Roll on Sunday
Events throughout the city make every Sunday a celebration. In 2016, Rennes is launching a broad, multi-thematic programme for Sundays. All those who make things happen in the city and give it its very particular character are involved, much to the delight of locals and visitors alike. The Dimanche à Rennes label guarantees wonderful encounters with the most creative local and guest artists, and the busiest cultural centres and associations that shape life in the city.
The weekend at its best!
As a student city, Rennes is bustling on week days. But the Breton capital reveals other facets at the weekend that are just as inviting. Dimanche à Rennes provides the perfect opportunity for discovering this hidden side to the city. This label – which promises quality activities and shows in public places for all ages – brings together many events under the same banner. Some already exist, including museum and theatre line-ups, festivals, Heritage, Archaeology or Science days, the Tout Rennes court running and Rennes sur roulettes roller blading races, the Fête du Vélo cycling festival, car boot sales or neighbourhood parties, and some have been introduced for the occasion, particularly in partnership with Les Tombées de la Nuit street art festival.
Expect the unexpected
It is, in fact, the team from Les Tombées de la Nuit — the Rennes festival that has put on the most daring events and shows in all disciplines every weekend in July for the last 30 years — that runs Dimanche à Rennes. Claude Guinard, its artistic director, could not be clearer: “The idea of Dimanche à Rennes is not to add an additional event to the already long list but to promote initiatives coherently. Rennes has its own attractions to offer. I’m thinking of its silly, unexpected or wacky side…” Prepare to be surprised.
Parade, bestiary, ghost and inflatable castle
The programme lined up for 2016, the launch year for Dimanche à Rennes, has a lot to offer. It combines existing events — such as Les Champs Libres carte blanche, or free rein, given to an artist on the first Sunday of each month — with about fifteen new dates. The first one, on 27 March, takes the form of a colourful dance parade organised by the Marseilles-based company Artonïk. Mathieu Desailly’s utopian bestiary is planned for April, and Etienne Saglio, the “ghost” magician, together with the inflatable structures from Architects of Air will be on show in May. Not forgetting Les Tombées de la Nuit programme in July of course. Roll on Sundays!
A “ghost” for passing through walls
A master at haunting theatres with his ghosts, the poet and magician Étienne Saglio also passes through walls. He sets a date with people in Rennes at sunset once a month. Reinventing magic by mixing it with the circus, dance, graphic arts or the world of Tim Burton, Étienne Saglio is now taking over a public area to create a dreamlike moment of fiction. His flying creature, a wandering soul from another world, will dance for you through the air.
- 17 April, 15 May & 19 June 2016 from 9pm, Saint-Germain footbridge, on the river Vilaine
In May, it’s Sunday every day with the Architects of air
The unpredictable has been planned, you have been warned! The English artists who form the Architects of air — these gentle fanatics who have reinvented the bouncy castle — will set up their 55 x 35-metre structure in the Carré Duguesclin of the Thabor gardens on Sunday 8 and 15 May. And as it would be a shame not to make the most of them, they will also be present on Sunday 9 May, Sunday 10 May, Sunday 11 May, Sunday 12 May, Sunday 13 May and Sunday 14 May. Yes, they will be Sundays!
- Sunday 8 & 15 May. And also from 9 to 14 May
