Summer is the best time to take a break from our everyday routine and open our minds towards something new. If you fancy discovering one of the most interesting and fertile spaces in Europe for contemporary art, I recommend you visit the LUMA in Arles, France. Born in 2004, the LUMA Foundation is a nonprofit organisation fruit of the love for art of Maja Hoffmann, world renowned philanthropist and heiress of the Roche pharmaceutical empire.
Maja is a larger-than-life woman with an extraordinary biography: it’s enough to say that in the early Eighties she produced a documentary on the work conditions of African fishermen in Mauritania. And it’s nice to remember that her passion for art comes from far, from her grandmother Maja Stehlin, a collector herself and close friend of many high-calibre artists such as Picasso, Léger and Braque.
Until September 28, at the LUMA in Arles you will find Solaris Chronicles, a tribute in the form of a dynamic installation to the work of Frank Gehry, a prestigious name in modern architecture and also the designer who created Arles’ campus. Gehry’s creative vision will be interpreted by composer Pierre Boulez, by artists John Baldessari, Liam Gillick, Cai Guo-Qiang, but also by filmmakers David Lynch, Philippe Parreno and many more. An excellent chance to enjoy live one of the events and places destined to deeply influence the contemporary art scene of the next few years.