On the occasion of the sixth edition of the Nice Biennial of Arts, the City has chosen to place the Ocean and the Arts at the heart of its cultural program. Entitled La mer autour de nous* (The Sea Around Us), this edition runs from May 7 to September 28, 2025, echoing a major event on the international agenda: the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference, which will be held in Nice in June 2025. This global event will bring together heads of state, institutions, and more than 20,000 experts around a historic agreement for the preservation of the Ocean.

Directed by Hélène Guenin (former director of MAMAC, current director of the Klein Foundation in Paris) and Jean-Jacques Aillagon (former Minister of Culture), this exceptional edition stands out thanks to an ambitious program and an unprecedented opening to public space: six monumental installations and sculptures will take over the city, inviting residents and visitors to an artistic journey along the sea.

Manifesto Studio supported this edition as project management assistant. The agency ensured operational coordination between the City's departments, the artists, galleries, and technical partners for the transport, production, installation, maintenance, and dismantling of the artworks in public spaces.

This edition brings together major artists from the national and international scene. The urban art trail spans emblematic sites across the city, from the Promenade des Anglais to the Promenade du Paillon. Each of the works presented offers a unique interpretation of our relationship with the ocean.

Invited artists include:

CHOI+SHINE ARCHITECTS
Born in South Korea and the UK – based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Joël Andrianomearisoa
Born in Antananarivo (Madagascar) in 1977 – lives in Antananarivo and Paris.

Nicolas Floc’h
Born in Rennes in 1970 – lives in Paris and Normandy.

Shilpa Gupta
Born in Born (India) in 1976

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*Rachel Carson, La Mer autour de nous, Domaine Sauvage, Wildproject Editions, 2019
Original edition The Sea Around Us, 1951 – With the kind permission of Wildproject and the Rachel Carson Estate