GEO correspond-il à vos attentes ? - Les Suds à Arles

Culture just seems to be in the city’s DNA. The city’s two
biggest private employers are Actes Sud, a publishing house specializing
in French and foreign literature, and Harmonia Mundi,
a classical music label. Over the years, the city has been home to
artists ranging from poet Frédéric Mistral to Van Gogh (who left
part of an ear behind) to the Gipsy Kings. Another favorite son,
designer Christian Lacroix, made a triumphal return last summer,
curating the annual photography festival and showing his designs
in a wildly successful exhibition that drew 120,000 visitors to the
Réattu art museum. Located in a newly renovated Renaissance
palace, the museum is currently hosting an exhibition comparing
the works of Brassaï and Picasso, yet another frequent visitor to
Arles. A contemporary addition is slated to open in 2013—the
year Arles and the entire Marseille-Provence region will reign as
European Capital of Culture.
Meanwhile, says Antognazza, artists from elsewhere in France
are moving to the city. “It’s not always a logical decision—they
know this is a small town with
limited resources, but they
come anyway.” Blame it on
Culture just
Arles’s inimitable art de vivre,
seems to be in
which blends the mystique of Arles’s DNA. Over
Antiquity and the charm of the years, it has
Provence with Spanish influ- been home to artences
imported when migrant ists ranging from
rice harvesters came to the Ca- poet Frédéric Mismargue
and, later, when Spantral to Van Gogh
iards settled here after fleeing (who left part of an
their Civil War.
ear behind) to the
Still today, bulls weighing
Gipsy Kings.
more than half a ton make the
one-way trip from Spain to Arles,
where they fight to the death
during corridas held twice a year in the Roman Arena. (Smaller local
bulls are used for the courses camarguaises, in which participants
try to unhook rosettes from between the bulls’ horns but don’t kill
the beasts.) Bullfighting is the city’s equivalent of soccer, popular
among all social classes, and matadors are celebrities. Just as young
boys elsewhere dream of fame and fortune playing for Real Madrid
or Manchester United, Arlesian children from modest or immigrant
families dream of growing up to be masters of the cape.
w
“When it comes to culture, Arles is definitely a city of contrasts,”
says Claire Antognazza, the mayor’s deputy for cultural affairs.
“We have the most traditional Provençal festivals as well as surprisingly
modern cultural fare. This might seem contradictory,
but Arles has a wonderful way of bringing people together for all
sorts of events.”
That was evident one Friday night this spring, when some
200 people filed into a 17th-century chapel to see an exhibition
of contemporary paintings inspired
by philosopher Gilles
Deleuze followed by a fourhanded
piano concert with music
by Karlheinz Stockhausen
and André Boucourechliev.
The audience was entranced,
responding to this esoteric
program with the same enthusiasm
they show for the crowning
of the Queen of Arles,
arguably the corniest of local
traditions.
Blessed with a Mediterranean climate, romantic ruins and
intimate scale, Arles is an ideal venue for festivals. This summer
alone, visitors can see a parade of colorful traditional costumes
during the annual Fête d’Arles, Cesária Evora singing at the world
music festival Les Suds à Arles, gladiator combats at the Festival
Arelate and epic films shown at the Théâtre Antique during the
Peplum festival.
The biggest event, of course, is the one for which Arles is known
worldwide: the annual Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie
(see sidebar, page 34). Local photographer Lucien Clergue
and two friends founded the festival 40 years ago. “At the time,
there was nothing like this for photography,” Clergue explains.
“No museums, no exhibitions—we had to start from scratch.”
Now one of the country’s leading photographers, Clergue owes
his own successful career to a particularly Arlesian incident: When
he was 18, he met Picasso during a bullfight at the Arena, showed
A World Heritage Site, Arles
also embraces cutting-edge
architecture. from left:
The Grande Halle in the city’s
old rail yard recently received
a major makeover; the structure
serves as one of the
venues for Les Rencontres.
baCkground: A tribute to
the city’s industrial past, the
abstract pattern and rusted
steel of the façade evoke the
railroad network.
France • summer 2009 47