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Despite Global Reach, Art-o-rama Is Keeping the Spotlight Squarely on Marseille

Marseille’s distinctive character sets the backdrop for the fair’s experimental energy. ©margotmontigny

In 2013, Marseille was appointed Capitale Européenne de la Culture—a program intended to strengthen European locales through the prism of the arts. Since then, the city has increasingly drawn interest from within (and even without) France. That interest reached an inflection point after COVID, as people in Paris were drawn to the idea of living adjacent to the sea after being agonizingly shut in during lockdown. This southward movement has spurred territorial tensions and accusations of gentrification, with an article this spring in French newspaper Libération fueling the controversy (“Les Parisiens qui débarquent à Marseille prennent leurs clics et une claque”) about whether this mass shift was denaturing the “caractère” of the city.

Whether Marseille is accepting of this draw from other regions or not, the city has been trying to gain a foothold in the arts. Although it is the second-largest city in France, Marseille’s arts scene does not match its scale. Art-o-rama, a contemporary art fair that recently closed its nineteenth edition, is trying to rally participation locally, although only three galleries from Marseille brought work to this edition (just one independently), which featured fourteen countries. The fair is an outgrowth of the loose invitational salon started by local gallerist Roger Pailhas in the 1990s; today, it’s a three-day fair held in late August that partners with regional players, such as Carré d’Art in Nîmes, Villa Carmignac in Porquerolles, Fondation Luma in Arles and Villa Noailles in Hyères. The press notes point out that eight of the nineteen galleries selected for this year’s Art Basel Statements section previously participated in Art-o-rama.

Jérôme Pantalacci, director of Art-o-rama, said the fair’s signature is that the scenography of the stands is left quite open and that a lot of new work is produced specifically for it. As for Marseille as a backdrop, he noted the acceleration of the arts scene within less than a decade. “There’s a form of effervescence,” he told Observer. The city is notoriously less polished than Paris: “Marseille is disorganized—it’s a bit sauvage. It’s something that people used to not like, but now it’s sought-after. There’s a kind of freedom. It’s not neat, so there are, of course, inconveniences in terms of organization; it’s sometimes chaotic. But that’s also its charm.” The makeup of the city is also different, with a huge community from North Africa. Moreover, there are no banlieues: “the quartiers populaires are in the city, not outside of it,” he said of the socio-economic realities. Asked if the city tends to be misperceived, he admitted that “it’s considered a city that has a lot of crime and is dirty. The contemporary art public and collectors will more easily go to Monaco. But the image of Marseille has changed due to the quality of life, with the sun and the sea and being close to Italy.”

Art-o-rama is hosted in La Friche, a sprawling former tobacco factory turned cultural center in the Belle de Mai neighborhood behind the train station. Upon arrival, one encounters a basketball court and a skate park; its vast floors contain artist studios, exhibition spaces and a large rooftop, linked by heavily graffitied stairwells (“no to war,” “lesbians everywhere”).

An art fair booth with a long white wall displaying seven small rectangular paintings spaced widely apart, with one painting hung close to the floor. — Giovanni’s Room, Los Angeles-PRESS-3553 ©margotmontigny

Giovanni’s Room, a Los Angeles gallery existent for over three years, exhibited this year for the first time. Gallerist Jeremy Maldonado, however, attends fairs as a visitor in New York, London, Paris and Miami “year-round, seasonally, as it’s crucial as an American business.” He was encouraged to join Art-o-rama by his friends at Parisian gallery Sans Titre, which also brought work to the fair. Maldonado was showing Los Angeles-born New York-based artist Jackie Klein (whose work ranged from $1,000-2,500). “It’s a wonderful atmosphere,” Maldonado told Observer. “Being in Europe and having those dialogues with European art patrons, art dealers, artists… Business comes second. And I feel like the business comes from that integrity. I’m not thinking of selling anything; I’m thinking of presenting a really effective body of work, and that alone should be the focus.” He wagered that he would participate again at Art-o-rama next year.

DS Galerie, a Parisian space in the Marais, was participating in its fourth edition. Gallery representative Ulysse Feuvrier said that Marseille is “an ecosystem that’s growing more and more,” yet the size of the fair was manageable. “It doesn’t bring an overdose in its format, which means there’s more time to see everything and to exchange… It’s a different way to start the year than Frieze Seoul.” The first year DS Galerie participated, they showed sculpture duo Xolo Cuintle, which, based on a meeting at the fair, led to their first solo show in France. This year, Antoine Conde’s drawings were the star, culled from a bank of images of erotica, porn and pop culture and priced from €900-1600.

