Art in the European Capital of Culture

LOCATION:

Marseille, France

 

I was excited to visit Marseille after learning that it had been named the European Capital of Culture for 2013. The city, according to my guidebook (and Lauren!) used to be the butt of French jokes because of its southern location and port access, but is currently experiencing a transformation. Marseille definitely still has a grit to it and some streets were a bit rougher than others, but the art scene here is definitely booming. One of the main cultural attractions is the J1, a pier down in the port area. The covered pier has been transformed into an exhibition space for all of 2013, and we were excited to explore (and get out of the wind and cold for a bit!). The main installation was called "Mediterraneans" and featured past and present artifacts and stories from 11 port cities surrounding the sea. I enjoyed the space almost more than the art - shipping containers were the main backdrop, and there were blue tinted windows where you could look past the artwork and into the bay making the Mediterranean theme really come alive.

 

Everything had a blue tint to it.

Some of the art was brought in, and some was painted directly on the shipping containers.

 

Another thing I was particularly fascinated with was the graffiti that seemed to cover almost every surface. The neighborhood we were staying in had a lot of really great street art, and it reminded me of the East Village of New York.

 

So much spray paint!

There was graffiti on top of graffiti!

 

I really liked this one - is that a QR code? Or maze??

 

This was one of my favorites, the colors were so bright!

I would have loved to see an artist at work, but something tells me these masterpieces are created more at night than during the day! All of this graffiti really adds to Marseille's charm and cultural attitude and while I hope parts of the city get cleaned up as tourism increases, it would be a shame to see all of this kind of uniqueness go away.

 

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