After the success of previous editions of the FRANCHEMENTART fair, the City of Villefranche-sur-Mer has decided to transform this event into a true contemporary art festival. There will be a professional fair at the heart of the Citadel, one of the jewels of the French Riviera, housing many museums, and an “OFF” exhibition throughout the streets of the city. In 2012, the fair will take place on September 7, 8, 9, and 10 in the citadel of Villefranche-sur-Mer.
This festival will be developed around three major axes:
Inside the Citadel
Promotion of 60 “young creators” at the heart of the fair to enliven the Citadel during the second weekend of September.
“Money is money,” 10 entrepreneurs from the French Riviera have decided to become patrons of professional artists by supporting them financially during the fair.
The OFF Festival will bombard 20 locations in the city with works on a single theme: “an open-air menagerie” with animations during the 4 days of the Fair.
The OFF festival began on August 20 and will end on September 30, 2012, throughout the city of Villefranche-sur-Mer, bombarding 22 locations in the city with extraordinary artistic installations.
Highlights:
An exhibition around the Washhouse as part of a rehabilitation project in the heart of the old town with a photo installation on the theme of water and its memory. “Memory of Water”
DISMANTABLE CAR: In the middle of a downtown intersection, a car part installation by MERCEDES around a piano set up by the graffiti group NEO ART CONCEPT with the support of the MERCEDES group.
GRAFFITI on the City: The municipal building rented by the city around the Villefranche-sur-Mer SNCF station will be entirely covered with artistic “GRAFF” thus altering the urban landscape for the delight of travelers…
ECOLOGY: ERWAN LEHEN will offer “in situ” installations created from plants. He can cover an umbrella pine with mimosa or turn a bench pink with thousands of bougainvillea flowers pinned to it.
ATTRACTION: a dreamy illumination of the obscure street by a contemporary installation from the Nice-based connective KESKON FABRIQUE.
ANIMALS: A giant giraffe by the artist DOGLIO will face a Steam Horse, a cross between a car and a tractor, by the artist ISPANAKCI at the entrance of the Citadel.
FLASH CODE: Fabienne AUMONT will reveal a poetic journey through a FLASH CODE installation throughout the city…