An art fair booth with four large square red canvases featuring black spray-painted graffiti-like text and shapes, their reflections visible on the polished floor. — DITTRICH & SCHLECHTRIEM out of Berlin. ©margotmontigny

Galeria Sabot is a longstanding participant, capping their sixth edition, partly anchored by the “friendly organization.” The Romanian gallery has previously participated in Liste, Artissima, NADA Miami and Paris Internationale, but during the pandemic began “rethinking the ways we should survive,” founder Daria Dumitrescu told Observer. The gallery was showing three artists: young painter Daniel Moldoveanu, conceptual artist and critical abstractionist Pepo Salazar and drawings by Alexandra Zuckerman inspired by fabrics, with work ranging from €1,300-12,000. Dumitrescu’s experience was that the sales did not come immediately but that the gallery “built a collector base in France.” The gallery, she noted, “works with very young artists and we grow together—it’s more difficult. You have to create the need in the market, then things happen. Some are older now and more well-known, and things are a bit easier.”

Longtermhandstand from Budapest enjoyed its second outing at the fair. Last year, the gallery showed five artists and “got some really nice opportunities for our artists institutionally,” gallery representative Peter Bencze told Observer. “We also made some sales, but Art-o-rama is not Basel or Frieze—if you know this, you can enjoy it very much. We like vibrancy and also the philosophy of the fair. Nowadays, all artwork is really pushed by the market. Of course, you can sell here as well, but the main thing you realize is that it really helps your artists.” This year, the gallery mounted a themed booth inspired by the correspondence between Marcel Duchamp and Constantin Brâncuși, specifically focused on the latter’s U.S. career. The fourteen artists were selected in a curatorial nod to this reference, although the works were not created purposefully with this in mind. Among those shown were Hungarian artist Áron Lőrincz, French artist Julie Béna and Hungarian artist Omara Mara Oláh, whose work was the most expensive on the stand at €20,000.

MICKEY, a Chicago gallery, returned for the second time to Art-o-rama; gallerist Mickey Pomfrey had been advised to participate on the recommendation of fellow American gallery Good Weather (also at the fair). “What we liked about it was the vibe: there’s a lot of license that they give galleries to be able to exhibit in a different way than a lot of other fairs do. The crowd seemed very engaged. And of course, Marseille is just the most lovely place to be at this time of the year,” Pomfrey said. He further remarked, admiringly, that in Marseille, “the post-internet aesthetic never died like it did in America—they didn’t get hit by the same culture shift experience.” Last year, the stand was dedicated to gouache-on-cardboard paintings by Ryan Nault; this year, Michael Madrigali’s works—made from wood, fiberglass, foam, plastic and paint to resemble renderings—were inspired by a trip to a Mexican artifact museum and exhibited akin to a woman’s shoe display. Pieces were priced at €2,000.

Anchoring the local presence, Marseille gallery sissi club was at the art fair for the fourth time; the gallery was founded in 2019, and the founders initially attended Art-o-rama as visitors. “Art-o-rama is very important because an art scene is formed around it, an international one,” said Anne Vimeux, who spearheaded the gallery alongside Elise Poitevin. During their first year, the booth was dedicated to Inès di Folco Jemni, who they brought back for Liste in Basel this spring. This year, they featured two artists at different points in their careers: photos by Marion Ellena (€800-1,500) and a batik by Amalia Laurent, who just finished a year at Villa Medicis (€10,000). “There are few galleries in the Marseille ecosystem, so when we go elsewhere we represent the scene,” Vimeux said of participating internationally at Material in Mexico City, ARCO in Madrid and Paris Internationale. “Choosing a fair is choosing a scene—that’s how we think about it.”

With both founders being from Marseille, they’ve been happy to see the ongoing growth of curatorial projects and ateliers accompanying artist practices. “What we hope for is that the scene will become more structured around institutions. That’s how we’ll be able to anchor it,” Vimeux said. “We’ve experienced the off-peak moments, but a new generation is bringing a new dynamic.”

An art fair booth with brightly colored works including a painted folding screen with red and yellow tones, two small framed still life paintings, and a large framed image of pink blossoms on a blue background. — Les Filles du Calvaire out of Paris. ©margotmontigny

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Despite Global Reach, Art-o-rama Is Keeping the Spotlight Squarely on Marseille

Sarah Moroz

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September 6, 2025

Models of boats donated for answered prayers hang in basilica in Marseille, Olympic sailing host

MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Little model boats hang from the ceiling and maritime paintings adorn the walls of the basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde, which from the city’s highest hill overlooks the bay of Marseille, where sailing regattas are being held for the 2024 Olympics.

