HÖFN is a member of the Northern districts of Marseilles' inhabitants' cooperative: HÔTEL DU NORD.
Our association is more and more becoming an active partner in many actions the cooperative develops.
Le Pont ("The Bridge"), huge art exhibition project within Marseille-Provence, European Capital of Culture programmation
that the mac ( Contemporary Art Museum of Marseilles) has set up
called for HÔTEL DU NORD and its members to recieve, guide throughout The Northern districts of Marseilles,
inform and assist in many ways two artists: Stéphanie Nava et Jårg Geismar.
HÔFN, (among other HÔTEL DU NORD's members, individuals or associations) followed and supported enthusiastically the developement of their task, in many different ways:
welcoming, guiding, writing articles and photographying for information and communication about the project,
putting up Stéphanie Nava's posters all around our Northern districts of Marseilles...
The artists produced two works totally or partially located in "our" districts: BEL VEDERE and FROM ME TO YOU .
About Stéphanie Nava's work
Bel Vedere is a project which could be seen through two different levels:
- A public component took the form of fourteen posters placarded in the streets of Marseille North neighbourhoods.
Thirteen were positioned near houses belonging to e HĂ´tel du Nord members, and the fourteenth indicated spectacular viewpoints along the circuit.
These large-scale blue and black images resembled in no way the common commercial and communication images usually visible in cities.
Their micro-narratives proposed visual events that have a strong relationship with their very next environment.
Each poster was elaborated from elements gathered from the territory they would enter into a relationship with: historical or geographical information, anecdotes, usages, etc…
- The private component of the project could be found inside the cooperative hosts’ houses.
There, the original drawings initiating later on the posters were installed.
In order to see them, an encounter had to happen, be it short or extended, between the visitor and the inhabitants.
Thus, Bel Vedere proposed a double circuit: from the South to the North, and from the streets to the homes.
To see the posters, starting from the mac , one had to cross the city and discover the villages, the hills, the buildings, the factories, the waste lands, the gardens,
and the many "belvédères" that constitute this territory, without forgetting, of course, its inhabitants.
From the 24 of May until mid October 2013, one could stop by and visit us at HĂ–FN,
and, as long as we were on the spot, we'd let you discover Stéphanie Nava's original drawing.
It was exhibited int the most private area of the residency (the alcove-bedroom),
and obviously, Stéphanie Nava was very directly inspired by our actual resident's place...
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VERNISSAGE DE L'EXPOSITION Le Pont AU mac , LE 24 MAI 2013
Here above, some photos taken on the opening day of "Le Pont", at the mac, showing mainly Stéphanie Nava and Jårg Geismar's intallations.
entrance, through the gardens of the mac (and a work by Mona Hatoum)
map/itinerary within the Northern districts of Marseilles
highlighting beautiful viewpoints and places where Stéphanie Navas's drawings are exhibited 3 posters by Stéphanie Nava
Détails of Stéphanie Nava's posters, and photos of the places which originated them Stéphanie Nava, at the end, and few HÔTEL DU NORD's members
in the middle, detail of the poster dedicated to HÖFN, and a photo of the street which leads to HÔFN
at the mac, JĂĄrg Geismar's installation
on the right, JĂĄrg Geismar