Official inauguration of the Art Explora Festival and its museum boat in Marseille

by Art Explora Festival 7 Jun 2024 05:24 PDT 6-18 June 2024

Official inauguration of the Art Explora Festival © Art Explora

Today, with the support of the Accor Group, the Art Explora Foundation inaugurated its free, travelling cultural festival in Marseille's Old Port.

The festival will run from 6 to 18 June and sail around the Mediterranean until 2026 on the world's first museum boat: a remarkably large-size catamaran with a welcoming capacity of up to 2000 visitors a day.

An exciting programme awaits the people of Marseille over the next 12 days, on board the museum boat, with immersive experiences in partnership with the Louvre Museum and Ircam, as well as quayside in exhibition pavilions designed by Jean-Michel Wilmotte and beyond the museum walls in a range of venues around Marseille.

Smooth sailing on inaugural day

Benoît Payan, Mayor of Marseille, Frédéric Jousset, Art Explora Founder & President, Laurence des Cars, President-Director of the Louvre and Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and CEO of Accor were in attendance today to celebrate its official launch alongside the whole festival team.

"We're opening the Art Explora Festival today in Marseille with a huge sense of achievement. I'd like to thank all our partners, the artists and volunteers, as well as the local authorities and cultural institutions for their support.

Artistic creation and mobility are powerful levers for shifting people's perspectives and sharing images or stories that forge other relationships with the world. Climbing on board a boat is an experience in and of itself and it will become even more memorable when discovering unique cultural and artistic works on board and quayside." - Frédéric JOUSSET, Art Explora Founder & President.

Official inauguration of the Art Explora Festival - photo © Art Explora

Accor: Art Explora Festival's main partner until 2026

Frédéric Jousset, Art Explora Founder & President and Sébastien Bazin, Accor Chairman and CEO announced that Accor, a world leader in hospitality and leading hotel operator in Europe, has become the Art Explora Festival's main partner throughout its Mediterranean journey until 2026.

Sébastien Bazin, Accor Chairman and CEO announced:
"Dialogue between cultures, innovation and generosity are at the heart of the values we share with the Art Explora Foundation. Accor is proud to have become the Art Explora Festival's main partner and consequently to contribute to developing the renown of local artists, by providing a wide audience with free access to art. With the world's first museum boat that will sail to fifteen countries, we are reasserting our commitment to local communities and will be fully dedicated to involving our Heartists® collaborators at each stopover, as they work daily with their hearts and artistic souls to build tomorrow's hospitality."

Fully aware of the challenges facing the Art Explora Foundation, Accor - as well as its collaborators, its ALL (Accor Live Limitless) loyalty programme and its hotels - will be fully involved in supporting the festival during the stopovers in all 15 host countries.

The Accor partnership with the Art Explora Festival, based on ALL (Accor Live Limitless) - the Group's loyalty programme and booking platform - will make exclusive experiences available to its members.

Official inauguration of the Art Explora Festival - photo © Art Explora

The world's first museum boat

The year 2024 marks the "kick-off" year for Art Explora's one-of-a-kind travelling festival, held at sea - on a museum boat designed by Axel de Beaufort and Guillaume Verdier - and on land - in a village with exhibition pavilions created by Jean-Michel Wilmotte.

The remarkably large-size museum boat measuring 47 metres in length, 18 metres in width with a 55-metre mast and a quayside sail designed by artist Laure Prouvost bears a universal, unifying message. A symbol of escape and discovery, boats hold a unique component of adventure and imagination.

Sailing from port to port - places of trade par excellence - the catamaran will connect worlds, cultures and people.

Official inauguration of the Art Explora Festival - photo © Lumento pour Art Explora

The festival programme in Marseille: 6-18 June

As this cultural Odyssey's inaugural port of call, with the Cultural Olympiad label, Marseille is hosting an exciting, multidisciplinary 13-day programme including performances, concerts, film screenings, dance productions, workshops and poetic readings, open to all and free of charge.

The artistic programme created in collaboration with many local stakeholders and the port-of-call curator Martha Kirszenbaum explores the cultural links between Marseille and some ports of calls where the boat will be stopping in the coming months, including Beirut, Algiers and Tangier. It will reflect on the region's popular culture characterised by a combination of cultural practices related to music, dance, film, cuisine and sports, on cultural exchanges stemming from migration and colonisation and last but not least, on the oral history resulting from these cultural transfers of people, languages, objects and customs.

Taking place on board the museum boat, in the exhibition pavilions, at the Agora - the village's central stage located quayside - and in various Marseille neighbourhoods, a diverse cultural and artistic programme is on offer, bringing together a wide range of local players from the cultural and non- profit fields.

Aboard the museum boat

On the upper deck, audiences can explore a Mediterranean soundscape designed by Centre Pompidou's Ircam X, as well as the immersive exhibition Présentes produced with the Louvre's outstanding collaboration, highlighting female figures in Mediterranean civilisations. An experience divided into two parts with an introductory documentary film to be viewed on the aft deck followed by an immersive experience in the main gallery.

In the Quayside Exhibition Pavilions

The exhibition "Under the Azure Sky" (Central Pavilion) draws inspiration from the evocative power of the Mediterranean sea, the myths that surround it, the creatures that inhabit it and the visions it conjures.

The Photo Pavilion features the exhibition "Contre-Courant" which deals with the issues of hospitality, migration and exile, through the works of established and emerging photographers and videographers from the region.

Last but not least, the Virtual Reality Pavilion features a selection of the best virtual reality experiences produced for the most part in the Mediterranean Basin and dealing with themes spanning the Art Explora Festival's whole itinerary, including Mediterranean Wonders: exploring the Golden Age of Venice, Athens and Alexandria or Age-old Cities: a virtual journey from Palmyra to Mosul, by Ubisoft.

The Art Explora Foundation and Martha Kirszenbaum have also developed a programme of live events featuring performances, dance, concerts, DJ sets, lectures, talks and film screenings... Rounding out the programme are workshops for families and events beyond the museum walls in various Marseille neighbourhoods.

Featured artists include: