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Month: May 2022

14 top street artists coming to Monaco for UPAINT

by: Stephanie Horsman
17/05/2022

The yearly urban painting event once known as UPAW is back in Monaco with a new name and a clear mission to support the Prince Albert Foundation and promote street art around the world.

Held from 17th to 20th June, the 6th annual Urban Painting Around the World (UPAW) is back, but with a new name that better encompasses the spirit of the event.

Now called UPAINT, the event is bringing together 14 of the world’s best street artists to create beautiful pieces infused with an air of “coolness”.

The concept was originally the brainchild of Alberto Coleman, who in 2013 saw a live art performance by legendary urban artist Mr One Teas and his partners Los Gringos. This spurred the idea of putting together a multi-day live art show to relay to the world the what street art has evolved into, as well as giving art collectors and enthusiasts a chance to own a piece of this cutting edge type of art.

The event has gone from being entirely artist-focused to becoming more participatory.

“We can tell that it is YOU who brings life to the event. It is about You, the performer, the audience, the collector… this strong connection between painting and you, each one of you – whether the artist, the art lover or a mere spectator – we wanted this “U” and “Paint” to become our message, our name, our identity… U PAINT!” say the organisers on their website. “The UPAW team designed UPAINT to become the new face of each future Festival, to visually symbolise our mission of bringing people together around this incredible form of art and supporting just causes, all around the world. Anywhere we go, the circle will start from YOU, and it will end with PAINT, coming from the most amazing urban painters.”

The tagline supports this enthusiastic message. U Come, U See, U Paint gives an all-inclusive vibe and even will be hosting interactive activities such as the Junior Challenge, which will showcase local secondary school kids’ creativity, an expo of works from previous festivals, and a wall that will let members of the public express their inner street artist.

The last day of the event at 6:30pm will feature an auction by Artcurial where fans can purchase their favourite pieces, in-person and, new this year, remotely by using the online auction space invaluable.com.

This edition will support the Prince Albert II Foundation’s Human-Wildlife Initiative, protecting wildlife in rural and mountainous areas in the South of France.

The UPAINT Monaco 2022 Crew of Artists are Alice Pasquini, Aura Aerosole & OLDHAUS, Bond Truluv, Bordalo II, Buff Monster, Curtis Hylton, Dan Kitchener, Dario Vella, Futura, Mr One Teas, Pez, Spok Brillor, The London Police, and Tim Marsh.

 

 

Photo source: Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation

 

 

 

Venturi reignite their title charge in Berlin

by: Luke Entwistle
17/05/2022

Monégasque manufacturer ROKiT Venturi Racing bounced back from a difficult weekend on home soil to take consecutive podiums over two races in the German capital.

Key to their revival was Edoardo Mortara. The Swiss driver scored podiums in both races, including a victory from pole position on Saturday. Having expertly controlled the first-part of the race, Mortara was made to race in the second to ensure the lights-to-flag victory.

After taking his second boost, he fell behind Jean-Eric Vergne and Monaco winner Stoffel Vandoorne. Mortara made easy work of Vergne, before getting the job done on Vandoorne a couple of laps later to retake the lead.

Vergne, however, had a fan boost, and used it to good effect. The former F1 driver took a podium in Monaco a fortnight ago, but was looking for more in Germany. He launched an audacious move on Vandoorne and then on the leader Mortara. Although he made his first move stick, Vergne went too deep on the second and Mortara switched back on him to take the chequered flag. Vergne and Vandoorne rounded off the podium.

Lucas Di Grassi, meanwhile, had a difficult qualifying and then didn’t finish in the race, but the Brazilian’s fortunes turned-around on Sunday. He was still out-performed by team-mate Edoardo Mortara, who secured second-place having qualified on pole.

Nyck de Vries, who made a first corner lunge to jump from third to first, controlled the race from start to finish to secure his second win of the season. Di Grassi was pipped to the final podium position by Vandoorne late-on as the Belgian snuck down the inside of Di Grassi, despite the Venturi driver’s best attempts to shut the door.

