is entirely independent of the commune and will finance the operations required to create the statue, from the removal of the stone in Tuscany, Italy to the delivery and construction onsite at La Roque d’Anthéron.