17th Lyon Biennale – Les Grandes Locos

Located by the river Rhône, just downstream from its confluence with the Saône, on a site covering several dozen hectares, Grandes Locos is the name of a complex of industrial buildings that were inaugurated in 1846 by the Compagnie des Hauts Fourneaux, Forges et Ateliers d’Oullins, before becoming an SNCF train maintenance centre in the 20th century. These factories, which bear witness to French railway history, were used until 2019 for maintaining electric locomotives and spare parts. Now repurposed as a cultural venue, they are hosting the 17th Lyon Biennale, where the site’s history will resonate in the artists’ works, which speak of travel and movement, repair and care, collective strength, and protest.

The programm :

- Activation of Clement Courgeon's artwork, la chariotte des malins; Sep 21, 2024 -02pm; Inspired as much by European carnivalesque and folkloric traditions as by contemporary popular practices such as wrestling, Clément Courgeon's work challenges artistic conventions and social constructs. Inviting audiences into la chariotte des malins, the artist shares the story of his performance aboard his horse-drawn caravan, offers postcard-writing workshops, and distributes popcorn.

- Lina Lapelytė - Performance; 21, sept. - 3pm, 4pm, 5pm
Through music, installation, and performance, Lina Lapelytė seeks to transform individual narratives into collective voices by working with both professional and amateur performers. The installation-performance Study of Slope is performed by a choir of people who consider themselves 'tone-deaf.' The work unfolds in the midst of a garden of nettles, plants known for their stinging effects and medicinal properties, which enhances the symbolic significance of Study of Slope and encourages breaking free from categorization.

- Olivia Funes Lastra - Performance; 21, sept. 3.30pm; Abstract and colorful, Olivia Funes Lastra’s multidisciplinary work explores the phenomena of translation and hybridization. During her residency at Grand Parc Miribel Jonage and L’Atelier Léonard-de-Vinci / Médiathèque Maison de quartier in Vaulx-en-Velin as part of the Lyon Biennale, Olivia Funes Lastra is leading a writing and performance project with a cross-generational group of residents, whose identities are shaped by experiences of geographical and linguistic migration.

- Workshop with Bastien David - Oct 11, 2024, 11am; Participate in a sound-based board game centered around the metallophone by Bastien David, an artist exhibited at Les Grandes Locos.
Fascinated by the diversity of the living world, composer Bastien David explores, through his music, the relationships that sounds weave with one another and their ability to move through time and space. His experimental work led him to create the metallophone, a percussion instrument in the form of a steel keyboard that allows for simultaneous play by multiple performers. The artist offers a workshop to introduce participants to the history and practice of the metallophone.