Le Printemps de Septembre Explores Fragility in Toulouse

The 2002 edition of Le Printemps de Septembre, a photography festival in Toulouse, was curated by Marta Gili under the theme 'fragilités' (fragilities). The theme subtly referenced the tragic explosion of the AZF chemical factory in 2001, which had deeply affected the city. The festival was structured as a walking route along the Garonne River, integrating indoor and outdoor venues. It primarily featured solo exhibitions rather than a collective show, with four main non-permanent exhibition spaces hosting most works: Espace Écureuil, Les Jacobins, École des Beaux-Arts, and Espace Bazacle. Other iconic cultural venues hosted one or two participants, including Alexandra Sell's film at Goethe Institut, Charles Fréger's 'Légionnaires' at Château d'Eau, Canogar's fiber optics and Bernard Lallemand's androgynous mannequins at Musée de la Médecine, and Barbara Kruger's incitatory messages at Les Abattoirs. The curator grouped heterogeneous works around concepts such as 'complicity between individuals' (Bajevic, Bussanich, Maloberti, Stratil, Unglee, Sell, Fréger), 'links between dependencies and connections' at Les Jacobins (Op De Beeck, Ter Heijne, Leutenegger, Orta, Todd Hido), 'strategies of power' at École des Beaux-Arts (Simpson, Yoneda, Grasso, Kao Chung Li, Simone Decker), and 'public territories' at Espace Bazacle (Amiran, Delahaye, Schink, Pernot, Bernard-Reymond, Lidl/lorand, Zhu Jia). The festival ran from September 27 to October 13, 2002.