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Unified Field is a non-profit association law 1901 (NPO), created by artist Lena Nikcevic and mosaicist Julian Helmschrott Modica.
Springing up in October 2023 from the Piérie NPO, Unified Field aims to launch a solidarity project of long-term international exchange intended to allow artists to broaden their social, intellectual and cultural circle, to open the horizons of artistic creation and thus to rethink society.
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Unified Field has its premises (two fitted workshops, No. 1 of 120 m² and No. 2 of 100 m²) at the Ateliers de la Morinerie in the Loire Valley (Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, near Tours). This “multidisciplinary creative village” of Morinerie has, in almost 18 years of existence, already changed the face of its small town.
And ALL this thanks to Annie Catelas, to her trust, her commitment, her follow-up and her loyalty, thanks to the support of the Clen company and the participation and commitment of almost all of its occupants in the construction and development of this place.
From the beginning we have worked together on a solidarity economy, we have had a social and cultural, artistic and ecological vision. We built the workshops together, with human capital, which is its creativity, with the goal of well-being.



CHRONICLE
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The story begins in 2006 with an encounter between Mrs. Annie Catelas, a wife of Clen company's director, Mr. Xavier Catelas, owner of the disused Doubinski factory, and Lena Nikcevic. To help Lena, who had no studio, Annie brought her into this place through a small office-door. Everything had to be done.
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The birth of this place comes from this encounter: Annie wish to support artists and Lena desire to create an alternative-community. Both wants to create places of possibilities.
In the part of the building, presented in orange on the plan below, the first small community began in 2007, made up of artists and craftsmen. On a plot of 1500 m² of this space, collective and united work between the occupants gave birth to LeBled, a place managed by the Monumenta NPO. The workshops of different sizes were built with 95% of the reuse and recycling of materials. All the walls were built from industrial pallets 3 m long from Clen, the covering of salvaged materials from Mirific, event decor company, located across the street. Charles Špehar's know-how made this teamwork possible (now technical agent at Talm-Tours). For all the workshops artist and craftsmen, site occupants, are building a collective kitchen and renovating the old toilets.

PIÉRIE
Pieria, at the foot of Mount Olympus is the native region of the Muses.
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In September 2011, Lena left LeBled to take a 237 m² space at the other end of the building and create two spaces, workshop N°1 for her own activity and fully furnished workshop N°2 with her husband Julian, aspiring to organize international artistic exchanges and residencies there.
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Piérie, their NPO, organizes and manages the construction site. On Lena's plans, thanks to the know-how from Charles Špehar, the project is going well, with many help during the weeks and weekends of solidarity. The water drainage trench, water inlet, door opening, straw walls, mezzanine, wood stoves…. the friendly construction site with a good hot pot at midday lasts 15 months.
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Common area, workshop N°2, created by Lena and Julian, while
the couple was still there.
The parquet floor is made entirely of waste from the factory that shares the courtyard with Ateliers de la Morinerie.
Deschaumes - Parqueterie de France.

The planted flowery fallow attracts birds to Morinerie.
ACTIVITIES BETWEEN 2012 and 2017
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In 2012, for his own professional needs, Julian joined his group of colleagues, Marie-Laure Besson and Mélaine Lanoe (now EMAAA). Together, with Sandrine Azara, they created SISMIK ART STUDIO, porte H at Ateliers de la Morinerie.
Lena mainly continues work on the principle of recycling and upcycling.
Many are small formats in painting and engraving on Plexiglas residue (recovered from Hoorman's dumpsters, dating from the LeBled era), some are in large formats, like the Stairway to Heaven trilogy, thanks to waste from Mirific.
(https://www.lenanikcevic.net/on-plexiglass)
With the support of her husband, her colleagues from Morinerie and Compagnie Off, she created a prototype using 5,000 plastic bottles over 105 m² for a call for tender of Montenegro. (https://www.lenanikcevic.net/immersion)
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Simultaneously with her work, between 2013 and 2017, Lena hosted a visual arts class in her workshop, a group mixed in ages and abilities.
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Piérie hosts four artist residencies :
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2014, Mathilde Clerc, potter
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The Ywoo theater company was hosted for rehearsals in 2015 of the play "Deux pour le prix d’une" by Isabelle Bapteste (now BELUGAMES Associate / co-author of "La Fresque de la Diversité").
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Piérie organizes an evening to support the project of Flore Morin, a friend who is an educator and potter, to finance the studies of a young person from Burkina Faso and collects enough funds to bring him and pay for registration and the first year of studies.
Then the parenthood of the founders (The birth in 2014 of Lena and Julian's twin sons) slowed down the activity of the association. They occasionally sub-rent part of their space for Le Yoga de la Tortue. Painter Laurent Bourreau creates some large formats in the mezzanine, subsequently occupied for two years by photographer Sandra Daveau.
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Between 2017 and 2023, workshop No.1, Lena's studio, was occupied by artist Rémy Chabreyrou dit Emyr, who occasionally shared with Sandrine Bizne and Nicolas Matteodo.
Following a family emergency in 2017, couple with their two sons moved to Montenegro for a year.
In 2018, also for family reasons, they moved to Ottobrunn, south Munich. In 2019, as a promotion from the City of Munich, they obtained a studio at DomagkAteliers. Since then they've been working there.
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Workshop No. 2 has been made available to the artist Bojana Nikcevic since 2018.

BACK
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In September 2023, Lena decided to resume her workshop, No.1 in Piérie with the wish to launch an intercultural exchange project between French and German artists.
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From this aspiration was born the new Unified Field NPO.