The Temporary artistic zone (Zat) is back, in Montpellier (Hérault). This unmissable cultural event in the city takes over the Antigone district, this Friday and Saturday, where it all began, in 2010. For two days, the curious will be able to attend, free of charge, performances of all kinds, for the most part well crossed. 20 minutes has selected five events not to be missed, to brighten up your long autumn weekend.
Block parties
This Friday (at 3 p.m., allée de Delos and at 7:30 p.m., place du Nombre d’Or) and this Saturday (1:30 p.m., place du Nombre d’Or and 4:30 p.m., allée de Delos), the Zat will revive the block parties. The organizers of these popular festivals, born in the neighborhoods, in the 1970s, in the United States, blocked the street with barriers, and diverted the electricity from a street lamp to connect a sound system. For a few dollars, you could dance to groove, soul and funk hits. It is the Radio Kaizman collective, which cleverly mixes hip-hop and brass band, which will be responsible for transporting the Antigone district to a street in Chicago, fifty years ago. If you’re more into electro, meet this Friday (8:30 p.m.), place du Nombre d’Or, with the Mixeuses solidaires, the collective created by two figures of the female DJ scene in Montpellier, Sin’Dee and Miss Airie.
A funny investigation
What if the Lez spoke to us? La Zat invites you to take part in an astonishing role-playing game about what is being done to this poor river that crosses the city. This real false investigation begins when the metropolis receives an anonymous letter, where it learns that the river, polluted, sometimes dry, sometimes out of bed, is fed up. The community then sends investigators to try to resolve this crisis which threatens to break out between the river and the inhabitants. Visitors will be able to take part in this “eco-political fiction” at the basin level (this Friday and Saturday from 3:15 p.m. to 6 p.m.), where “everyone can bring their testimonies, their clues, their exhibits, their photos, etc. to advance this investigation into our attachments to the Lez”, explains Pascal Le Brun-Cordier, the artistic director of the Zat. Note, Radio Lez, a radio program, will be broadcast live and in public this Friday and Saturday (2:30 p.m.), from the river.
A piano marathon
Jean-François Zygel, virtuoso musician and outstanding music columnist, will set up his piano where no one has done it before: in the glazed office of the president of the metropolis, which overlooks the Antigone district. From the top of his promontory, the famous improviser will embark this Friday (2 p.m. to 8 p.m.) on an astonishing six-hour piano marathon, with eight unique 35-minute concerts. Music-loving visitors can join him in the building of the metropolis to attend this performance. Attention, for this show, you must first book your ticket (free) on line.
A firework
For many years no fireworks had been organized in the city center, in Montpellier. The festivities take place in Grammont or Parc Charpak. On Saturday (8.30 p.m.), on the Place du Nombre d’Or, the Zat will bring this tradition back to the heart of the city, with a pyrotechnic show imagined by one of the experts in the field, Pierre de Mecquenem. The firecrackers will form “like a dome that will cover the square”, a real tribute to Ricardo Bofill, the architect who designed the district, who was inspired by the church of Santa Maria Della Consolazione, in Todi, Italy. The company La Machine, at the helm for this fireworks display which promises to be grandiose, will also offer visitors to the Zat, this Friday and Saturday (6 p.m. to 11 p.m.), to stroll between “fireworks, hundreds of flames”, confides Pascal Le Brun-Cordier, to “create a collective emotion, around this force, which is at the origin of Humanity”.
A “mini Zat”
For the first time, the event is devoting part of its rich programming to children. For two days, Place de Thessalie, the youngest, from 7 to 11 years old, can climb fascinating bamboo huts (1 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.), dance to Dua Lipa or Snow Queen at the “boum ZAT” (5:30-6:30 p.m.), play loads of games or test out the radio entertainment. The star of the mini-Zat will be the Titanos carousel. It is strongly advised to have your tetanus vaccine up to date, before climbing on it. An attraction a bit out of whack, “born from the a (rt) accumulation of half-stolen, half-recovered and wildly assembled materials”, indicate the organizers of the Zat.
Program and timetables here.