NANTES, FRANCE – This summer, Le Voyage à Nantes returns with a compelling and imaginative new theme: L’Étrangeté (“Strangeness”). From 28 June to 31 August 2025, the city of Nantes transforms into a surreal, open-air museum where unexpected encounters blur the line between everyday life and artistic intervention.
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’s Peinture Tolérance Toujours paints a dreamlike “carpet” across Rue de l’Héronnière, blending urban textures with ephemeral beauty.
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 for his piece 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.
MORE INFO: https://www.levoyageanantes.fr/en/
WHEN: 28 June – 31 August 2025
PRICE: Free access to outdoor installations. Museum exhibitions ticketed.
ENDS
For further information on Nantes contact
Sophie Sheridan Burns, Travel Media IE
sophie@travelmedia.ie