By becoming European Capital of Culture in 2004 (Lille 2004), Lille and its region have profoundly changed the image of the city and its entire region. From this exceptional year, we still have powerful images such as the Opening Party and its 750,000 visitors, the Parallel Worlds or the countless metamorphoses, but also lasting traces that are our Maisons Folie.
With tremendous creative energy and extraordinary popular enthusiasm, we wanted to continue this adventure through lille3000 to further explore the cultures and issues of our world, while projecting ourselves towards contemporary creation, innovation and the future.
From 2006, with Bombaysers de Lille until 2022 with Utopia, the major thematic editions, brought together thousands of visitors and presented hundreds of works, artists… lille3000 has also seized the opportunity to present major contemporary art exhibitions in Lille in an exceptional location: the Tripostal.
A dynamic of invitations to major Collections started in 2007 with the Pinault Collection (Passage du Temps), in 2009 with the Saatchi Gallery (La Route de la Soie), then in 2011 with the Center National des Arts Plastiques (Collector), in 2013 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the career of gallerist Emmanuel Perrotin (Happy Birthday, Galerie Perrotin 25 ans ), in 2014 around 18 Flemish private collectors (Passions Secrètes, Flemish Private Collections) in 2017 with the 40th anniversary of the Centre Pompidou (Performance!), in 2021 with the Design Museum Gent (Colors, etc.) and recently in 2023 with the Vanhaerents Art Collection (Au bout de mes rêves).
These exhibitions bring together the biggest names on the international scene with emerging creation, also tell the stories of the invited collectors and confront us with the questions and revolts that Man and the world inspire in them.
Another recurring theme of lille3000, the multiple visions of the future and the avant-garde. At the heart of this theme, the exhibition Futurotextiles has been traveling the world since 2006, in multiple forms that testify to the richness of new textiles.
In 2015, a new Futurotextiles module, Textifood, was launched, focusing on micro-organisms from the food industry as textile materials, at the Milan Universal Exhibition.
In 2021, a fifth edition entitled Textidream / Futurotextiles 5 was presented at the Dubai World Expo on the esplanade of the French Pavilion.
Finally, in 2024, lille3000 presented Textimoov! at the Tripostal, the 6th edition of this saga, labelled as Cultural Olympiad for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
lille3000 pursues and deepens this ever more unifying dynamism with new events every year at the Gare Saint Sauveur, from spring to autumn, with exhibitions, installations, festive and convivial events for the whole family, inviting numerous associations from the Lille metropolitan area.
In 2025, the journey continues with Fiesta, the 7th themed edition of lille3000, capable of being both a vector of attractivity of Lille, the Lille European Metropolis and the Hauts-de-France region.
Around the unifying theme of Party, this new edition will be an opportunity to propose new ways of to escape the individualization of society. Parades, parties, banquets, balls and even carnivals. Art in the city, exhibitions, shows, theater, dance, concerts, new events, participatory projects, literary encounters, debates and cinema, will make up a highly varied program, enabling every visitor, young and old, to share emotions, be a spectator or take an active part in the projects.
lille3000, the voyage goes on…
