Escaut Sculpture Festival Debuts Across Cambrésis-Valenciennois

The first edition of the Escaut contemporary sculpture festival, titled "Escaut. Rives, dérives," ran from May 19 to September 18, 2011, across multiple sites in the Cambrésis-Valenciennois region. Organized by the association Escaut et Acier, the festival featured around one hundred artists, including notable figures such as Di Suvero, Soto, Norman Dilworth, Paul Neagu, and Allan Kaprow (whose happening was reinterpreted). The event spanned the Escaut river basin, with two major installations at its extremes: Klaus Pinter's "Cocon" reinstalled at the Chapelle des Jésuites in Cambrai, and Bernar Venet's "217.5° Arc x 28" (twenty-eight arcs) in the park next to the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Valenciennes. Between these cities, the program included thematic and solo exhibitions, installations in natural sites, and artist residencies. The festival was accompanied by a comprehensive catalog published by Somogy. The reviewer praised the organizers' generosity and ambition but noted the somewhat heterogeneous programming as an area for improvement, expressing hope for the event's continuation on a biennial basis.