Art and Stage
2004, Lille is European Capital of Culture and the city is transformed. Since then, a new edition brings art and culture to every corner of the metropolis every three years under the Lille 3000 banner. Place, in 2022, at Utopia. Or how to make visitors aware of nature by giving priority to wonder. First round of favorites and good addresses.
Until October 2, Lille invites you to a veritable fireworks display of contemporary art, in devolved places or at the bend of a street, in the hall of a station, reorganized spaces or more traditional museums. Utopia, a dazzling marriage of grace, exuberance and reflection, inhabits the city and its surroundings through its exhibitions, unique and mixed at the same time. Not to mention the multitude of entertainment, events and other shows. Focus on a few nuggets not to be missed.
And always the forests
The title of Sandrine Collette’s formidable punchy novel suits this exhibition at the Palais des Beaux-Arts perfectly, entirely bio-designed by limiting the number of works (about fifty all the same) and the places of origin. How does the artist represent the trees and the forest, by turns mysterious, oppressive, but also conducive to languor or questioning. Works from the collections of the superb Palace rub shoulders with visual and sound installations, extracts from films or even video games. “Pleasant Places”, by the Italian artist David Quayola, a huge 360° video installation, oscillates between filmed image and painting, offering to our amazed eyes trees beaten by the mistral, inspired by Van Gogh. Before, a fresco of texts and photos by the famous botanist Francis Hallé. The beating heart, we advance, the elves of the forest are not far. Magic we tell you.
The Magic Forest, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille, until September 19.
Reconsider the living
The Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art has made ecology one of its priorities, very present in its collections. The exhibition “Les Vivants”, set up at the Tripostal, questions the link between human and non-human. Many cultures have fully integrated this relationship. We therefore discover a large number of Amerindian artists, and in particular from the Brazilian Amazon. We get to know the Yanomami people, attend a filmed session of shamanism and above all shudder from room to room in front of the extreme diversity of styles and sensitivities. The B/W drawings by Nivaklé and Guarani, the superb paintings (huge favourite) by Jaider Esbell, who died just before the opening, the explosive gunpowder work of the Chinese artist Cai Guo Qiang… . Art between spiritual, physical, sociological, ethnographic adventure. Awareness and apotheosis with the video installation of the American musician and bioacoustician Bernie Krause, vision of forests before/after. A major exhibition! And close to Lille-Europe and Lille Flandres stations.
Les Vivants, Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art, Tripostal in Lille, until October 2.
One more minute to waste
Annette Messager, As if: Quickly, the exhibition-event of the artist from the region but with an international reputation, a great figure of a feminism as playful as it is challenging, is coming to an end soon. Between drawings and installations, including “Dessus-Dessous”, a work revisited after causing a sensation 17 years ago at the Venice Biennale. Thwart stereotypes, have fun with gender codes, tickle desire…. Even if some works are discovered under a few veils, just to preserve the gaze of unsupervised children. Precisely, the day of our visit, a slew of happy brats, welcomed by a clown, took over the place with curiosity and enthusiasm. It must be said that the LaM, Lille Métropole Museum of Modern Art, Contemporary Art and Art Brut in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, surrounded by a beautiful park dotted with sculptures by Calder, Picasso or Deacon, is an absolute must.
Annette Messager, As if, LaM de Villeneuve-d’Ascq, until August 21.
To walk
Kim Simonsson’s “Moss People” along rue Faidherbe: ten towering, mossy green figures seem straight out of Scandinavian forests or “Lord of the Rings”. Essential walk to go from the stations to the city center. Nose in the air, young and old children love it. Undoubtedly, the youngest are a prime audience for all the Lille 3000 exhibitions, the inventiveness and humor of the artists speaking without a hitch to the imagination of each generation. Ideal family visits, but not only!
To eat
– At the Epherites : a stone’s throw from the Palais des Beaux-Arts, an ever more popular address for bistronomic cuisine. Mainly local products and menu that changes every week, Discovery menu in the evening and delicate and affordable lunch formula. 17, rue Nicolas Leblanc in Lille.
– La Cantine du Tripostal: Just to save time if you make a quick trip to Lille. Local lemonades, hot or cold verrines from salad to dessert and flavors that blend perfectly with the ecological concerns of the current exhibition. Tripostal, avenue Willy Brandt in Lille.