Objectif Vidéo Nice 4/5/6 December 2015

* OVNI is the French acronym for UFO

OVNi is a Video Art Festival that will take place from December 4th to December 6th, 2015, within the Windsor hotel in Nice, France, a hotel renowned for its unique collection of 31 “Art-Rooms”. This uncommon exhibition of video installations and projections is sponsored by Christian Bernard, an important figure of contemporary art who influenced the Windsor’s artistic commitment. The event is open to everybody, with the aim to encourage the disseminating of video art to the general public.
Twenty-two contemporary art spaces and museums have gathered to offer to the art lover as well as to the lay audience a chance to appreciate video-art, in both an intimate and an unusual context, in the privacy of a hotel room. By freely pushing a door that will always open, visitors can easily approach this medium, which is widely used in contemporary art but still too little known.
Aside from the venue’s specificity, the structures participating are given “carte blanche”. The project is collaborative and was developed with entities acknowledged for their experience and expertise in this field, originating from both institutional and alternative spheres. We also are also very lucky to welcome Isabelle and Jean-Conrad Lemaître, pioneer-collectors of video-art in France.
The event is rooted in local territory with several structures belonging to the PACA region (South-East of France). But it is also widely international, with the participation of major European museums such as Mamco in Geneva, le MAC’s Grand Hornu in Belgium, Mudam in Luxemburg… And South-Korea will be the guest of honor of this first edition 2015, represented by the Arario Museum and the Song-Eun Art Space. Celeste Boursier Mougenot, who represents France at the Venise Bienale, joined the festival, curator at the Windsor hotel, artist in Smarin design space in the city.
Moreover, galleries and other art-spaces are joining the festival, proposing video-art exhibitions and events in their own space, offering to the public the opportunity for an outdoor OVNi “promenade”.
OVNi will thus provide a large panorama of contemporary art creation while contributing to showcasing the artistic influence of the French Riviera. OVNi is a unique collaboration set in an atypical location. It is the pleasure to be together, to welcome and to make video-art visible in an open and qualitative way.

Odile Redolfi-Payen