mars2bklyn / bklyn2mars (2013)

Brooklyn is to Manhattan what Marseille is to Paris: a large, prodigious, liberal, exceptionally diverse, and slightly rebellious, melting pot with strong social and cultural contrasts. As both Paris and Manhattan get more clogged and artists priced out, a shift in what is the center of creation is in the making. Brooklyn and Marseille no longer represent the “outskirts” or “the margins” of some other place: they have become centers of artistic and cutting edge innovation.

Blending all art forms, as well as academic reflection, mars2bklyn / bklyn2mars aims to highlight these centers of creation, draw parallels between them, and initiate links between the two cities, within the condensed context of a festival, as well as all-year long through organizing, supporting and labeling more punctual projects and exchanges that fall within the label's mission and focus. mars2bklyn / bklyn2mars is a platform for collaboration and discovery between artists and cultural venues from Brooklyn and Marseille.

The festival will offer performances, concerts, exhibitions, audio tours, as well as panel discussions in the fields of urban planning, architecture, and history, in both cities. It will present existing work, but will also initiate collaborations between artists, venues, and curators from the two cities, and commission artists to inspire themselves from the ‘other’ city.
The festival will focus on artists whose work blends cultures, and integrate the essence of their city or neighborhood, or one particular aspect of it in the work. The objective is to bring about collaboration between these two port communities and highlight the locality of each city via the arts.

The first edition of mars2bklyn / bklyn2mars takes place April 30 - May 5, 2013 in Brooklyn (New York, USA). For more information, visit the platform's website at mars2bklyn.org.



Our Mission
In a world of accelerated globalization, where one city's main commercial street looks exactly like another's 'grand rue', where slums and gated communities are flourishing uniformly across the hemispheres, and where local cultural colors are slowly fading away to the benefit of worldwide corporations, the mars2bklyn / bklyn2mars festival aims to bring focus and meaning to two cities that are divided by an ocean and a sea, and yet whose colors, as soon as you step away from their 'main street', are forming together a camaïeu of vibrant tones that look nothing like a logo. We are after bright blues, old yellows, greys and greens and all the shades in between.
---Bertie Ferdman | Claire Hallereau | Erika Latta (WaxFactory)