From October 18 to 22, 2023, the Points de Vue Festival celebrated its seventh year in the realm of public art. This annual gathering brought together a group of nine artists, spanning local and international talents, to adorn the walls of Bayonne and the communes of the Northern Basque Country. Supported by a blend of private and municipal funding, the festival acts as a vibrant showcase for the diverse world of street art, skillfully blending pleasing imagery in murals across Bayonne, all while weaving a narrative that nods to the roots of street art and graffiti. Simultaneously, it seamlessly integrates the region’s rich cultural heritage, its inhabitants, and historical narratives.

Evolved in its presentation, the festival offers a comprehensive program encompassing exhibitions, concerts, and screenings, to cultivate an environment that encourages audiences to engage with artistic creation from multiple angles. Through interactive workshops, attendees have the chance to nurture their artistic potential, with encounters with artworks often igniting passions or fostering enduring curiosities. Since 2022, Points de Vue has also facilitated gatherings of visual arts professionals, openly addressing the ever-evolving dynamics of the sector with the public.

Today, the Points de Vue open-air gallery in Bayonne aims to transcend physical and intellectual confines, infusing streets, landscapes, and daily life with a unifying artistic essence. This year’s festival brought together artists from both international and local realms, showcasing a rich diversity inherent in their works. Whether through graffiti or contemporary art, these distinguished participants, drawn from various influences and backgrounds, leave their indelible creative mark on urban spaces, a trend increasingly witnessed at festivals of this nature.

Elisa Capdevila finds her muse in the ordinary occurrences of life, accentuating the lyricism of unassuming events in a life: a holiday, a familial repast, a stroll through the countryside… Her murals, dispersed across various European nations, make us envision and reflect.

After painting murals commercially for prominent brands, Sophie Mess heads on an artistic journey that she hopes will empower her to express her creative vision more freely. Now it looks like the world she conjures on urban canvases derives inspiration from the domain of botany. Infusing the urban landscape with vibrant hues amid its grey facades, Sophie Mess encourages onlookers to reflect upon the balance/imbalance of the natural world.

Exploring the conventions of classical art and graffiti, the artistic partnership of PichiAvo forges an urban dialect at the intersection of creative movements, a style embraced by both critics and the wider audience. Their creations consistently captivate with their colossal presence, where contemporary and ancestral elements harmoniously coexist.

A Franco-German artist, residing between Berlin and Chile, Jan Vormann restores city walls by incorporating a Lego mosaic within their crevices, and has been doing this for many years. His artistic statement carries a playful and peacemaking essence, subverting the monotonous world of grown-ups while playfully acknowledging the inner child within us all.

Starting in 2021, Points de Vue has been extending its reach beyond the confines of Bayonne, encompassing the expanse of the Communauté d’Agglomération Pays Basque. This expansion offers invited artists the unique opportunity to engage in residencies within local communities, enabling them to draw inspiration from their host locations. Over several weeks, artists immerse themselves in the local environment, fostering dialogues with community members to craft new works that mirror the essence of their welcoming surroundings. These interactions cultivate authentic exchanges, bringing urban art into new, personal territories.

For this year’s edition, the French-German artist Jan Vormann undertook a creative endeavor at the Gribraltar stele in Uhart-Cize, a historical site at the crossroads of the Compostelle pilgrimage routes.

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