Bayonne: new street art event

This outbreak is due to the launch in 2017 of the festival "Points of view" which has quietly settled under the leadership of a local art center and its passionate director.

"We started from scratch or almost, with the cliché of a street art very often synonymous with vandalism. But today, the city has appropriated the festival and even wants to become a showcase of the genre," says Alban Morlot, director artistic director of the festival, who until recently was the director of the Spacejunk art center in Bayonne, behind the creation of this meeting.

In total, around twenty city walls, located in different districts and in particular on the outskirts of the hypercentre, display imposing pieces, creations of local or international artists.

Among these, the extremely realistic portrait of a man, beret screwed on his head, shepherd's stick in hand, with a message written in Basque, "Hitza hitz" (a code of honor for the Basques, relating to "word given") at the foot of the work. This monumental work by the collective of artists Sismikazot is visible along the Adour, on the right bank of the city.

In 2017, for the first edition of the festival, the fresco of the connected woman by the Catalan artist DEIH was distinguished by the Wide Walls website, an internet platform for lovers of modern and contemporary art, which placed it in top of its world ranking of the most beautiful works of street art.

Pantonio, an artist from the Azores, created a work 2018 meters high in 40, and the American BIP created hyper-realistic works.

"The primary objective is to surprise and offer something innovative. There is no question, for example, of intervening on the half-timbered facades of the city center", explains Alban Morlot, who returned during two years the task of finding the walls, blank sheets to offer to the invited artists.

"Find walls"

He worked on street art for many years in the Spacejunk center and explains that he thought about the festival in 2010. "We saw many of these artists come to exhibit with us and leave without us keeping a record of it. me a big frustration in there so I started a work of pedagogy to find walls ".

The first facades attributed to the artists were buildings owned by the City of Bayonne and the Agglomeration Community. Then, social landlords and private promoters entered the game.

In addition to the wall frescoes, which you can come across while strolling through the city, and in particular on its right bank, the Points of View festival offers artistic installations in all the streets every year at "height of man". Or more than 80 works, both miniature, on the sidewalk or drawn on mailboxes, which have made a place in the daily life of Bayonnais.

"I am passionate and convinced by this art so I am absolutely not surprised by the success it meets in Bayonne. I just wanted to draw a little earlier, when I still had access to artists who today are big names in street art, "says Alban Morlot.

He is also delighted that the City of Bayonne, which participates for a quarter in the festival budget, the amount of which was around 170.000 euros for the last edition, is also receptive.

"We see the interest of the tourist population for street art. So, there is a certainty today, it is not only a question of art, but also an economic and tourist question", underlines with l 'AFP Mayor Jean-René Etchegaray, noting that there are now "walking or cycling" tours.

The next edition of the festival is scheduled for October 16 to 20.