FESTIVAL A-PART

In 2012, with a new reading of the anagram of the Alpilles-ProvenceʼArt Festival, Philippe Cazal gave his “a-part” signature to the growing festival that cultivates this special spirit that artists like so much. From now on, as if to justify Ben’s reflection that compares it to “a treasure hunt”, the festival is available in as many colors as there are sections to discover, over an area of nearly 60 km2. A circuit for the 77 artists of the nine sections spread across 25 exceptional locations, both indoors and outdoors, invested during four summer weeks. For the first time, new artistic territories are included in the program. The fields explored are surprising. Throughout this edition, artists offer to keep us awake, or to make us dream. Some are preparing performances, installations, some of the permanent works for the Alpilles, while others imagine opening ephemeral workshops. To boost exchanges and promote a plurality of proposals, it is appropriate to encourage a thousand meetings between artists, and also between art lovers and partners with artists. For this edition, I have therefore proposed the role of curator to unique players in the world of contemporary art. Sylvie Caron, Nina Rodrigues-Ely, Anne Olofsson, Henri Kaufmann, Alfredo Cruz Ramirez and Ariel Kyrou thus guide, in the light of their subjective choices, the steps of festival-goers throughout its stages. It is up to artists to intervene while remaining attentive to public and private partners who are involved in promoting accessibility for all, exchanges between the local population, artists and the most seasoned visitors; those that Jean-Luc Godard calls “the professionals of the profession”. The Festival a-part aims to continually renew itself. One rule: never let yourself be locked in. An ambition: to surprise by exploring the very margins of contemporary art, by diving into the diverse worlds of creation. Such is the invitation extended this year to the Electronic Music Awards, with the presentation, at the opening of the festival, of the Qwartz Arts Nouveaux Médias 2012 dedicated to “Sound in Process” – the staging of sound –, a discipline that uses the digital tools of the 21st century. The Carrières de Lumières in Baux-de-Provence, masterfully welcome artists for installations full of lights, images, sounds and gestures. Certainly, a majority of the works proposed during the festival refer to more "classical" techniques, but we cannot ignore how much digital sound has entered into the artists' installations. So, is there a link between a contemporary art festival and electronic music? Absolutely! In these moments of astonishment and these questions, lies the originality, the key to the success of this new edition, once again apart, and conceived as an opus of excellence, so that everyone, artists, audiences and communities, can enjoy it.