Latitudes Contemporaines

Founded in 2003 in northern France, (now called the Hauts de France region), the Association Latitudes Contemporaines created a festival which focuses on new forms of live performance, in which the body is a primary component. Since its creation, the Festival has characterized itself as an open space for artistic approaches committed to aesthetic, sensitive and/or relational research with its audiences. Keywords which apply to the Latitudes Contemporaines Festival are experience, curiosity, trans-discipline, critical diversity and creativity, and it is considered an excellent place for cultural encounters in tune with the times, targeting a complex, dense multi‑bordered region.

The Festival offers an intense program spanning three weeks in June, including metropolitan Lille and Courtrai and Condette (Château d’Hardelot). It provides a shared space for artistic speech, open to multiple definitions but with no restrictions as to form, with a common interest in exchange, featuring all that has meaning and uniqueness in the reality of the 21st century. Latitudes Contemporaines is a living witness to our time, focusing on the most important questions including the definition of art, the body’s place in society, and sensitively examining the role of the individual as both spectator and creator, identity and the discourse which drives us.

Latitudes Contemporaines seeks to be a quality, inclusive scene festival, where everybody can experience an artistic coup de foudre. The festival is open to large audiences, on the territory of the Eurometropolis Lille–Kortrijk–Tournai and beyond. Through its international dimension, the festival wishes to encourage intercultural dialogue and collective reflection. Each year, the Programmation tackles a committed theme and develops mediation projects with different audiences. The festival is an open window for today’s social and political interrogations, a meeting space, and a festive moment!