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la mer
A new, pop up art fair and cultural adventure in Marseille  takes over the Mediterranean seafront hotel and haven Les Bords de Mer and activates sites across the city

Works by more than 80 artists explore ideas and themes of territories, landscapes, climate change, displacement, history and memory, artistic influence, and connection

July 1 – July 6, 2025

Fair open to the public July 2 – 6, 2025

VIP Preview July 1, 3:00 pm– 9:00 pm | Cocktail 6:00 pm–9:00 pm

la mer is an unconventional, pop up, boutique art fair and series of cultural escapades taking place over six days from July 1-6, 2025 in Marseille. Organized by 74th Arts, as part of its program of global nomadic events, in partnership with curators Armelle Dakouo, Jessica Hodin Lévy, Jonah Steinberg, and guest curators, la mer will take over the contemporary hotel Les Bords de Mer, overlooking the Mediterranean at 52 Cor Président John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 13007 Marseille, France, and activate sites across the city. la mer is set against Marseille’s storied coastline and rich history of migration and exchange, at a time when its art scene is thriving. 

“Our goal at 74th Arts is to embrace the unique art and cultural landscape of select host cities around the world, inviting a global community to convene around local and international art, local cultures, unique geographies, and new experiences,” says Hoffman. “Our intention is to foster genuine cultural dialogue and discovery, and offer truly memorable encounters for collectors, artists, and art enthusiasts. It is a very exciting time to be a part of the city’s vibrant transformation, and to be welcomed so warmly by the local community.”

Exploring themes and ideas around territories, landscapes, climate change, displacement, history and memory, and, by ripple effects, artistic influence and connection, la mer will present works for sale by more than 80 local and international artists from galleries in Marseille, from the neighboring region and around the world. Site-specific presentations and project spaces installed throughout the hotel Les Bords de Mer will be accompanied by an out of the ordinary program of artful plein air dinners, sunset cocktails, rare studio visits, and intimate artist conversations.

“On the shores of the Mediterranean, the sea is a shared heritage. It links Southern Europe with North Africa and Western Asia—simultaneously revered and feared, it is at the heart of the region,” says Dakouo. “In Marseille, the sea is the soul of the city. It shapes its rhythm, expands its boundaries, and softens even the most unyielding edges. From the Calanques to the Cités, from the Port to the Bonne Mère, life here unfolds along the coastline. This vast, infinite horizon is inseparable from the city’s identity. It is only natural, then, that Marseille influences artistic expression—offering both inspiration and a lens through which to reflect on territory, landscape, displacement, environmental concerns, climate change, and the layered histories and memories that flow through it.”

la mer includes galleries and curatorial projects and spaces that occupy the entire hotel and expand into its common spaces, and beyond. Works by artists from the region and around the world alongside a strong contingent of Marseille-based creators, many of whom will be present during the run of show, include painting, drawing, textile works, ceramics, video installation, photography and design objects that foreground the intersection of art, nature, and culture. 


Local galleries include L’ANNEXE de la Madrague (by the Bunker des Calanques), Galerie Béatrice Soulié, and Double V Gallery. International galleries that will feature curated projects designed to highlight the magic and majesty of the sea include Casterline|Goodman Gallery (Aspen, USA), IRL Gallery (New York, USA), Gallery Nosco (Brussels, Belgium), and Galerie Véronique Rieffel (Paris, France).

Curated spaces will feature international artists whose work explores themes of environment, identity, and the Mediterranean. In reference to the artists Dakouo will present, she says, The sea embraces a diverse imagination, a source of inspiration for artists from all horizons. For each of these artists, it is an element that shapes their daily lives and has become an integral part of their artistic practice. Here, the sea is a point of view that Jean-Baptiste Sauvage worked on for eight years, combining colours to create the illusion of a landscape. For Théo Ouaki, the Mediterranean is a place of escape and contemplation during his dives. From this universe, he has retained the pictorial codes that he reinterprets in his ceramic work, always with a grating message denouncing the consumer society that pollutes the seabed. Maliza Kiasuwa takes lufa, the sponge gourd, and weaves it into an installation of coral, which is very present in Kenya, where she lived for a long time, but which is largely threatened by man. In Marseille, Frédérick Gautier FCK is exploring the relationship between concrete and the water, which he encounters every time he goes swimming and which is the nourishment for his designs and his ceramic creations in reinforced concrete. Once again, it is the sea and its horizon that provides the inspiration for Sébastien Normand's series of chamber photographs of the îles du Frioul and Fred Nevche's series that takes us to all sides of the Mediterranean coast.

