As cultural institutions adapt to the rules of deconfinement, La Villette is reopening its lawns and Folies with a free summer program that will bring together around fifty artists.

Performances in front of a limited audience, open-air exhibitions and movies, artistic wanderings in surprising gardens: the cultural park of the 19th arrondissement will come to life once again from July 2nd to August 23rd with the event “Plaines d’Artistes”.

This summer program includes artists who regularly perform at La Villette, including Mourad Merzouki (hip hop dance – July 2nd-7th), Angelin Preljocaj (contemporary dance – from July 14th-19th), and Jisoo Yoo (artistic performances and installations – July 21st-26th).

La Villette’s open-air cinema will be held from July 22nd to August 23rd, featuring movies that resonate with the theme “Grandeur nature”. We can already promise you beautiful journeys through the big screen to discover or rediscover these 25 “landscape films, films with wide open spaces, where nature is an essential component of the story, almost like a character in itself”. Screenings will include many classics, such as Easy Rider (July 23rd), Into the Wild (July 30th) and Thelma and Louise (August 7th).

For this new summer program, most of the exhibitions and artists presented will alternate on a weekly basis. Indeed, new performances will be held and original artworks put on display each week during the five artistic sequences scheduled between July 2nd and August 2nd.

However, several performances and pieces will be visible non-stop throughout this period, especially around the Grande Halle de la Villette:

 

 

Jam Capsule
Video Projection
Grande Halle – Nef sud – June 23rd to September 12th

“The Grande Halle welcomes Jam Capsule, a video-projection device for an immersive cultural experience. In a dedicated space of more than 2,500 m², the audience will travel through various thematic exhibitions on the environment, painting, opera, dance, heritage, travel and street art.”

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Centre Pompidou – “Les moyens du bord” (make do with what you have)
Visual Arts
Grande Halle – Nef nord & salle Boris Vian – July 2nd to August 2nd

“La Villette and the Centre Pompidou are joining forces to give eight artists a space in the Grande Halle to create an ephemeral work of art. A celebration of young creation in France with Julie Béna, Gaëlle Choisne, Julien Creuzet, Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc, Anne Le Troter, Julien Prévieux, Maxime Rossi, Simon Rouby and Native Maqari.”

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Adeline Care – “Côté Jardins”
Photography
Jardin des miroirs – July 2nd to August 2nd

“For “Plaine d’Artistes”, photographer Adeline Care, a graduate of the Gobelins – L’École de l’image, has taken over the Jardin des miroirs (garden of mirrors). In between reality and fiction, her pictures take us to the rocky landscapes of Mount Etna.”

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Victor Cord’Homme – “Côté Jardins”
Visual Arts
Grande Halle – Péristyle ouest – July 2nd to August 2nd

“A graduate of the Beaux-Arts de Paris, Victor Cord’homme has assembled flying sculptures, sort of poetic mobiles, using urban furniture to create an airy and colorful universe. For “Plaine d’Artistes”, his artworks will invest part of the peristyle of the Grande Halle.”

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Adrien Ledoux – “Côté Jardins”
Visual Arts
Facades of the Folies – July 2nd to August 2nd

“A graduate of graphic design at École des Arts Décoratifs de Paris, Adrien Ledoux develops his graphic language, both geometric and organic, on a large scale. For “Plaine d’Artistes”, he will journey around the park throughout the month of July by intervening directly on the facades of Bernard Tschumi’s Folies.”

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Résidence – “Expérimenter et transmettre” (Experiment and Pass on knowledge)
Villette Makerz – Folie L5 – July 2nd to August 2nd

“Connecting ideas and materials, giving life to ideas, manufacturing with digital tools and sharing experiences are the values of the residence ‘Experimenter et transmettre’ at Villette Makerz. For this fourth edition, the artists in residence find inspiration in the Maker culture: learning by doing, based on autonomy and collaboration, to offer a weekly workshop for small audiences. Artists (to be confirmed): Garush Melkonyan, Celestine Peuchot, Coline Malivel, and Suzel Aleman.”

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Ré-craie-ation
Cultural and Recreational – For Children
Little Villette – July 2nd to August 2nd

“Along this interactive path, children can discover the peripheral outdoor spaces of Little Villette with three activities related to chalk: a flower fresco, a dance circuit and a giant mandala.”

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IRCAM – “Côté Jardins”
Sound Art
Jardin de la treille – July 2nd to September 13th

“Artist and composer Jean-Luc Hervé invites the visitor to enter a place transformed by the sound environment: the garden becomes a cradle for polyphony. The audience surprises a dialogue between the individuals of a population of small “sound animals”, invisible because hidden within the garden. This musical device is fearful: it reacts to human presence in the manner of living organisms, panicking or becoming silent if visitors are too intrusive, numerous or noisy. Through the organic nature of his artwork, the artist encourages the visitor to modify his behavior towards his environment. Through listening, visitors gain a renewed attention to what surrounds them.”

 

 

 

La Villette
Parc and Grande Halle de la Villette, 75019 Paris
lavillette.com

 

 

 

Illustration: Selection of artists and performances that will be presented at “Plaine d’Artistes” – Clockwise from the top left:

1) Gaadjika (Visual Arts – July 2nd-12th) – www.gaadjika.com
2) Dieudonné Niangouna (Theater – July 16th-18th)
3) Romain Vicari (Visual Arts – July 2nd to August 2nd) – romainvicari.com
4) Travaux d’élèves et créations en cours ‘Côté coulisses’ (Music – July 2nd-19th)
5) Adrien Ledoux (Visual Arts – July 9th to August 2nd) – www.ledouxadrien.com
6) François Chaignaud (Dance – July 9th-12th) – vlovajobpru.com
7) Adeline Care (Photography – July 2nd to August 2nd) – www.adelinecare.net
8) Laura ‘Nala’ Defretin & Brandon ‘Miel’ Masele, Compagnie Mazel Freten (Dance – July 2nd-12th)

Full Program © La Villette