It was a hugely successful weekend for the Monégasque team, who move up to second in the Formula E Championship. Mortara is also back in the hunt for the Drivers’ Championship, but still has work to do to catch Vandoorne, who has a 12-point lead.

“This weekend has been phenomenal and I’m extremely proud of the entire team for what we’ve been able to achieve,” Team principal Jérôme D’Ambrosio said. “62 points from two races is an incredible achievement and, in a championship as close and competitive as Formula E, is one that doesn’t happen very often at all.”

Formula E next heads to Jakarta at the start of June, and at the halfway mark Venturi are well and truly in contention for both the constructors and drivers’ championships.

 

Photo source: ROKiT Venturi Racing

 

 

 

Prestigious jumping competition set to return to Monaco

by: Stephanie Horsman
16/05/2022

Jumping International de Monte-Carlo returns just in time to kick off the summer season, with some of the world’s best horses and riders competing in this, the 10th stage of the prestigious Longines Global Champions Tour circuit.

Just weeks after the excitement of Grand Prix, another much-anticipated event returns to Monaco. The Jumping International de Monte-Carlo, being held on Port Hercule from 30th June to 2nd July, will host its 16thedition in an event that features riders and horses combining both beauty and skill.

As the 10th stage of the Longines Global Champions Tour 2022, the Monaco competition offers one of the most beautiful settings of the season at the foot of the Prince’s Palace with a backdrop of glamorous yachts.

Over three days, riders will exhibit talent and dexterity culminating in the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prize from the Prince of Monaco on the final day.

In 2021, Irishman Darragh Kenny who won the Prize with his horse, Idalville d’Esprit. He beat out the other worthy riders who are ranked the best in the world, including recent winner of the Leipzig World Cup final, Swissman Martin Fuchs, who is third ranked, the eighth ranked Olympic Team Champion from London, Scott Brash, Frenchman Julien Épaillard, who is number 12 in the world, Simon Delestre, Olivier Robert, winner of two stages of the circuit in 2021 in Madrid and Rome, sixth ranked Brazilian, Marlon Modolo Zanotelli and Belgians Jos Verlooy, Olivier Philippaerts and Pieter Devos.

The Jumping International de Monte-Carlo has been affiliated with the Longines Global Champions Tour since 2016. The Global Champions League, a team competition, will take place in two rounds, the first on Thursday 30th June and the second on Saturday 2nd July.

Events at the national, amateur and professional level will be scheduled, with the Longines Pro-Am Cup as part of the programme, which brings together a five-star rider and a young talent to compete as a team.

The show will feature an exhibitor’s village, where craftsman and traders from the equestrian world will be available to show the public what it is they do and ask questions on their given topics.

Lest audiences grow hungry, dining options facing the track with the port in the background will also be possible thanks to the reception areas in the business and VIP boxes. Meals are also available from the Comptoir with its view of both the track and the paddock.

 

Photo source: LGCT

 

 

 

 

Roca Team prevail in thriller at the Beaublanc

by: Luke Entwistle
16/05/2022

AS Monaco Basketball stole victory at the death against Limoges (88-89) on Saturday in a match that erratically oscillated between the two sides.

The experience of Leo Westermann and Mike James were pivotal in digging Sasa Obradovic’s side out of a hole that they had themselves dug in the third-quarter (31-10). Going into the final-quarter with an 11-point deficit, Monaco took the victory in the dying seconds in improbable circumstances to ensure second-place in the Betclic ELite heading into the final game week of the regular season.

Obradovic fielded a strong starting five and got off to a promising start. James (21 pts) was not only a reliable source of points, but also a source of great creativity as he laid off assists that only he could make.

Although the Roca Team were clearly in control of the match by half-time, Limoges were still in the game and had begun to cut down the deficit (36-46). A tight, tit-for-tat type game was replaced by an incredible fluctuating affair, where momentum switched in dramatic and extreme circumstances.

Limoges were aggressive without the ball and efficient with it as they not only cut the deficit, but constructed a healthy lead in the third-quarter. The Sports Palace of Beaublanc was a cauldron of noise as the home-side ripped through this formidable Monaco team with apparent ease.

