The Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée — MuCEM) is a ground-breaking project for the Mediterranean region of the 21st century.

With an exceptional location overlooking the entrance to the Vieux Port, the MuCEM incorporates the Fort Saint-Jean, a historical site spanning 15,000 m2, and a new 17,000 m2 building constructed by architect Rudy Ricciotti on the J4 pier. Both sites will be linked by a pedestrian bridge of 115 m.

The MuCEM will open its doors in 2013, at the time when Marseille will be the European Capital of Culture.

Diane JUNQUA /  diane@claudinecolin.com

For its 22nd edition, the International Garden Festival invites once again designers from all over the world to come up with the most amazing projects imaginable. In 2013, visitors will be in for a whole host of surprises around the theme Gardens of sensations, contemporary synaesthesia.

Ingrid Cadoret / ingrid@claudinecolin.com

Victoire Birembaux / victoire@claudinecolin.com

Marseille-Provence has been selected to be the European Capital of Culture in 2013. All year long, hundreds of cultural and artistic events will take place throughout the Provence region: in Aix-en-Provence, Arles, Aubagne, Gardanne, Istres, La Ciotat, Martigues, Salon-de-Provence and, of course, Marseille.

On the menu: dance, music, visual arts, theatre, exhibitions, street art, literature, digital art, gastronomy and cinema.

Visitors will be invited to take part in events at museums, theatres and open-air venues in both urban areas and natural environments. Marseille-Provence 2013: an unmissable event.

Diane JUNQUA / diane@claudinecolin.com

Lens, Pas-de-Calais

The implantation in Lens (Pas-de-Calais) of one of the most famous museums in the world, demonstrates the Louvre’s strong commitment for the decentralization and democratization of culture. The Japanese agency SANAA (Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizaw), winner of the 2010 Pritzker Prize, museographer Adrien Gardère, landscape designer Catherine Mosbach designed the new Louvre-Lens. Designing a low structure, which is airy, fluid and accessible, the building is harmoniously integrated into the site without crushing it by its presence. Covering an area of 28,000 m2 (301,390 sq ft), the structure consists of five main glass and metal buildings, which opens out on an exceptional natural environment of 20 hectares. 

The museum will have two semi-permanent exhibition spaces: the Great Gallery and the Glass Pavilion. Within the Great Gallery, the Gallery of Time will present masterpieces from the Louvre collections in a chronological and transversal manner, reflecting the history of art from the 4th millennium BC to the middle of the 19th century. Among the highlights are Liberty Leading the People (1830) by Eugène Delacroix, Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (1514-1515) by Raphael, Mary Magdalene with a Night Light (c. 1640–45) by Georges de La Tour. The Glass Pavilion, located after the Gallery of Time, will offer an additional exhibition space to welcome related thematic exhibitions.

The inaugural exhibition “Renaissance” will present in the Exhibitions Wing, major artworks of the greatest masters of the Renaissance (Raphael, Mantegna, Pisanello, Jan van Eyck, Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach...)

A NEW MUSEUM OF 20th AND 21st CENTURY OUTSIDER ART IN NORTHERN EUROPE

Reopening exhibition: The World as a Poem 

After over four years of renovation and extension work, the Museum of Modern Art of Lille Métropole (Villeneuve d’Ascq) will be reopening to the public on 25 September 2010 under a new name: the LaM, Lille Métropole Musée d’art moderne, d’art contemporain et d’art brut (Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art). Its two fine architectural complexes, surrounded by a sculpture park (Alexander Calder, Pablo Picasso, Eugène Dodeigne, etc.), will henceforth house three prestigious collections of the art of the 20th and 21st centuries, including a unique collection of Outsider Art.

Press opening: 21 September 2010

Anne Monéger-Laval / Letizia Calcamo / lam@claudinecolin.com