We had a great time exploring La Défense for the blog a couple of months back, and seeing all the works of contemporary art that are scattered around the place, but we didn’t know that the area has its own modern art festival for the summer, called Les Extatiques…

This year, with the air and wind as its theme, Les Extatiques has works from nine artists on show, and some of them are pretty wild.

— Fujiko Nakaya adds mist to the Takis fountains with his Fog Sculpture #07156

— Choi Jeong Hwa presents Breathing Flower, a huge unflatable flower that moves its petals

— Benedetto Bufalino puts an upside-down car on a lamppost and names it La voiture sur le lampadaire (check out his website for more cheeky tomfoolery)

— Malaysian collective Pangrok Sulap is showing a dozen prints made using a traditional printing method that starts with wood engraving

— You’ll see photos by Lithuanian artist Tadao Cern, portraits of people being aimed at with an air blower

— Philippe Ramette has two sculptures on show – Eloge de l’envol, a gian swing frozen in mid-swing, and Lévitation de chaise with an onversized chair that seems to be flying away!

— There’s a big sign with silver spinners, made by Pierre Ardouvin, which asks the question Qui sème le vent ?

— And the giant inflatable squid invading one of the office buildings immeubles is the work of the Designs in Air collective. Impressive…

The event also include a photo exhibition (a sort of exhibition in the exhibition, if you will) with thirty photos or reproductions of works that take the air as their theme.

And if you in front of one of the installations and need some more info, you can ask Vera, a chatbot available in English on the Facebook page of the event.

Vera can give you directions, supply extra information about any artist, explain their thinking… You can even take a photo of one of the pieces, send it to her, and she’ll recognise which one it is!

All of the above is completely free, and provided in addition to the many works of art already on-site (more details and photos in our article).

Looks like a great event, and another good reason to explore this unusual part of town!

Les Extatiques continues at La Défense (here) until 6th October 2019

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To check out all our photos of La Défense, click here.

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