Inaugural International Performance Art Festival in Martinique

The first edition of the Festival International d’Art Performance, organized by Annabel Guérédrat and Henri Tauliaut, took place at the Impératrice hotel in Fort-de-France, with additional performances at the Schœlcher Library, a beach, and the streets. A highlight was an outdoor session at 'la Savane des Pétrifications,' a secluded beach where artists improvised in nature. The festival aimed to create a Caribbean-focused event bridging North and Latin America, inviting artists from the US, Haiti, Cuba, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Dominica, Guadeloupe, and Martinique. Performances explored plural identities—Afro, Afro-punk, Afro-camp, queer—and themes of colonization, ecology, aging, and illness. Notable works included Nyugen Smith's dance with a multicolored flag, Alejandro Chellet's wandering hybrid figure, Erik Hokanson's beach cleaning, Guédérat's burial in algae, and Ayana Evans's 'Sparkles' washing with Palmolive. Other artists: Tsedaye Makonnen, Gwladys Gambie, Ian Deleón, Tif Robinette (Agrofemme), Nancy Gewölb, Ange Bonello, Hector Canonge, Jill McDermid, Audrey Phibel. A roundtable deepened discussion on performance art for the local audience.