Nice will host the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference

In June 2025, Nice will host the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference, a global event that will bring together heads of state, governments, over 20,000 researchers, scientists, marine sector entrepreneurs, associations, and institutions with the goal of signing a historic agreement for the protection of the Ocean.

The Mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, has presented the program for the 6th edition of the Biennale, which will focus on the Arts and the Ocean, in collaboration with co-curators Jean-Jacques Aillagon and Hélène Guenin.

Art and artists play a key role in the mission entrusted to the Summit in June, which is why the 2025 Biennale will be entirely dedicated to the sea. In response to the United Nations global summit, the goal is to inspire change and raise awareness among residents and visitors from around the world, encouraging them to understand that the future of the ocean depends on us.

From April to October 2025, the 6th edition of the Nice Biennale, titled “La mer autour de nous” (The Sea Around Us), will offer an ambitious program that explores various aspects of our relationship with the ocean, providing an artistic and cultural odyssey through time and collective imaginations.

Eleven exhibitions will be presented by the city’s museums:

• Des Hommes Préhistoriques à la plage, at the Musée de Préhistoire de Terra Amata
• Quand la Mer nous Parle, Etudier et Protéger le patrimoine sous-marin, at the Musée Archéologique de Nice Cimiez
• Nice, du rivage à la mer, at Villa Masséna, exploring the unique relationship between the city and the sea
• Au temps du grand maître Jean-Paul de Lascaris. Nice, Malte et la Méditerranée, at the Palais Lascaris
• La Quadrature du Cercle, Anne-Laure Wuillai’s exhibition, at the Palais Lascaris
• Matisse Méditerranée(s), at the Matisse Museum
• Mers et Mystères, Laurent Ballesta’s exhibition, at the Musée de la Photographie Charles Nègre
• Les particules, le conte humain d’une eau qui meurt, Manon Lanjouère’s exhibition, at the Galerie of the Musée de la Photographie Charles Nègre
• Les Reliques de l’Ecume, Racca Vamerisse’s exhibition, at the Musée des Beaux Arts Jules Chéret
• La Zone de minuit, installation by Ugo Schiavi, at 109 (with MAMAC hors les murs)
• Becoming Océan: a social conversation about the ocean, at Villa Arson (with TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary and the Tara Ocean Foundation)

An art trail through the city will also bring together works by six artists and key duos from the national and international art scene, offering a poetic approach to the ocean’s “imaginaries.”