No one has stayed in this lighthouse for 105 years, a place that legend says is haunted in the vicinity of Baie des Trépassés.
How did you come up with the idea of living on Tévennec, a lighthouse that was lit in 1874, which saw 22 keepers follow one another before being automated in 1910?
In 2011, the association received a temporary occupation permit, issued by the State service for a renewable period of 10 years, to enable us to restore it. In the long term we would like to make it an artist's residence, a little special, because the Tévennec lighthouse is located on a very small rocky islet, in the open sea, a few miles from the island of Sein. We're isolated from everything.
On a personal level, I have in mind to stay in a lighthouse, in a way that is a little exceptional and out of the ordinary. The idea matured and when we received the keys from Tévénnec, I was able to project myself into this idea. We have learned to know the places, to practice them and today I can make this idea a reality.
This stay serves both to mark the action taken by the association in Tévennec on the media level, but at the same time it is a personal step, a retreat on oneself. This will take the form of writing a book that I have wanted to write for several years.
Why did you choose the Tévennec lighthouse?
It is a lighthouse, with that of ArMen, which has a very important history in terms of maritime heritage. We are on a high place of the heritage of lighthouses and beacons. The Tévennec Lighthouse is isolated in the open sea, on a small rock, without flowers or grasses. There is nothing else but the main house and its terrace.
This is what the ancients called a hell. The lighthouse keepers had, among themselves, a hierarchy of 3 areas for lighthouses. It was unofficial, but it was usually a hierarchy of service. There were the Underworld, which are lighthouses in the open sea like ArMen, the Mare, Tévennec... Once you are inside, you are locked in, you can't get out, because there is nothing. They are also buildings subjected to heavy weather with waves that constantly attack them. The second are the Purgatories, which are lighthouses located on a slightly larger island where you can go out, walk, where there are a few herbs and a few flowers, and finally the Paradises, which are earthen lighthouses where you can stay with your family and where you have a normal life.
Tévennec and Armen, but especially Tévennec, had been classified from the beginning as the Hell of the Underworld.
How do you plan to spend your days?
First, I go there to write a book, as an individual, and I intend to have it finished when I leave Tévennec. In addition, I also have communication obligations. It is expected that a lot of communication will take place because that is the purpose of the operation. I will communicate with the media with whom we are in partnership and also on social networks..
What is the subject of your book? The headlights?
No, there will be a part dedicated to my stay in Tévennec and my experience, on what I can feel or live there. Then there's a big part of the staff. After several days, isolated on Tévennec, where there is only yourself and the sea, and that it begins to weigh its weight, for good or bad, I don't know, necessarily inspiration comes. This is the challenge of any extraordinary retreat, an inner retreat that can lead to writing.
How do you finance this operation?
To do this operation in Tevennec, you need a budget, which corresponds to the organization, the layout, the fuel for the round trips by boat, etc. In total, we need ?6,200, for which we raise a participatory fundraising campaign on the mymajorcompany website. For the moment, we are at ?2,200 out of the ?6,200 and we have one month left to raise the necessary amount. And if you don't have the full amount, you don't have anything at all. So it is very important for us that people are involved in the operation.
