In Where It’s At, Phin Jennings walks you down the world’s less-trodden cultural paths, consulting with some of the most plugged-in locals to guide you through a world of beautiful, moving, delicious and enriching experiences. Eating, drinking, gallery-hopping, shopping, swimming, staring at the sky: nothing is off the table as he explores the outer reaches of our cultural world to find out where it’s really at.
Is Marseille cooler than Berlin? It’s definitely sexier — this summer, my Instagram feed has been crowded with images of beautiful people languishing on its rocky beaches and drinking rare aperitifs in its cafes. But cooler? That’s a radical proposition. As I have been sniffing out tips from locals for things to do during ART-O-RAMA — the art fair taking place at the end of September in the city — I have felt the answer slowly revealing itself to me. The fair itself left my emails and DM’s on read; many of the best spots in the city are word-of-mouth only, unfindable on Google; and at the centre of its cultural scene is a man called Jean Denim… It’s looking like a yes.
But there’s no need to be intimidated. With the help of a cadre of artists, gallerists and other locals who know their bouillabaisse from their bourride, I have put together a weekend itinerary of art, food, drinks and experiences that will bring you into the bosom of Cool Marseille (C.M.). C’est parti!
Thursday, 29th August
There are plenty of Airbnb’s in the city but, amidst a rental crisis that’s pushing locals out, staying in one feels a bit… Uncool. One alternative is to stay in Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse, a beautiful block in the south of the city that houses a few surprisingly affordable hotel rooms. The interiors have an interesting 90’s youth club vibe, which I don’t hate. Another option for full artistic immersion is the nearby Pavillon Southway, which calls itself a “comprehensive domestic project” (I call it a house) but makes up for its verbosity with beautiful Charleston-esque wall paintings and hosts a programme of resident artists, musicians and writers as well as rooms for rent.
If you want to be closer to the action, La Traverse is a small guesthouse with an adjoining gallery run by curator Catherine Bastide. Here, you just have to trot downstairs to start your weekend with the opening of their show ‘Dryads of Cosquer’. Curated by members of the collective Roots to Routes, it looks too brainy for me to go into here but definitely worth a visit. From here, walk through town to 16 Cours Joseph Thierry, where project space SISSI club will be inaugurating their new gallery with a solo exhibition by Inès Di Folco Jemni. In keeping with my mental image of C.M., there is scant information about the show online, but it’s certainly happening at that address from 6–9pm so why not get amongst it and see for yourself?
Local sculptor and illustrator Leon Bloch recommends Le Colisée for dinner. It’s an unassuming spot which looks like an Italian Pizza restaurant at first glance, but it’s run by an Armenian guy who, if you ask him for some of his home cuisine, will pull things beyond your wildest dreams from that wood oven.
Friday, 30th August
It’s a bit of a schlep from any of my housing recommendations, but a friend tells me it’s imperative that you start each day with a pompe (a sort of olive oil brioche) from Petrin Couchette, so that’s today’s first stop. You can eat it on the move, as you cross town to reach la Friche, where ART-O-RAMA is taking place. The fair is small enough that you’ll be able to see everything before fairtigue kicks in, but if your attention span is particularly short then I’d recommend making a beeline for Xxijra Hii and Studio/Chapple’s shared booth and Chicago gallery M. LeBlanc. La Friche itself is a wonderland containing, among other things, a skatepark, garden, printing studio, multiple music venues and galleries, which you can take an afternoon to explore before stopping for a drink at the rooftop bar.
It’s a half-hour walk back into town, where dinner will be waiting for you at Chez Yassine, whose proprietor moved to Marseille from Tunis in the late 1990s. One friend recommends the brik au thon (a fried filo parcel filled with tuna and an egg yolk); another the merguez. Whatever you get, wash it down quickly with some citronnade, your day isn’t over yet.
