Floating Worlds at La Biennale de Lyon

Lyon’s identity has been in no small part shaped by its relationship with water. This year the connection will be duly celebrated at the Biennale de Lyon, under the creative eye of guest curator Emma Lavigne, and Director of the Pompidou Metz and Biennale Artistic Director Thierry Raspail.

The cluster of exhibitions promises to “unfurl like a voyage around an archipelago of islands”, where each stop invites visitors to slow down and marvel at the displays. This is the second of three editions of the Biennale interrogating the concept of ‘modernity’, as defined by poet Baudelaire when he wrote: “Modernity is the transient, the fleeting, the contingent; it is one half of art, the other being the eternal and the immovable.”

Under the framework of the 40th anniversary celebration of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, a number of masterpieces will make the journey to Lyon for the occasion. In total, more than 60 artists from 23 nations will participate in the Biennale’s exploration of ‘Floating Worlds’. The Biennale will take place across three major venues: La Sucrière, the MAC Lyon and the Contemporary Art Institute in Villeurbanne. You’ll need at least a couple of days to catch the Biennale and its satellite events. Prepare for a sensory marathon.

September 20 to January 7, 2018. Website: www.labiennaledelyon.com

From France Today magazine