Going into the final 10 minutes, Obradovic’s men had to dig deep to drag themselves back into the tie. Up stepped Westermann (16 pts) with some incredible finishing outside the key to eat into the home-side’s advantage.

Having fought back over the course of the quarter, James looked to have launched the killer blow from outside the key with only 30 seconds on the clock (84-88). But Limoges weren’t done there, and a dramatic turn of events game them the chance to steal the victory at the death.

At 87-88, Dwayne Bacon missed two free-throws, before Will Thomas committed a foul giving the home-side a chance to win it with just two seconds left. Horace Spencer converted his first free-throw to level the scores, but what happened next was quite unbelievable.

Spencer not only missed the second, but Hugo Invernizzi fouled Westermann to give the Roca Team two free-throws to win it. Westermann took the first, to give Monaco a one-point advantage, before missing the second. On the buzzer, Limoges launched a three-pointer from deep inside their own half, but it agonisingly struck the rim, before, from Monaco’s point of view, bouncing to safety.

Westermann, the match-winner said post-match, “It was an extraordinary end to the match, for Limoges and for us. We won and today it fell on our side.”

Monaco next travel to Cholet on Tuesday to wrap up the regular season ahead of the play-offs.

 

Photo source: AS Monaco Basketball

 

 

 

Jardin Exotique impresses at Genoa plant show

by: Stephanie Horsman
16/05/2022

Monaco’s Jardin Exotique has been awarded eight prizes at the Euroflora show in Genoa, including seven first place honours.

For more than 50 years, Euroflora has been front and centre with regards to European flower and plant shows, offering colour, beauty and some would even say works of art at two locations, the Parchi and Musei di Nervi, in the Italian city of Genoa.

This year’s offerings were as spectacular as ever, with participants from all over the world putting their best blooms forward. Since its inception in 1966, 6,770 exhibitors have taken part with more than 5.5 million visitors passing through the site.

As one of the premier gardens in Europe, Monaco’s own Jardin Exotique took part, presenting 26 plants and garnering a total of eight prizes, including seven first place awards.

The preparation work to move some of these plants was incredibly laborious, as many are not only rare, but also delicate. An entire month was spent getting the plants ready to be moved to their temporary spots, using made-to-measure packaging fashioned from wood and coconut fibre, the same materials used in doormats, which has been used for nearly a century.

On the other end, gardeners from the Jardin Exotique were on site for an entire week, carefully unpacking the plants and placing them in their six-metre space. Now that the show is over, the same process will be happening in reverse, with the plants expected to be escorted home by the end of the month.

 

Photo source: Mairie de Monaco

 

 

 

 

Monaco receives four new ambassadors

by: Stephanie Horsman
16/05/2022

The Principality welcomes four more new Ambassadors, this time coming from Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Ivory Coast and Ghana.

At a lunch organised on 10th May at the Hermitage Hotel, Minister for External Relations and Cooperation Isabelle Berro-Amadeï met the newest diplomatic arrivals to Monaco. Dato’ Mohd Zamruni Khalid, Menna Rawlings, Maurice Kouakou Bandaman and Anna Bossman had spent the morning presenting their Credence Letters to Prince Albert II before being escorted to the welcoming event.

Dato’ Mohd Zamruni Khalid joined the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1994 before having multiple experiences abroad, particularly in the Malaysian Embassies in Hanoi and Paris and in 2008, becoming Consul General of Malaysia in New York. He then held the position of Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2016 before being appointed Ambassador to Vietnam and more recently to Portugal.

Joining the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1989, Menna Rawlings was appointed Consul General in Washington DC in 2008, then Director General for Economic and Global Affairs at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office before her appointment to Monaco.

After having been a professor of literature, Maurice Kouakou Bandaman began his political career. Elected mayor of the town of Taabo, he was then deputy to the National Assembly of Côte d’Ivoire, then Minister of Culture and Francophonie from 2011 to 2021.

Anna Bossman worked extensively in the oil, gas and energy sectors, notably as legal counsel. She was, from 2011 to 2017, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Director of the African Development Bank. Ambassador of Ghana to France and Portugal, she is also Ambassador and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO and the OECD.

 

Photo by Manuel Vitali- Communication Department