This project was cancelled due to the new health measures taken to deal with the Coronavirus.

Lavender exposes discontinuity within discourses on the Mediterranean, and proposes new manners of citing and reiterating the region. At first exposing inconsistency within discourses that link Athens and Marseilles directly to ancient pasts, the project expands to asks how either city— and how other poles of the region—might be viewed, cited, reiterated differently and with an aim towards radically coalitional alliance. How might Athens and Marseille revisit their ancient mythologies as hegemonic mandates of nationalism, and repurpose their relationships to Athena and Artemis in light of contemporary realities? How might Cyprus, Malta, and further afield Ireland unite in their shared histories of British colonialism in the post- Brexit moment? How might Tunisia and Sicily reexamine their shared histories of migration, in light of today’s migration crisis? This and much more, towards a critically performative Mediterranean.

SPLIT WINDOW is a series of events and exhibitions imagined by Elise Poitevin + Anne Vimeux (SISSI, Marseilles) which is part of Manifesta 13 Les Parallèles du Sud, with the support of the Region Sud.

SPLIT WINDOW is a series of events and exhibitions scheduled throughout the biennal around an authentic dialogue between Athens and Marseilles. By making the Mediterranean Sea a new axis of European identity, an area of contiguity, the project focuses on the issues of North / South duality inherent to the positioning of SISSI, while opening a horizontal space of exchange between East and West. A rare symbolic power emanates from Athens and Marseille. Ancient cities, marked by their history, they anchor their identity and prestige in their antique roots. Cradle of European civilisation for one, oldest French city for the other, they have in common the fact that they are both large trading and transit ports.