Yesterday morning, Kevin left the city of Geneva to join me in Carouge where I currently live. Together, we crossed the municipality of Lancy to reach Vernier in a district which is about to be transformed: the district of Etang. This old industrial area will be turned into 2’500 accommodations and as many workplaces.
Inside the F block on 55 chemin de l’Etang, journalists, bloggers and partners have gathered together for the 6th time to attend the press conference of the Antigel Festival. The municipalities of Pressinge, Puplinges and Bellevue are the new joiners. The festival keeps getting bigger, the coming 6th edition will take place in 21 different municipalities in total from January 29th until February 14th 2016.
Stuck between the highway, the railroad and the tanks of Vernier, Kevin and I are also new joiners as this is the first time that My Big is partnering with the Antigel Festival and we soon realise that we actually stand on what will become the Grand Central of the festival, a cultural Antigel centre.
The floor plan of the Grand Central will be designed by the architects of the Bureau A and this old factory, which will soon be demolished for the purpose of the Etang urbanism project which I mentioned at the beginning of this article, will be turned simultaneously into a roller skate party (during the opening of the festival from 6pm), a flealess market, a winter street food festival, a dance and musical stage, a vinyls’ fair and a contemporary art museum, all made by the Antigel Festival.
The Belgian rock band Balthazar, the Big Jeff Mills from NYC (New York is actually one of the two themes of the festival), Cassy will perform at the Grand Central among many other artists such as the Black Coffee from South Africa (South Africa being the second theme of the festival).
Around the cultural Antigel heart, in the 21 municipalities of the Geneva canton, an Antigel run will take place in the district of Eaux-Vives on January 23rd, the companies Wolvin and Whooshing Machine will make Vernier et Chêne-Bourg dance, the forest (of La Bâtie) will never sleep (and so won’t we), little and Big kids will get lost inside a big labyrinth in Grand-Saconnex and Valentine’s day will be spent ice-skating and kissing in Carouge. Let’s not forget the famous night swimming events of the Festival which are a must in order to dive into the sound.
In the meantime, during the press conference, Kevin nearly fell off his chair when he heard the names: Lynched, The Tallest Man On Earth, Marianne Faithfull, Ye Vagabonds and Júníus Meyvant, whom will all perform during the festival. No need to mention to you which articles Kevin is writing at the moment; I hope you are as impatient as I am to read his passionate words and what he has to say in this regard.
So let me sum up because I have a feeling you’re getting lost somehow with this Big program: crazy venues, some which will pop-up out of nowhere, rock, hip-hop and electro music, dance shows, 21 municipalities, artists which will make you fall off your chair, art exhibitions, running and swimming, this is the famous recipe of the Antigel Festival. And as I mentioned to you this is a first for me (because Kevin is a fan since the beginning) and since I never do things by halves, I am inviting you to come and see me perform during a car dance where I will be dancing with a 3.4 litre flat-6 and 296 bhp.
On the night of the press conference, I joined a few friends in town for diner. The ONLY topic of conversation inside the entire restaurant was the following: the coming Antigel Festival.
PS: rumour has it that My Big Geneva will make you win 2 festival passes starting on January the 11th…
Photography © Jean-Luc Andrianasolo
From January 29th until February 14th 2016
