Parallèle 15

Dance, performance, visual arts

January 31—February 8, 2025

Festival of international emerging artistic practices

Marseille and Aix-en-Provence

Elvire Ménétrier, Valentin Vert
Opening La Relève, la suite, Je cracherai sur votre soleil

2025

January 24 at 18:00
Centre d’arts plastiques Fernand Léger, Port-de-Bouc

VIsual arts

Free entrance

Coproduced with Centre d’arts plastiques Fernand Léger

Exhibition
January 24—March 7 2025

In 2024-2025, Parallèle is partnering with 3 bis f, a contemporary art center of national interest, and the Centre d’Arts Plastiques Fernand Léger in Port-de-Bouc to provide support for artists previously selected for La Relève. Titled La Relève, la suite, this project aims to enhance the guidance and professional development of emerging artists while fostering connections within the local territory.

Following a one-month collaborative residency, Elvire Ménétrier, finalist for the 2023 Prix Région Sud Showroom Art-o-rama, and Valentin Vert, an artist featured in La Relève 6, will present the exhibition Je cracherai sur votre soleil ("I Will Spit on Your Sun"). The title is inspired by Survivre et Vivre ("Survive and Live"), a 1972 publication by a group of critical scientists, who were the first to refer to the industrial-port zone as the "monster of Fos." This zone, emblematic of the excesses of a productivist economy based on resource-extractive industries, continues to represent fears and anxieties surrounding contemporary technologies.

Through the intersection of their respective practices, the exhibition explores a new relationship with the body and specters, marking the first collaboration between the two artists.

An exhibition created and presented at the Centre d’Arts Plastiques Fernand Léger in Port-de-Bouc, in partnership with Festival Parallèle 15, as part of La Relève, la suite.

Biographies

Elvire Ménétrier lives and works in Marseille. A graduate of Villa Arson in Nice and the Paris Conservatory of Music, her work has been exhibited in institutions both in France and internationally: Gwangju, South Korea; Luxembourg Art Week Fair; Art-o-rama Marseille (Prix Région Sud Art); Académie des Beaux-Arts, Paris (Prix du dessin Pierre-David Weill); and Documenta Off, Kassel. In 2023, she received the UCArts grant for emerging creation, followed by the AIC grant from DRAC in 2024. She is the co-founder of the collective PANTHERA and a recipient of the Ateliers d’artistes de la Ville de Marseille program.

Valentin Vert lives and works in Marseille. After completing a technical diploma in materials science and engineering in Chambéry, he earned his DNSEP from the Beaux-Arts of Marseille. In 2023, he was awarded the François Bret Prize. His work has recently been exhibited at Art-o-rama for the Prix Région Sud, at the Château de Servières for La Relève 6: Énergies, and at La Villette in Paris for 100% l’Expo. He has also shown work in several galleries between Marseille and Paris, including Galerie de la Scep, Le 33, and Spiaggia Libera.

Credits

With the support of the city of Port de Bouc, de l’INSEAMM-Beaux-Arts de Marseille, DRAC PACA and Art-o-rama.

Photos

© Aurélien Meimaris