Dialogue between the Mediterranean and contemporary artUntil November 2nd

De Renava contemporary art biennial

De Renava is a cultural UFO in Corsica, the brainchild of two friends with a passion for art, who wanted to offer a demanding, lively and vibrant exhibition of contemporary art, with artists of great renown and others who are emerging, international artists and others from Corsica. De Renava is also an encounter between art and Bonifacio’s heritage, as the exhibition venues are often unprecedented, usually closed to the public, giving the biennial a very special flavor, and helping to reinforce the exceptional nature of the event.

Domestication Of A Pyramid Biennale De Renava Bonifacio

Roma ? Amor!

Second edition

Since 2022, Bonifacio has played host to the great names in contemporary art. A biennial event in even-numbered years, an “off” exhibition in odd-numbered years, and monumental or more confidential works installed in different parts of the town to showcase them to best advantage. Photography, video, painting and sculpture come together for a second edition named Roma Amor, a poetic palindrome that of course recalls the Mediterranean, but also – and above all – speaks of the fall of empires, of those special moments before the wind changes and a civilization unravels. The dialogue between ancient and contemporary art catches visitors unawares.

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The magic of exceptional places

The De Renava exhibition is a little exceptional in that it doesn’t take place in a single location. On the contrary, its creators have sought out places in the city that are sometimes hidden, often closed to the public for many years, or privately owned. These places are seen as jewel cases that shelter the works, sublimating them and inviting the viewer into a dialogue that unfolds before his or her eyes and can vary throughout the day according to the intensity of the light. Caserne Montlaur, Impluvium, Cisterna, Agora, Chapelle Saint-Barthélemy are all waiting for you!

Caserne Montlaur Biennale De Renava Bonifacio

Pompidou in Bunifazziu!

The biggest names in contemporary art have placed their trust in the De Renava team since the event’s inception. One of the most emblematic is undoubtedly the Centre Pompidou, which exhibited its works as part of the biennial “off” in 2023 and will return next year.

Visit as you like!

Unlike most exhibitions, you’ll be able to start your wanderings as you please, with one point of entry – or exit – being the famous Montlaur barracks, which was a military building until the early 1980s. The first or last work to be seen, then, is an immense Napoleon painted by Jacques-Louis David, as majestic as his title of Emperor, and whose presence in Montlaur echoes that of a man as controversial as he was famous in Bonifacio. You can also start or finish at the chapel of Saint-Barthélémy, which is also usually closed to the curious. Just the white chalk gravel path that takes you there already promises a special, timeless encounter. In this chapel, closed to the public, you’ll find a video installation and a bell made from melted-down munitions, as bells were melted down to make munitions during the war. A way of coming full circle that’s as poetic as it is puzzling, and provides food for thought.

50 works, 20 artists

Sculpture, video, pictorial art, photography, sound, casting, foundry… Whatever your art of choice, it’s highly likely that you’ll come across some truly remarkable works while browsing through Roma Amor, and that you’ll be surprised, charmed, amused, perhaps piqued at times. The creators of De Renava, Prisca Meslier and Dominique Marcellesi, two children of the micro-region, have brought together no fewer than 50 works, some of them created especially for the exhibition, a unique collection of works of art.Some of these were created especially for the exhibition, and feature work by some twenty renowned and emerging artists, including Basquiat, Blanca Li, Bill Viola and Youssef Nabil. And Corsicans, always, “because there’s an incredible artistic breeding ground here”, young people who are just waiting to break through and join Ange Leccia, whose video La mer was exhibited at Impluvium in 2022. The magic of Roma Amor lies in its ability to combine the very contemporary with an age-old history, to blend Jacques-Louis David with Basquiat, and to create a dialogue between the works and the places that host them.

Prisca Meslier Dume Marcellesi Basile Isitt Biennale De Renava Bonifacio

Between relevance and impertinence

The great strength of the Roma Amor biennial is its constant dialogue between the works and the places that host them, between the artists’ intentions and the Mediterranean, between old works and others created especially for the occasion.The great strength of the Roma Amor biennial is its constant dialogue between the works and the venues that host them, between the artists’ intentions and the Mediterranean, between old and new works that are specially created, offbeat and impertinent, because they break codes and mix them to create a new, unprecedented, insolent narrative. And this is what makes the exhibition accessible on several levels, intriguing young and old alike, launching endless conversations about the meaning of this or that work, opening up dialogue and raising questions about the history of empires in the broadest sense. Roma Amor’s great strength also lies in its ability to take visitors into a world that is both familiar and totally foreign. Familiar, because the theme has always been part of our lives, without us even realizing it. Strange, because in today’s world, empires are no more than media empires, in contradiction with the immutability that the great names of history have sought to summon up.

Think contemporary art is only for the elite? Our mediators are here to show you that, on the contrary, it is accessible to all. Free guided tours are organized daily at 11 a.m. to help you better understand the challenges involved in presenting works of art, and the choice of artists. You won’t regret it!

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Emblematic but forgotten sites

For their first biennial event, De Renava’s designers hit the nail on the head, reopening venues that had been closed for years, reinventing them and giving them a new, offbeat second life. For this new edition, Prisca Meslier and Dominique Marcellesi have renewed the formula. They have kept the Impluvium and its impressive wooden installation, the famous cisterna, and the Montlaur barracks, but opened the Agora, a nightclub that closed nearly thirty years ago, and the Saint-Barthélemy chapel, which in Legion days was used as a cinema by the military. The De Renava biennial is always offbeat, but wildly impertinent and always relevant.

Our best addresses to enjoybefore or after your visit

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Discover the must-haves

of Bonifacio

Eglise Saint Dominique Vue Exterieure Bonifacio

Saint-Dominique Church

Archipel Iles Lavezzi Vue Aerienne Bonifacio

The Lavezzi archipelago

Sea walks and sea caves