1st Annual 2014 Ono’u Festival
A huge premiere in Tahiti with the 1st annual Ono’u International Festival of Graffiti Art that will take place from May 5-11. This promising event will merge modern and urban art with the colors and graphic inspirations of our islands.
This first graffiti art event of an international scope held in Tahiti from May 5-11 will unite around 50 international graffiti artists from Metropolitan France and all over the world (Germany, Australia, Chile, Columbia, Denmark, USA, Hungary, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Vietnam), as well as Polynesian artists. Among these international artists will be the living legends of graffiti invited specifically to create giant fresco murals of original art in downtown Papeete in front of audiences. For this week of celebration surrounding graphic street art, 1500m2/4900 sq ft of surface area painted by day and night will be installed on the iconic site To’ata, facing Papeete’s harbor and the island of Moorea.
The name of the Ono’u festival is inspired by the fusion of two Tahitian words, Ono (the action of joining two things together) and ‘u (rhymes with “do”; meaning colors), which expresses the action of joining one color to another, and by extension, the meeting of colors in Tahiti via graffiti art.
The honorary chairman of the festival will be the French-American actor Christophe Lambert, a grand connoisseur and collector of contemporary urban art. The organization committee will also welcome known figures in the contemporary art world and prestigious partners such as the leading American magazine of art and culture, Juxtapoz and Artcurial, the premiere French auction house, represented by Maître Arnaud Olivieux, auctioneer and expert in contemporary street art.
From May 5-9, the best artists will create the first round of fresco murals of original art downtown Papeete.
Moreover, within the framework of the festival, there will be an international graffiti art battle on May 10th and 11th on place To’ata. Attractive prizes will be awarded to the first three winners (10,000 USD, 5,000 USD, 2,500 USD) and Air Tahiti Nui will offer a special prize, Fenua Student, to one of the French Polynesian artists. Open to everyone between 18 and 38 years old who practices graffiti in the capacity of contemporary art, out of 24 competing finalists, five spots will go to Polynesian artists in the competition.
Parallel to the competition, numerous activities and spectacles themed around graffiti and street culture are on the program. These include a giant, interactive mural open to amateur artists and the public, introductory graffiti workshops for adolescents, booths selling graffiti objects, a digital space with graffiti projections, body painting workshops, DJ shows, and dance performances fusing hip-hop with traditional Tahitian dance.
For this week of celebration in May 2014 over graphic street art, there will be more than 3000m2 /9800 sq ft of surface area painted day and night in Papeete, turning the island of Tahiti into an important international meeting point for contemporary urban art in the Pacific region.
http://tahitifestivalgraffiti.com/
https://www.facebook.com/onou2014
Air Tahiti Nui, official sponsor and carrier of the 2014 ONO’U festival.
