The 2009 edition of Infr’Action – Festival International d’Art Performance celebrates not only its fifth anniversary, but also the 156 artists that it have presented in Séte since its start in 2005. 156 artist from more than 34 countries. Yes, today Infr’Action, five years after its conception, is known as one of Europes major events in this field of contemporary art.
For its 5th annivesary Infr’Action will present 28 artists from France, but also China, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexiko, United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Burma, Poland, Sweden and this years country of honour, Spain. Infr’Action is an event where you can experience the work of some of the most important performance artists on the international scene, as well as discover some of emerging artists of a younger generation.
The common denominator at Infr’Action is of course the quality of its program. It is curated with a will to present artists of different generations as well as a mix of different tendencies, whether it is oral poetry, or visual, conceptual or interactive performance art, or for that matter sound, language or video based. Infr’Action has as its mission to present different tendencies in contemporary performance art with high quality.
József Juhasz. Rocco Open air biking.
The festival has two very different contexts as artistic venues. On the one hand the fruit and vegetable markets on Wednesday and Friday, or the popular fleamarket on Sunday morning. Beside these contextual and popular pillars of the festival, Infr’Action presents evening art performances outdoors and indoors at different venues in the beautiful Mediterranean city of Sète.
In addition, Infr’Actions fifth year anniversary is celebrated by a retrospective exhibition of photographs of works from the earlier editions and events organised by Infr’Action in Sète. It will open on September 5 at La Chapelle of le Quartier Haute in Sète. In this new venue for contemporary art the public can discover some memorable works that has been presented in Sète by Infr’Action since 2005.
Another new feature of the festival this year, is that Infr’Action will travel one day to Montpellier, the capital of the region Languedoc-Roussillon. The idea is to present this field of contemporary art to an even wider audience. On Thursday September 17, performances will be presented at la place Paul Bec from 5 pm.
| | However, the festival is mainly taking place Sète. Presenting the festival on the streets, squares, channels and quays of Sète with direct access for the citizens. Following its slogan of being both avant-garde and popular, giving direct access to contemporary creation in the field of performance art to the public at large, and : free of charge.
One of Infr’Action’s main principles is to promote cultural democracy, through the transposition of contemporary art from the art institution to our common public space. Nothing can me more difficult, and in the same time more easy, than to operate such a transformation of the distribution channel of contemporary art. In this Infr’Action is also avant-garde in its creation of a real bridge between a dense public context, the markets, and the art institution, stimulating an interest and a passion for todays contemporary art and its most liberating aspects.
Agnes Yit. 10th Open International Performance Art Festival. Beijing. août 2009. The 5th edition of Infr’Action Sète, will see the birth of a festival workshop which will take place the two days preceding the festival, September 14-15. It will be led by the extraordinary Mexican artist Elvira SantaMaria. Ms SantaMaria is one of the maybe most inspiring artist on the international performance art scene today.
This year Infr’Action has also concluded a partnership with NTI-media highschool in Göteborg, Sweden, who will send a number of students to assist the festival as well as to document it in different ways. It is a partnership that has sprung out from an earlier cooperation with Infr’Action sister festival, Live Action Göteborg.
Infr’Action is, so to speak, still moving forward, expanding its area of activities while continuing its main mission, to promote performance art in France, in organising its leading international performance art festival, Infr’Action Sète. Welcome to the 5th edition. It will surprise you, and possibly enchant you. |
