Have you got a trip to France booked? Then plan a visit to the Utopia festival, running until 3 October 2022 in the city of Lille, in the north of the country. The event promises large-scale projects, such as exhibitions, urban metamorphoses, performances and conferences involving artists from several countries, including Brazilians.
The programme includes 33 exhibitions, such as Les vivant, from the Fondation Cartier Pour L’art Contemporain, which highlights the work No caminho (2021), by the Brazilian Bruno Novelli, among the more than 250 on display.
Also of note is the installation Flower Fragrum Cardamomi, by the artist Peter de Cupere, in the Sainte-Marie-Madeleine church, part of the exhibition Le Jardin d’Eden. It is a monumental work, nine metres high, installed on the church altar, which invites visitors to come closer and touch the installation for an olfactory experience.
Utopia is the 6th edition of the lille3000 project, which began in 2004, when the city was declared European Capital of Culture, with the aim of lastingly transforming local and regional cultural dynamics.
This year, the theme refers back to the concept created by Thomas More in the 16th century, which today commonly refers to an ideal of the future, as the event’s promotional material explains:
“At a time of climate change and environmental issues, Utopia will focus on the bonds that link humans to other living beings. Rather than perpetuating the anthropocentric conception of the world, Utopia will offer the visions of artists, inventors, creators and scientists who question the hierarchy between man and nature”.
