The sheep counter

The sheep counter, a wink from the Voyage à Nantes

The Nantes audio-guided tour draws your attention to a strange installation hung on the façade of a hotel: a sheep counter. This rather original work invites you, with humour, to set the imagination in motion and to shake up the ordinary.

A work by Jérémie Rigaudeau

This pendulum counter, supposed to calculate the passage of sheep for an effortless falling asleep, is the work of Jérémie Rigaudeau. This illustrator and visual artist, born in 1985 in the Pays de la Loire, likes to play with the absurd. In 2016, he took part in a series of urban artworks reworking the signs of various shops, as here with the Hôtel Voltaire. The installation is part of the spirit of the Voyage à Nantes, a summer event created in 2012.

What there is to see

Each year, the Voyage à Nantes installs ephemeral works all over the city; some, like this sheep counter, remain and help to make Nantes ever more surprising. Look up at the façade to spot the mechanism and its offbeat humour. It is an amusing stop on an urban art trail dotted with winks throughout the city.

Practical information

The sheep counter can be discovered on the façade of the Hôtel Voltaire, in the centre of Nantes. The work can be contemplated freely from the street, at all hours and on the level, along the artistic walk of the Voyage à Nantes.

What is the Voyage à Nantes?

It is a summer event created in 2012 that scatters artworks throughout the city; some, like the sheep counter, have become permanent.

Who created the sheep counter?

The illustrator and visual artist Jérémie Rigaudeau, born in 1985 in the Pays de la Loire, as part of a series of urban artworks from 2016.