In Jonah Steinberg’s Terrains/Terroirs, sights, sounds, smells, and even flavors evoking the sea, the maquis, the calanques, and the maritime forest, along with some of their human denizens and crafts, both ancient and modern, are integrated into a constellation of biome- and plant-based art. Works by Marseille-based sculptor-photographer Célia Pernot, whose work has been displayed widely, including at the Musée Internationale de la Parfumerie in Grasse will be presented alongside Montpellier-based artist Ursula Caruel, creator of Future is Botanic, Botanica Via, Semences, and other projects, who uses seeds, bark, branches, roots, and leaves to craft provocative works from the botanical world. 

Jessica Hodin Lévy will present Romain Sarrot, a Paris-based visual artist and videographer whose work explores the reinterpretation of everyday objects. Since 2010, he has created multimedia pieces using materials such as resin, mastic, paper, plastic, and silicone. His practice focuses on subverting familiar forms and reframing them in new, often unexpected, contexts.

Artist and psychologist Caroline Pelletti Victor brings together Les Partisan.es, a dynamic, collaborative project that invites artists, artisans, and designers to co-create objects inspired by the Calanques. Installed inside a hotel room, her immersive space includes embroidered textiles, woven curtains, sculptural lighting, and unique furniture, crafted in partnership with local makers. The space also features vessels from L’Objet Collaboré, works from the solidarity-based project Mer Solidaire, and Caroline’s own photographic series Le Point Aveugle, creating a rich, multi-sensory meditation on memory, sisterhood, and place. 

Participating artists and collaborators in Pelletti Victor’s curated space include: Jérémy Aymard,  Sybille Berger, Ambre Cardinal, Laetitia Costechareyre,  Camille Dallacosta, Sonia Déléani, Candice Aubert Dhô, Frankie, Manon Garcia Del Barrio, Lola Hakimian, Hamida Hamidi, Johanna Pietre Hermès, Julie Landemarre, Céline Lantez, Maud Lerayer, Maison Agile, Maenad,  Malo Mangin, Bérengère Perret, Anaïs Pessoz,  Juliette Rougier, Jean-Guillaume Simonot, and Afchine Tavakoli.

In addition, Pelletti Victor’s L’Objet Collaboré ephemeral boutique on the ground floor of Les Bords de Mer, will feature limited-edition art and design objects created through collaborative processes between artists, craftspeople, and designers. Works by Denis Shen, Emmanuel Waeckerlé, Christophe Barranco, Camille Brabant des Isnards, Christiane Filliatreau, Charlotte Gautier Van Tour, Anne Larouzé, Raphaël Losfeld, Oliver Salway, and Hélène Segura—each piece reflecting a deep commitment to shared stories, sustainability, and savoir-faire, will be included.

Peacock Art Projects, curated by Trickie Lopa, a pivotal figure in the Philippine art and fashion scenes, known for her roles as co-founder of Art Fair Philippines and Art in the Park, and more recently, as Deputy Editor of Vogue Philippines, highlights Southeast Asian voices including Melvin Guirheim, known for richly layered paintings and sculptures blending folklore, faith, and personal narrative, and Neil Felipp, a Cebu-based designer celebrated for his handcrafted accessories inspired by myth, fantasy, and historical storytelling. Lopa’s work bridges local creativity and global platforms, making her an ideal partner for 74th Arts's next stop in the Philippines in 2026. 

Coco Dolle, a French-American artist, curator, and writer based between New York and Avignon showcases an environmentally engaged program bridging land and sea with works by painter Pierre-Marie Brisson (Aigues-Mortes), that include paintings on linen, bronze sculptures inspired by ancient relics, and an ephemeral installation of mobiles crafted from cut wallpaper and fishing line, evoking marine life and classical botanical motifs.

Karima Célestin, an art enthusiast and cultural entrepreneur who has founded and run contemporary art galleries in Paris and Marseille, presents Rivages, a specially curated video program for la mer that reflects on the Mediterranean as more than just a landscape—rather a memory, boundary, and origin. Bringing together international artists, the program explores themes of migration, exile, voyage, and hybrid identity. Through poetic and political lenses, the video works reimagine the sea as a space of resistance, cultural intersection, and shared humanity. 

