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The museum boat
The museum ship is the world’s first museum ship. Designed by Axel de Beaufort and Guillaume Verdier and built in Italy at the Perini Navi shipyard, it measures 47 meters with a mast height of 55 meters and can accommodate up to 3,000 people per day. For this second season, the ship serves as a true exhibition space: galleries, cabins, the bar, decks, and outdoor areas are taken over by artists, in an experience that brings together contemporary art and immersive installations.
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LE BATEAU-MUsée
A real feat of engineering and naval architecture, the Art Explora Festival's museum boat is the key tool for its tour of the Mediterranean. Designed by Axel de Beaufort and Guillaume Verdier, it was built in just three years by the Perini Navi shipyard in La Spezia, Italy, an exceptional timeframe given its complexity. Its imposing 55-meter mast, built in Lorient, France, by specialists in ocean racing boats, was manufactured in two parts, then assembled and baked in an oven before being transported by special convoy.
Its sleek, minimalist design is the result of collaboration between numerous experts, ranging from naval architects to composite engineers to NASA specialists, who contributed to the design of custom curved glazing.
Giuliano Sargentini
Jeremy Gonzales
This 47-meter-long catamaran has been designed to reconcile accessibility and respect for the environment. Its ultra-light aluminum hulls, inspired by automotive design, enable it to sail with sobriety, while its vast solar panels provide part of its electrical power. Its shallow draught, an essential design feature, enables it to dock easily in most ports, making it easy to accommodate the public.
The first museum ship ever conceived, it can welcome up to 2,000 visitors a day, offering them a unique immersive experience on board. Accompanied by a multi-disciplinary cultural festival on the quayside, it is a real eye-catcher, embodying a new way of bringing art to the Mediterranean.
the sail: a work of art in its own right
Internationally renowned contemporary artist Laure Prouvost has created a work for the museum boat's quayside sails, taking us into spaces of spatial and mental freedom.
Laure Prouvost © Martina Barbon
on board
Joan Jonas, Still from *Mermaid, Mirror Pool, Octopus*, 2019, Video, 37 min 11 sec, TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary collection
Max Hooper Schneider, *The Benthos, Part 1: Creatures of Twilight*, 2024, Video: 58 min 3 sec, Courtesy of the artist and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, New York
"Song of Water" Exhibition
On board, the exhibition *Song of Water* brings together 23 international artists—both contemporary and historical—on the museum ship. Paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs, videos, and sound works interact with paleontological artifacts and heritage pieces on loan from the National Museum of Natural History and the Le Havre Museum of Natural History, in an exhibition itinerary designed by Blanche de Lestrange, artistic director of the “ Art Explora Foundation.”