The Underwater Museum of Marseille is offering a new way of making the general public aware of the beauty and fragility of the seas and oceans.
By placing the human being at the heart of this immensity, both in time and space, it proposes to raise awareness by involving our five senses.
At a depth of 5 meters and at 100 meters off the Catalans beach, in an area of major ecological interest forbidden to fishing and anchoring, the museum presents a set of 10 concrete sculptures (pH neutral and ecological), the work of 10 artists ( Michel Audiard – Christophe Charbonnel – Benoît de Souza – Davide Galbiati- Evelyne Galinski – Herrel – Mathias Souverbie – Thierry Trives – Bruno Catalano- Daniel Zanca).
The visit of the museum is free and under the responsibility of the users but guided visits, individual or in group, are planned: a visit as in any museum (which is ordinary) but among ... fishes (which is less so).
Conceived as a journey with multiple entrances, the Underwater Museum of Marseille is based on an arc of values that it aims to share with as many people as possible: Culture and the arts ( with an atypical and evolving exhibition. Ecology ( with the creation of an artificial reef to increase marine biodiversity on the site. Each sculpture exhibited will become a marine habitat for fauna and flora.) Sports ( through initiation to scuba diving, snorkeling, )
In addition to the diversity of the issues it aims to promote, this museum aims to be a place for dreams. It offers everyone a playful access to a dreamlike world, encouraging a taste for adventure, exploration and discovery.
This museum is above all an experience. It is for the adventurer in all of us.
For each of the selected artists, the experience also takes on its full force through the originality of the project and its unprecedented dimension.
Each work, taken independently or as a whole, allows us to explore the different themes linked to the project: ecology, Mediterranean flora and fauna, temporality, the place of man in nature, the myths and legends of the marine world, etc.
At a time when museums are looking into forms of mediation that will enable them to make the public active, the proposal of the Under Museum of Marseille allows, through the immersion of these works, to offer a double reading, both artistic and intellectual, but also a unique and perceptive physical experience.
If you are a regular visitor to museums, adopt a new habit by bringing along a swim suit.
You never know !
Crédit photo de Guillaume Ruoppolo