Lieux Publics is a national art center in public space intended to support artists who create projects in, with, or for the city of Marseille. It is led by Pierre Sauvageot. The members of the association are located at the Cité des Arts de la Rue in the northern neighborhoods of Marseille. “It was no accident,” explains Morgane Cléon, an information representative for Lieux Publics. “We are located over there to bring art to the area because the residents there have less direct access than those downtown.”
Since the summer of 2016, a large collection of photographs started with the residents of these neighborhoods to develop an accurate portrait of them, coming from within the area itself. “We had the idea to make a participatory project so that the people would be interested in it,” continues Morgane Cléon. “There was on one side the collection of the photographs, and, on the other, studio spaces in a multitude of partner organizations (high schools and middle schools, social centers, primary schools…). A cultural mediator from our center visited to familiarize the residents with photography.” An original creation, the residents were asked to work on themes, each symbolized by a letter of the alphabet. The abecedarium took key words from Marseille (hospitality, coastline, neighborhood…).
In total, close to 2,000 photographs were collected! They were then assembled in an artistic composition, headed by Stéphan Muntaner, a visual and graphic artist from Marseille. The images were regrouped under each of the city’s symbolic words. “After that, a thousand copies of the exhibition were printed and redistributed to the organization partners so that they could install them as they wished. That’s giving rise to a multitude of nomadic exhibitions.” The project was published on April 9th. Since the exhibition is ephemeral and intended to be able to take place everywhere, no end date is in site! “Many people are interested in it, even those who weren’t originally partners want to get a kit to exhibit it at their organization! The exhibition should last for at least the entirety of 2017!”
Marion Moret
Marion Moret is a journalist based in Marseille, France.
Learn more:
On Lieux Publics -National Center for Creation: http://www.lieuxpublics.com/fr/
On the exhibition Le Nord fait le mur : http://www.lenordfaitlemur.com/
On the dates and places of the nomadic exhibition’s location: http://www.lenordfaitlemur- leblog.com/les-expos
