Just 1h30 from London (by Eurostar), this April will see Lille transformed as the city celebrates the culture of Mexico! Famous for its festivals, on April 27 the Eldorado festival, organised by lille3000, arrives in this Flemish city to turn spring into a colourful summer. lille3000 has a long history of organising festivals. The proven formula includes the opening parade, where hundreds of thousands of visitors celebrate the transformed city, and a multitude of artists and exhibitions come together to bring Mexico to France. Since Lille was named as the European Capital of Culture in 2004, the city has carved out a reputation for festivals that fascinate and celebrate diverse and varied cultures. From April 27 to December 1, 2019, for the fifth time, organisers lille3000 will stage a celebration of culture unrivalled in Europe. With exhibitions, transformations, celebrations, concerts, shows and events, in 2019 Mexico is the city’s guest of honour.
The opening parade
On the evening of April 27, the opening parade kicks off the festivities. Leaving the main station, it crosses the Rambla and the Grand Place before a finale at the famous citadel of Lille. The spectacular parade, organised by lille3000, will see hundreds of thousands of visitors arrive in the city to join residents as a cavalcade of floats and more than 1000 costume-clad players, supported by a major sound and light show, bring the culture of central America to northern France. Organisers lille3000 will bring Mexico, with all its dance and music inspired by the great Mexican festivals such as El Dia de los Muertos or the Puebla parade, to the city.
Transformations
At Lille Flandre railway, see the moon!
As soon as they arrive in Lille, visitors will be welcomed by a giant, 10-metres-wide, moon. The work of British artist Luke Jerram, ‘Museum of the Moon’ is an inflatable installation based on images of the moon provided by NASA, all accompanied by a soundtrack.
La Rambla
On leaving the central Lille Flandre Station, visitors face the Rambla. Just like the iconic avenue in Barcelona, Lille’s Rambla takes you from the station into the heart of the city. Over the years the famous thoroughfare has been become used to being transformed for each festival. Hosting the elephants of Nitin Desai, during Bombaysers, the arches of Jean Claude Mezière, and even a street in Beijing. This time, it is popular art figures who are taking over the Avenue Faidherbe. For Eldorado, it will be decorated with Alebrijes: 10 monumental sculptures created by the Museum of Popular Art in Mexico City. Giant statues made of wood or papier-mâché, they represent wild and domestic animals and fantastic creatures created from hybrid and imaginary elements.
The Old Stock Exchange
At the end of the Rambla, your eyes will be drawn to the Old Stock Exchange, in front of the Opera House and at the heart of this ancient city. This former stock market, which was witness to the city's commercial activity, is known as the Jewel of Lille. The Flemish Baroque building, dating back to 1651, has an inner courtyard where chess players compete with booksellers for the visitors’ attention, and in 2019 will see it enhanced, for the festival, with Golden Sun Mirrors. More reasons than ever to visit this essential attraction!
St So Station – The Green Goddess
Edward James' Garden of Eden
April 27 to September 8, 2019
The British poet wanted to create his Garden of Eden in Mexico, the Pozas in Xilitla, a 32-hectare tropical forest known for its waterfalls and lakes, and home to huge surrealist concrete sculptures. St So station, a former goods station now at the heart of life and culture in Lille, will offer, through the work of contemporary artists, in both its main hall and also outside, an installation recreating this Garden of Eden.
Exhibitions not to be missed!
The Lille 3000 Festival is rich in its exhibitions... A brief overview of the exhibitions that combine fine arts, folk art and contemporary art.
Alberto Giacometti - A Modern adventure - Lam Lille
13 March - 11 June 2019
The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Contemporary Art, Outside Art of Lille, where works come from the private collections of Lille, exhibits works by Modigliani, Picasso, Miro and Bernard Buffet all year round... In 2019, for the Eldorado festival, the Lam invites visitors to a major retrospective on Giacometti.
In spring 2019, following the success of ‘Amedeo Modigliani. The Inner Eye’ in 2016, the Lam invites the public to take a fresh look at one of the 20th century's greatest artists: Alberto Giacometti, whose works have previously been rarely exhibited in the museums of Northern Europe.
Almost 150 works will be brought together for an unparalleled exploration of the founding myths of the history of modern art. Inscribed in the collective imagination, Alberto Giacometti’s fragile elongated sculptures render the profiles of men and women either motionless or captured in movement. Presentation of these masterpieces will be complemented by a wealth of outstanding loans shedding light on Giacometti’s unique artistic career: his early works influenced by cubism, his passion for Ancient Egypt (a source of inspiration and revitalisation throughout his life), his encounter with the surrealists, and his later pictorial works.
Offering a fresh viewpoint on the work of an artist whose career spanned almost half a century, the visit will continue on into museum galleries providing a series of counterpoints to his body of work, including photographs of the artist in his studio and a work by Annette Messager, paying tribute to Giacometti.
Hospice Comtesse / Intenso Mexicano
From 27 April
In this former hospital, founded in 1237 by Jeanne de Flandre (Countess of Flanders), the museum will exhibit works of Mexican art, paintings and sculptures by such emblematic artists as Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Rosa Rolando, all selected by the Museum of Modern Art of Mexico. In parallel, the Tlacolullokos collective will display oversized paintings whose subjects are immigrants from disadvantaged neighbourhoods in LA, a reflection on universal socio-cultural issues.
Le Tripostal - Eldorama
27 April - 01 September 2019
Le Tri Postal (or ‘Tripo’ as the people of Lille know it) was built in the 1950s to sort mail, close by the Lille Flandre station, and has been the go-to place for exhibitions of contemporary art since Lille 2004 (European Capital of Culture). This year a programme of electro concerts will engage the residents of Lille, a city with the youngest population in France.
For the festival, the Tripostal will tell the great story of Eldorado through a myriad of contemporary works of art borrowed from all over the world. In three chapters, corresponding to the three floors of the gallery, the exhibition will present the universal adventure of Eldorado, a story that forever calls to individuals and people the world over.
The collections of the Museum of Popular Art in Mexico
April 27 to September 8, 2019
Museum of Natural History, Lille
Mexico is honoured through an exhibition of objects that reflect traditional culture and the imagination. Pieces from the collections of the Museum of Folk Art, this selection of animal forms from Mexican culture is in dialogue with the collections of the Museum of Natural History.
lille3000 is also …
Performing arts, dance, street art, concerts, theatre…
Three thematic weekends
From May 17 to 19 - garden weekend
June 7-9, Mexico Weekend
From July 19 to 21 Weekend Moon.