/ evento

From October 9th to 18th, 2009, Bordeaux offers its inhabitants and visitors a unique artistic and cultural experience: an exhibition spreading throughout the city, which served as a focal point for a profusion of projects by numerous international artists.

evento 2009: carte blanche to Didier Fiuza Faustino

The city of Bordeaux has solicited architect and artist Didier Fiuza Faustino to orchestrate an unusual encounter between personalities from more than ten different artistic disciplines and to create an urban itinerary designed to take the works and their creators to the public ― whether this audience is composed of demanding contemporary art enthusiasts or of passers-by simply curious about these new messages and experiences.

Collective intimacy

This first edition of evento ― which is set to become a biannual event ― explores the theme of collective intimacy. The concept of collective intimacy is an invitation to consider the city as a mental territory that draws together the sum of the lived experiences and trajectories that constitute our inner sense of the city. Prior to any strictly physical territorial reality, the city represents the emotional territory of individual personalities ― our collective intimacy.

A crossroads of cultures and disciplines

The architects, urban planners, artists, filmmakers, videographers, photographers, musicians, dancers, graphic artists, designers and philosophers invited by evento have been asked to give their interpretation of the recently renovated city of Bordeaux, which, with its historic district featuring on the UNESCO World Heritage list, is also an open site of experimentation and creativity welcoming artists from over fifteen countries ― namely Albania, Angola, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine or the United States… At this crossroads of worldwide inspiration, artists challenge our vision of urban space.

Tadashi Kawamata’s ephemeral footbridge, an original film by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster combining the urban world and the spirit of carnival, a sound installation by Anri Sala echoing the collective memory of Bordeaux’s inhabitants, a musical composition by Julia Wolfe spatialized and disseminated by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the participation of Amos Gitaï or an open-air concert by Peaches ― all of these events, along with many more unexpected experiences, will contribute to making evento 2009 an ambitious, daring and innovative first edition.

Urban festival and roving interventions

From October 9th to 11th, the projects will be gathered in the heart of Bordeaux, on the banks of the Garonne River, opposite the Place des Quinconces, where the opening of the Foire aux Plaisirs fun fair will be celebrated simultaneously. This fair is a highlight of the life in the Gironde region ― a festive event in the carnival tradition.

From October 12th to 18th, the projects ― like furtive monuments ― will be disseminated throughout the city for spontaneous encounters with residents and visitors from all over the world. The variation and multiplicity of their locations will provide an original and unpredictable interpretation of the city, just as the movement of artists’ performances from one area to another will trigger new interactions in each context.

Emblematic cultural sites

Tadashi Kawamata’s wooden footbridge, devised in collaboration with the Xylofutur d’Aquitaine competitive cluster, is an exceptional, symbolic project. It will be a monumental, ephemeral work linking the Place des Quinconces to the banks of the Garonne River above the roadways, providing a new point of view over the city and the river.

A prominent site of artistic expression, the Lainé warehouse (CAPC Museum of Contemporary Art and the architecture center “arc en rêve”) will host a large exhibition entitled “Insiders – pratiques, usages, savoir-faire” (“Insiders – practices, customs, know-how”) on the question of folklore (curators: Charlotte Laubard and Francine Fort).

In collaboration with the Sindika Dokolo Foundation and under the direction of Fernando Alvim, director of the Luanda Triennial, the city of Luanda (Angola) will be invited for ten days at the Grand Théâtre, Opéra national de Bordeaux.

Along with several cultural associations in Bordeaux, other important cultural institutions will also be associated with evento ― the Fonds régional d’art contemporain (FRAC) of the Aquitaine region, the Théâtre national de Bordeaux en Aquitaine (TnBA), the Bordeaux Fine Arts School, the National Orchestra of Bordeaux Aquitaine and the Conservatory of Bordeaux.

Unique encounters

As an entirely free event, evento will offer many opportunities to attend and take part in discussions between artists, philosophers, writers, and sociologists. These open discussions will be arranged by philosopher and writer Bruce Bégout, architect Claudia Martinho, architect and curator Inês Moreira and critique and curator Martin Szczelina and will take place alongside concerts organized by writer and photographer Florent Mazzoleni and Joana Seguro, curator and producer.

These moments of discovery and vivid insights will be related in the evento2009.org blog, where artists and curators will also relate their projects and thoughts about collective intimacy.

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