SYSTEMA, a sort of alternative art fair, also opens today at the Palais Carli. Located in a beautifully decrepit building that was once a music school, it hosts artistic projects supported by 13 small galleries and organisations. It won’t be the kind of booth-city that other art fairs are and, with only one gallery I have heard of participating, should deliver a solid dose of C.M.. Its organisers — a group of local heads, some of whom you will meet later — are hosting an afterparty with a lineup including performances from the enigmatic deconstructed-indie-sleaze duo NEW YORK and Croatian trance tricksters low income $quad.
Saturday, 31st August
Yesterday was a big day, and nobody will judge you if you want to take it easy this morning. But, to me, a trip to the North of Marseille for a visit to Le Musée de la Moto, the motorcycle museum sounds like a perfect hangover cure. It’s also far enough from the city centre to be near a big Carrefour, a visit to which no French holiday is complete without.
Next, head to Féria, the project space co-run by Jean Denim himself — local linchpin and dot-connector — which will be presenting a multimedia installation by Antoine Ronin. While you’re there, you can also chat with Denim about the motorcycle museum, his favourite left field collection in the city. Nearby, a new space, Atelier Villeneuve, is opening with a solo exhibition by Ryder Morley-Weale, who is one of the co-founders of SYSTEMA (as Denim tells me, “it’s all 🖇️”). True to C.M. form, there is little online to give me an idea of what to expect from this show, but I’m sure it will be worth the visit.
After lunch at Bouillabaisse TURFU, where you might encounter Ema, who runs Xxijra Hii, celebrating her birthday by eating her body weight in the Marseillais fish stew, it’s time for an afternoon of reading. Morley-Weale, whose work you saw earlier today, runs Giselle’s Books with Lucas Jacques-Witz, another co-founder of SYSTEMA. It’s a mixed-use space, including an incredible archive of publications that you can book an appointment to flick through. If you leave feeling unsatiated, Jacques-Witz has plenty of other library recommendations around town: depending on your temperament on the day, you could visit the archives at the Center for Research on Anarchism, Mémoire des Sexualités or the poetry library in the Vieille Charité.
At this point in the weekend, the network of connections and level of C.M. secrecy starts to run even deeper, so read carefully. Along with curator Myriam Mokdes and a few others from SYSTEMA, Jacques-Witz and Morley-Weale from Giselle’s also run LOTO (that’s ‘liquor over tiny opinions’), a semi-secret bar, to support their other activities. I can’t tell you the exact address, but I’m sure someone at Giselle’s will tip you off if you ask nicely. If you’re looking for somewhere to dance, your best bet is to take a seat at the bar and try to figure out what everyone else’s plans are. Anaïs Auger-Mathurin, a Paris-based curator who regularly visits Marseille, tells me that the city’s nightlife events are hard to track remotely as they tend to happen spontaneously. She recommends a promoter called Twerkistan, whose nights I can only hope are as utopian as they sound. Otherwise, Studio/Chapple’s eponymous Louis is hoping to find a DIY rave at La Déviation.
Sunday, 1st September
You wake up late. Still bleary eyed, you look in the mirror to find that something important has changed. Yes, you look a little ropey, but it’s nothing that a jade roller session won’t fix. Beyond that, you’re emanating a new aura. Last night, briefly enmeshed in the city’s tangle of friends-of-friends, collaborators-of-collaborators, unmarked doors and secret goings on, you became something new. You became Marseille Cool. You’re now in the fold, and today is the first day of the rest of your life.
There’s nothing on today’s agenda apart from a well-earned afternoon spent floating in the sea. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can get the 22 bus to Les Baumettes and hike an hour to reach the turquoise waters of the Calanque de Sormiou. But you might be happier descending the rocky steps to the much closer Plage de Maldormé. On your way, you can buy a bottle at Mademoiselle Wine. And that’s it; sip, swim and take stock of your newfound identity. Marseille is cool — perhaps even cooler than Berlin. And you fit right in here.
