BOLERO, 2021
An international art project on the move
Bureau Doove is pleased to have been invited as curator of the 10th anniversary edition of the nomadic project Bolero, an international art project on the move.
Named after Ravel's musical composition for its accelerated movement and alluding to a caravan that crosses the desert, the project was initiated in 2010 by Belgian artists Frank JMA Castelyns, Willo Gonnissen, Pierre Mertens and Mulugeta Tafesse as a response to a world of ever more global art. The principles have always been very simple: the project must be able to travel light in a suitcase and be carried out with relatively few means. Participating artists are invited to make an intervention on the page of a newspaper of their choice, scan it and send it to the organizers who will print and show it in a public space and/or gallery. The art caravan arrives, temporarily stops and leaves again, always in a different formation. Thus, over the years, a collection of 65 works of art has been formed, sometimes responding to political questions.
Since 2010, Bolero has traveled all over the world. Starting from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, home of Mulugeta Tafesse, it visited Vietnam, India, China, Turkey, Belgium and Greece where it was presented in the margin of Documenta 14. It will now travel for the first time to France where it will be presented at the CreArt festival in Rouen in March 2021 in collaboration with Centre André-Malraux and ESADHaR Le Havre-Rouen.
As the Bolero project always takes a newspaper from the last country where it was invited for the invitation, the image of the 2021 campaign is that of the first page of a Greek newspaper of 2017. The image of Macron, Merkel and Trump is still eloquent.
In addition to inviting the project's initiators to participate again for the 10th anniversary, Edith Doove as curator choose participants for the 2021 edition from the artists she met in Rouen, including teachers and alumni of ESADHaR Rouen, and artists with whom she collaborates within the framework of her Bureau Doove. Apart from the initiators, all participants live in France but present a diversity of origins. Symbolically, the English duo Driftingspace was also invited to maintain a creative bond with the UK.
The complete list of participating artists for the 2021 edition:
Frank J.M.A. Casteleyns [B], Beatrice Cussol [F], Dominica De Beir [F], Driftingspace (Sally Hall + Jason Hirons) [GB], Chloe Elmaleh [F] + Marcos Uriondo [ES/F], Willo Gonnissen [B], Hantu (Pascale Weber + Jean Delsaux) [F], Jason Karaindros [GR/F], Gaspard Lieb [F], Thomas Maestro [F], Héloïse Marie [F], Pierre Mertens [B], Miguel Angel Molina [ES/F], Marielou Pérez [F], Mulugeta Tafesse [ET/B], Jean-Louis Vincendeau [F], Neil Wood [GB/F].
Practical information:
Bolero, an international art project on the move
March 22 — April 10, 2021
At the Centre André Malraux, the neighbourhood of the Grand Mare and in the rue des Bons Enfants in downtown Rouen
Opening hours 9am-12:30 1:30pm (Centre André Malraux)
Virtual tour offered online, on social networks.
Organized by Bureau Doove in collaboration with the Centre André-Malraux, cultural center of the city of Rouen and École Supérieure d’Art et Design Le Havre-Rouen as part of CreArt and European Day of Creativity.