Charlotte Lidon, an independent curator known for her cross-disciplinary and socially engaged projects that explore the intersections of contemporary art, ecology, and identity, brings together in Liquid Topographies the works of Marseille-based artist Zineb Mezzour. Mezzour’s work engages with themes of transformation, memory, and the poetic tension between nature and constructed environments.

Designed to immerse guests in the art, culture, cuisine and rugged beauty of Marseille, la mer also invites visitors to join a robust and exploratory program of private and public events and excursions throughout the city.  Highlights include a private brunch on the Île du Frioul hosted by Béatrice Soulié and Hoffman, and an opening sunset dinner at Bunker des Calanques with Chef Hugues Mbemba of Restaurant Kin.

Mickaël Doucet, Jardin del Eden, 2024, 81 cm x 100 cm

Visitors can explore private exhibitions and immersive installations, such as Infiniment Bleu at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs; Mickaël Doucet’s solo show at the curated private apartment-style space of curator Didier Webre; artists’ studio visits from the Belle de Mai to the Panier, an art talk with Lara Tabet, Emmanuelle Luciani, and Polymer Collective moderate by the philosopher and writer Seloua Luste Bulbina; and a guided tour of Ali Cherri’s exhibition at the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Marseille with live music by Quintet Atmaten. They can explore Marseille in a glass and embark on a sensorial journey through Marseille’s spirited past at The History of Marseille in Twelve Bottles, a tasting experience hosted by Maison Ferroni and join artists for coffee and breakfast at Double V Gallery.

A closing celebration will include a DJ set by BAME at Lily Bar, Saturday Night Fever-style.

la mer promises a summer escapade that celebrates Marseille’s cosmopolitan heritage as France’s oldest city and now as a global art and cultural destination. It is a reflection of Hoffman’s curiosity and commitment to establishing undiscovered opportunities for meaningful cultural dialogue, connection and education among artists, dealers, collectors, art aficionados and cultural practitioners around the world.

Les Bords de Mer, Marseille, France, photo @wearecontents

74TH ARTS

BECCA HOFFMAN
Becca Hoffman is a veteran art world professional with a decade of running art galleries and a dozen years of art fair leadership. Ms. Hoffman was instrumental in rebranding and upgrading the Outsider Art Fair New York and building the Outsider Art Fair Paris from 2012 to 2020. From 2020 to 2023, she developed art fairs and cultural events in Aspen and Palm Springs for Intersect Art and Design. In 2023, she launched 74th Arts, a global art business established to explore culture, connectivity, and commerce through the annual Aspen Art Fair and a program of year-round cultural events around the world. This includes pop-up exhibitions, conversations, unique activations, community engagement events, and beyond. She lives in New York City and Antibes, France.

CURATORS

ARMELLE DAKOUO
Armelle Dakouo is an independent curator with in-depth knowledge of the contemporary art scene on the African continent and beyond. She promotes the visibility of the art scenes of the Global South through a variety of exhibitions. She has produced touring exhibitions in West Africa and worked with contemporary art galleries internationally. She was co-curator of the Biennale du Congo 2022 in Kinshasa and Artistic Director of the Also Known As Africa fair in Paris from 2017 to 2024.

JESSICA HODIN LÉVY
Jessica Hodin Lévy is an arts business strategist and independent curator. Her experience includes Art Basel and Frieze, where she focused on brand partnerships, audience and strategic development, and fundraising. Prior to the art fairs, she worked for Winston Art Group and was Director and Curator of Bleecker Street Arts Club in Manhattan’s West Village. 

JONAH STEINBERG
Jonah Steinberg is an author, curator, professor and associate director at The Walker Institute of International and Area Studies. He is also a founding curator and commissioning director of Barvalo, a participatory, collaborative, and community-centered exhibition project at Marseille's Musée des Civilizations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée (Mucem).

GETTING THERE |  la mer 

Les Bords de Mer 52 Cor Président John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 13007 Marseille, France

FAIR HOURS

Tuesday, July 1 - VIP Preview 3:00pm - 9:00pm

Wednesday, July 2 - 12:00pm - 7:00pm 

Thursday, July 3 - 12:00pm - 7:00pm

Friday, July 4 - 12:00pm - 7:00pm

Saturday, July 5 -  11:00am - 5:00pm

Sunday, July 6, 11:00am-5:00pm