Marseille kicks off the “2026 Mediterranean season” on Friday, an ambitious demonstration by the French government to give voice to creators from both shores who have had to deal with a “polarized and fractured” regional context.
Six months of programming and more than 200 events structure this cultural event supported in particular by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture.
After opening in Marseille until May 24, the event which combines visual arts, music, live performance, cinema, digital creation, debate of ideas, will take place in more than 60 cities in France and in the five main partner countries, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.
During the inauguration, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot pointed out the ambivalence of the Mediterranean, “highly strategic zone for the prosperity of the world, where a quarter of maritime transport passes”, but also “cemetery of those who flee war”.
He assured that “France defends a Mediterranean agenda focused on youth and diasporas, civil societies and associations, those who propose concrete projects to develop the immense potential of the Mediterranean”. The minister announced that Palestinian poet Mahmoud Al Shaer had received the visa that will allow him to participate in the season and that “others will follow.”
For curator Julie Kretzschmar, the challenge was to make “links between stories, sometimes critical, and messages of a diplomatic, political nature”, she confided to AFP.
Emmanuel Macron announced the project in June 2023, “and in the process there was October 7”, the attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel which triggered a military campaign of retaliation by Israel targeting the Gaza Strip.
“The appointment of a commissioner was extremely slowed down, and I only had a year and a half to put together hundreds of projects,” says Ms. Kretzschmar.
To this were added diplomatic relations between France and Algeria “almost at a standstill”, the economic slump in Lebanon, Egyptian and Tunisian cultural scenes confronted with “an authoritarian context”.
“Conflicts infuse, color this season”, in a “polarized and fractured” regional context, she adds.
Sharref Sarhan, Palestinian artist, presents his “Gaza Lighthouse” in Marseille, a monumental work made from debris from ancient wars fought in the enclave. The original, on the Gaza Port roundabout, was destroyed in 2023, the new one is erected on the edge of the Mediterranean.
In the open air, on the emblematic Digue du Large which closes the maritime port of Marseille, the director Sébastien Kheroufi will present “Du sel dans les yeux”, a creation conceived as “a political, social and family fresco” between France and Algeria.
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© Agence France-Presse
