VIVART 2021: Breaking Down the Art Studio Walls

We had the pleasure to sit down with the ultra-dynamic team of organizers for an exclusive interview.

Hi team! Let’s get to know you! What are your backgrounds? How did you gather the team together? 

The Vivart team is composed of 7 voluntary members: Romane is in charge of the global project coordination, Constance and Lauriane supervise the artistic program and production, Inès manages the communication, Eva handles the logistics and the conference program, Hugo takes care of the artistic and cultural education program and finally Ariane is our advisor for the eco-conception part of the event.
We all work in cultural and artistic production and most of us met in the same production agency. We decided to gather our skills and experiences to organise a new edition of VIVART in Paris. It was amazingly natural how the team built itself and how each of us took charge of its part. 

Where does the idea of VIVART come from? 

The idea of VIVART is to offer a festive and creative moment by gathering artists and the public in an informal way for a humanitarian cause.
It was first organized in 1998 by Patricia de Villers, Catherine de France et Jacqueline Vurpas at Les Subsistances in Lyon. The event was a success and the funds raised by selling the artworks were donated to Habitats et Humanisme and the national observatory of jails. 16 years later, Patricia decided to organize a new edition in Lyon to raise funds for the Association Française du Syndrome de Rett (AFSR) who is fighting against this rare genetic disease. And finally, in 2021, Vivart is coming back and we intend to perpetuate the adventure!

The aim is mainly to raise awareness about the Rett Syndrome: what are the campaign’s different steps ? 

The aim is to raise awareness but also money! We have some conferences during the event which will inform about the Rett Syndrome and disability in general. Starting with this specific disease we wanted to widen the topic and speak about polyhandicaps (both cerebral and physical handicaps), accessibility, inclusion, etc. all those notions that relate to this social cause. We also developed two artistic workshops with kids in a middle School in Romainville with artists to raise awareness about inclusion and co-living in our society.

What are the developments of this edition compared to the previous ones?

This edition is mostly the same as the previous edition except for the co-organization with the AFSR and our desire to inform and talk about disability as a consequence. It was something important to us: developing extra activities on that topic, workshops with the kids, conference program very closely with the AFSR. Another difference is the number of artists which is less important due to the covid situation but on the artistic side, nothing has changed!

How did you select the artists? 

The selection was made on multiple criteria, the artist’s plastic technic and his/her ability to work with the public around. We also wanted to gather a multidisciplinary selection of all ages artists with gender parity. As two members of our team are really familiar with the artistic scene, they took the lead on that part. We also contacted some of the artists from 2014 and the ones that wished to participate were re-invited. 

Why did you decide to apply a fixed price policy? 

The fixed price policy is the idea of not being part of the art market that can be quite absurd nowadays according to us. By fixing the prices, the artists, regardless of their age, their experience or their rating on the art market are all generously participating the same way. The prices are affordable and our goal is to make the public buy an artwork not because of the artist’s popularity but because there is a real crush, on the artist and her/his personality.

How are you adopting a sustainable approach? 

By its essence, VIVART is sustainable as the artists are creating with supports and materials destined to be thrown or recycled. The most important part of the event production is about finding partnerships to collect these materials. It’s a win-win situation for both as the waste will be valorized by becoming an artwork. Actually, it’s a challenge for us to find materials and for the artist to create and experiment on new mediums. We are all very concerned about environmental issues so we try to be reasonable as much as possible in our way to produce.

Thank you to the VIVART team for this interview. We cannot wait to discover the festival! 

VIVART is an exclusive occasion to discover new artists, see them live-creating and buy their artworks for a good cause, in the heart of the iconic Parisian neighbourhood of le Marais. 

PRACTICAL INFO:
18,19, 20th of June 2021
Halle des Blancs Manteaux
48, rue Vieille du Temple, 75004 Paris 
Participation on a voluntary basis

Relevant sources to learn more

VIVART 2021 – website
Follow the festival on Instagram: @vivart2021