With its 35,000 m2 on the Quai du Léon, at Morlaix (Finistere), the granite building imposes. The tobacco factory, known as “Manu”, is an institution. But for twenty years no snuff, chewing or smoking tobacco is produced there.
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The Manu de Morlaix is reborn from its ashes. Here the inner courtyard. © Pascal Leopold
After its closure by the state in 2004, it was an open scar for people here. It employed up to 1,800 people! This place had to come back to life and we needed a cultural place large enough in the city center for a theatre, a current music scene, a cinema and offices.
, explains Eddy Pierres, director of the WART association.
With Thierry Seguin and Véronique L’Allain, also at the head of Morlaisian cultural associations, he is rolling up his sleeves. Together, they raise 8.5 million euros (75% public financing and 25% self-financing).
The art of wasteland
After two years of work that began in 2018, Manu is gradually rising from its ashes, transformed over 5,500 m² into a « Sew »
. S for the La Salamandre cinema, E for the Entresort theatre/National Center for adapted creation and W for Wart, an association that produces contemporary music and organizes the Panoramas festival.
The offices and performance hall (350 people seated, 800 standing) opened in July 2020, the three cinemas a year later. Despite the health crisis, 45,000 people passed through the doors of Sew in 2021.
The works are not yet finished. A science space, partly dedicated to the Manu, should open this year.
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The largest La Salamandre cinema can accommodate up to 150 people. © Pascal Leopold
In one of the wings of the building, the one that overlooked the residence of the former director – and his tennis court – the upper level was demolished to fit out three cinemas with 50, 100 and 150 seats. Each is housed in an overturned boat hull, resting on wooden piles… like in a shipyard.
Poorly calibrated Douarnenez sardine can lids give them an aerospace look. The wooden frames are adorned with colorful tapestries with marine motifs, lit by chandeliers made from recycled crockery. The beauty of this arthouse cinema takes your breath away.
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Poorly calibrated Douarnenez sardine can lids give an aerospace look to cinemas. © Pascal Leopold
The auditorium is also a little gem, like all the rooms in this rehabilitated place. There’s something modern there, just the right amount of technology, plus a touch of fantasy.
Above all, the memory of the place has not been erased. Well almost : The architects took care to leave the original paintings and floors, insists Eddy Pierres adding, a bit nostalgic: MBut the smell of tobacco, still very present at the beginning of the work, ends up evaporating…
A place of creation for artists with disabilities
A unique establishment in France has taken root in the old Manu. Its small name is CNCA, for National Center for Adapted Creation.
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The seven members of the Catalyse troupe painted by the artist Hélène Le Cam, in an exhibition visible at the Manu, in Morlaix.Ouest-France
Originally, the Théâtre de l’Entresort, created in 1994 by the director Madeleine Louarn. His company, Catalyze, made up of seven professional actors and actresses with disabilities, is the permanent troupe.
Around, works a collective of seven artists (painters, dancers), the Phalanstery. Together, they produce and offer original works to the public.
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Thierry Seguin, director of the National Center for Adapted Creation, at SEW, in Morlaix.Ouest-France
The CNCA is also a place of advice, sometimes of production, for artists who want to involve vulnerable people in their work. Its purpose, emphasizes its director, Thierry Seguin, is to “contribute to making them count in the history of art, quite severe, which does not retain fragile figures. However, their aesthetics are often of an extremely powerful poetry”.
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