Interview with Jean Blaise

LUMA Days 4 joined forces with the 1st edition of Agir pour le Vivant (Actions for Sustainable Living) Festival

LUMA Days joined forces with Agir pour le Vivant as part of the Festival’s lunch-dialogues which took place between 24th and 30th of August in the mythical Hotel Nord Pinus in Arles. On this occasion, the Festival guests were invited to take part in a series of interviews around the issues of transition, the crisis of our imaginations, the new geography and the subject of responsibility.

Jean Blaise, director of the Voyage à Nantes ("Journey to Nantes") shares with us his vision of the role of art and artists in the public while the art market is gaining power and redefining the rules of the game.

Jean Blaise was born in Algiers in 1951. After studying literature at the University of Bordeaux, he became the director of the Cultural Centre of Saint Médard-en-Jalles (1976) then of the Centre of Cultural Action in Chelles (1977-79).  Later he was in charge of Guadeloupe’s National Stage (1980-82), then founding Director of the Nantes Maison de la Culture (Culture Centre), from 1982-83; and since 1984, he has been Director of Research for the Centre of Cultural Development and Founder-Director of the Lieu Unique (a Nantes cultural centre), Director of the SPL (Local Public Society) Le Voyage à Nantes (Travelling to Nantes – a cultural Project for promoting the town of Nantes) and President of the National Mission for Art and Culture in the Public Sphere (MNACEP) at the Ministry of Culture (2014).   Blaise has also been the creator of numerous cultural events:  the Festival des Allumées (an all night festival in Nantes), the Festival of Hué in Vietnam, the Nuit Blanche in Paris (a sleepless night of culture in Paris) (2002 and 2005), and in 2007, the Biennial Estuary Festival, a contemporary art exhibition that takes place between Nantes and Saint-Nazaire.
Since 2014, he has acted as Artistic Director for the celebration of the 500th Anniversary of the town of le Havre.

Links :

• Le voyage à Nantes
•  Jean Blaise : rencontre avec celui qui a réveillé Nantes
•  Nantes : « Fontaine », œuvre du Voyage à Nantes, fait déjà couler beaucoup d’encre
•  Des œuvres en cascade à Nantes pour le festival d'art dans l'espace public
•  Nantes : Le Voyage à Nantes ne s'opposera pas aux messages sur ses statues
• Agir pour le vivant conferences