One night, some galleries, performances, and numerous visitors… All the ingredients were in place to make this the sixth Gallery Night a grand moment for art in Nice.
For once, I’ve decided to share what I experienced last night… I believe I won’t forget that memorable evening anytime soon.
It was my third time participating in this very artistic night. The first time, it was mixed with the 40th anniversary of Fluxus, orchestrated by Ben VAUTIER. It was a big, chaotic event à la BEN… The second time, I truly discovered the galleries of Nice by wandering around with the little train. So, I felt ready and excited to attend the 6th edition. This evening is, in my opinion, one of the greatest cultural successes in terms of contemporary cultural events for our beloved city of Nice.
In the first part, I took little train No. 1, which transported us to “Vision Future”, Gallery FERRERO, Gallery “Alexandra Martin-Blasselle”, Gallery Zervudacki, Gallery Sandrine MONS, Augustin Latour boutique, Diligence, LOFT, Voyageur du Monde, and Gallery Sapone… That was quite a bit for just the first half of the evening…
Honestly, I particularly focused on two performances. The first at Gallery FERRERO, where Jean Mas, dressed as a train conductor, delivered a speech in his unique way by awarding the “Fly Cage 2006” (sort of the César award of the Nice school) to four locations in Nice. The first was the Gallery FERRERO, received by Guillaume ARAL, the director of the Gallery with honor. The second was for MAMAC, but alas, I missed the other two as someone was talking to me at the same time! It wasn’t easy to take notes amidst the crowd and the noise… Besides this award-giving performance, Jean MAS distributed numbered attendance certificates to everyone present (I am number 67!!!). I loved the concept, and his very innovative exhibition takes up the idea of little fly cages reworked in a digital version from 2006 based on words so simple, yet so meaningful to us… The members of the Press Club can be seen admiring the works of Jean MAS. What talent!!!!
After exiting, I went to the Gallery Alexandra Martin-Blasselle, just next door, shaking hands with officials who made the trip for the occasion: Senator Mayor, Master Jacques PEYRAT, with his wife Monique, followed by their “guest star” Mr. André BARTHE, Mr. Cédric CIRASA, Olivier BETTATI (the local star in his sleek black car) and so on… The only problem was the flies… In this gallery, just before my arrival, an artist had released a bunch of big black flies… (photo opposite). I think this performance was excellent because it managed to disorient us since even our mayor thought there was an invasion of flies and had (according to rumors) called the firefighters. Understanding contemporary art is not always easy but is designed to make us react, to take us out of our everyday lives…
I crossed the road again to go to “Vision Future”; there were a lot of people waiting for nothing because the elevator was out of service… We had to go through the other entrance, on the street Rue de France. But I think after all these emotions, a restaurant in Old Nice was a must. I then waited ½ an hour for the second little train to do the other route. Out of spite, I motivated myself to walk and set off to experience the other side of this magical night…Along the way, I met an artist who was not part of the gallery night but who made me laugh a lot, and I made a stop at the Depardieu gallery which has sparked so much controversy and yet, there was nothing to fuss about…I found a very interesting artist who, online on the Internet worldwide, lets you discover the first sentences of the Bible through images from our favorite search engine: GOOGLE. Excellent!!!
To conclude this night in style, the BEAU RIVAGE hotel organized the closing party on its private beach. Everyone was there, just a bit more tipsy. A special shout-out to Laurent MERENGONE who went out of his way to manage this event with his company TOPTIMIZ, and kudos to Antoine ATTIA, the director of the BEAU RIVAGE hotel, for hosting the end of the gallery night to the great delight of art lovers from our department…
Don’t hesitate to respond to this article by telling me about your “Gallery Night.”
METCUC
