Nantes – Summer Art Trail Embraces “Strangeness” Across the City
Curated by Jean Blaise and the festival’s artistic team, the 2025 edition invites both locals and visitors to explore a city reimagined through the strange and uncanny, with works from more than a dozen internationally renowned artists animating public spaces, monuments, and cultural sites.
Highlights of the 2025 Trail Include:
Iván Argote’s Antípodos on Rue Joffre and Place Maréchal-Foch, where bronze figures with backward feet challenge perceptions of history and power, and even make King Louis XVI’s statue vanish into a mirrored illusion.
Prune Nourry’s monumental Mothership at Place Graslin — a 17-metre-long sculptural homage to motherhood, biology, and mythology, echoing both ancient rituals and modern architecture.
Willem de Haan’s Latest Version, a provocative reimagining of the Place Royale fountain, replacing 19th-century allegories with hyper-realistic portraits of current-day residents, offering a living, breathing snapshot of modern Nantes.
Gloria Friedmann, with two major installations: the eco-critical exhibition How Many Earths Does a Man Need? at the HAB Galerie, and the surreal, bird-masked Carnaval de la famille Durand at Hôtel de Briord.
Romain Weintzem, blending humour and political commentary in two installations: La Mauvaise Troupe, a whimsical military parade along Lycée Clemenceau, and Le Bruit des bottes, a chilling reflection on authoritarianism at Butte Sainte-Anne.
Éléonore Saintagnan’s Ver-Vert ou le Voyage à Nantes, a poetic film and installation based on an 18th-century parrot tale, confronting themes of displacement, exoticism, and mimicry — at Passage Saint-Croix.
Flora Moscovici, who paints a dreamlike “carpet” across Rue de l’Héronnière, blending urban textures with ephemeral beauty. Peinture Tolérance Toujours
Jenna Kaës, transforming the Jean V Dispensary into a mystical reliquary of light, shadows, and memory, in her piece Aurarium.
Laurent Tixador, who builds a full-scale wooden tramway façade in Parc de Procé from recycled storm debris, symbolising a retreat into nature — and then places it in motion, riding through the city. Epilogue sylvestre.
Aurélie Ferruel & Florentine Guédon, with Bras dessus bras dessous, a giant sculptural chess game in Parc des Oblates that replaces competition with cooperation.
This edition of Le Voyage à Nantes reinforces the city’s commitment to art as a public experience — accessible, transformative, and always surprising. Installations are free and spread throughout Nantes, forming a trail marked by the iconic green line.
Whether it’s confronting colonial legacies, exploring ecological futures, or playfully disrupting urban routines, Le Voyage à Nantes 2025 invites everyone to wander, wonder, and embrace the strange.
These summer artworks are part of a broader artistic journey — a seasonal addition to a permanent collection that can be (re)discovered all year round, following the iconic green line through the city.
Le Voyage à Nantes
28 June – 31 August 2025