They’re votive offerings — some more than 200 years old — that residents of this Mediterranean port city continue to bring in gratitude to the Virgin Mary for everything from avoiding shipwrecks to successful rescues of migrants trying to make it to Europe on unseaworthy boats.

“Since its origins, Notre Dame de la Garde has been venerated by all seafarers,” said Jean-Michel Sanchez, the head conservator of the basilica’s museum. “Marseille was born of the sea.”

He estimates the basilica’s collection of ex-votos, as the offerings are called, at several thousands, including many in storage. And that’s after those predating the French Revolution were destroyed in the anticlerical violence that followed it.

Offerings shaped in reference to prayers answered – from babies to limbs, from vehicles to sports jerseys – are common across Catholic and Orthodox churches in Southern Europe especially, and in parts of the United States.

The nautical motifs that dominate Marseille’s landmark church are inextricably linked to the city’s 2,600-year-old seafaring history.

The first chapel was built in the 1200s on a barren rocky outcrop above the main port. In the 16th century, France’s king ordered the construction of a fort around the chapel to defend the growing harbor. Most of it still serves as the pedestal on which the massive basilica that replaced the chapel was built in the 1850s.

The name itself speaks to that connection between guarding the port and divine protection, Sanchez said. “Garde” means guard in French.

Inside the church, the models hanging from the ceiling include elegant sailboats, three-masted ships and utilitarian cargo vessels. About once a month someone brings a new one — sometimes with an explanation, sometimes anonymously, most handmade.

Among the most recent additions is a helicopter, donated a few years ago by civil defense forces. They were grateful for never having had an accident while conducting high-risk rescues of climbers in Marseille’s calanques, narrow inlets east of the Olympic marina, said Marie Aubert, who works with the basilica’s historical collections.

Hundreds of marble plaques, some just inscribed “merci a N D” — thank you to Our Lady — pack the walls. So many continue to be donated that church officials are now lining the terrace walls outside with them.

“The connection of the people of Marseille with the Bonne Mère is transmitted from generation to generation,” said the basilica’s rector, the Rev. Olivier Spinosa, using the popular name for the church, French for “good mother.”

One chapel is decorated with paintings of boats, including a 2011 work donated by a ship’s two captains. It gives thanks for their crews’ rescue of nearly two dozen North African migrants in the Mediterranean, Spinosa said.

The painting is inscribed with a prayer for all victims of trafficking and illegal immigration — one of Europe’s political flashpoints and a recurring source of tragedy, with estimates of nearly 30,000 migrants dying trying to cross the sea in the past decade.

Both were themes of Pope Francis’ visit to Marseille last fall and the prayer service he celebrated by the basilica.

In its apse, behind a statue of Mary that arrived, of course, by boat, is a 19th-century mosaic of a ship sailing between choppy and calm seas by a lighthouse. It’s an allegory of the church traversing the storms of history, with Mary providing the guiding light.

“The Bonne Mère is a mother who welcomes everyone,” Spinosa said. “Like the soul of Marseille.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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August 26, 2024

Marseille and the sea: A portrait of the millennia-old port city that is hosting Olympic sailing

MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Her black headscarf flying up, a teen jumped into the sparkling Mediterranean from a concrete pier at a city marina, then scrambled back to shore and onto a giant paddle board for a quick tour with a dozen excited comrades.

They were bused in for a swimming camp from a social services center in the mostly Muslim, North African-origin neighborhoods that ring Marseille, which is hosting the 2024 Olympicsailing competition at the opposite end of its spectacular, monument-fringed bay.

Children attend a swimming camp organized by the Grand Bleu Association which facilitates access to the sea for marginalized children in Marseille, France, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

FILE – People enjoy a coffee on a balcony in the Old Port of Marseille in southern France, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole, File)

The millennia-old port is a crossroads of cultures and faiths, where the sea is ever present but not equally accessible, and the beauty and cosmopolitan flair rub shoulders with enclaves of poverty and exclusion even more intimately than in the rest of France.

“There are kids who see the sea from home, but have never come,” said Mathias Sintes, a supervisor at the Corbière marina for the Grand Bleu Association, which has held camps for about 3,000 marginalized children — 50% of whom, he estimates, didn’t know how to swim. “The first goal is to teach them to save themselves.”

SINK OR SWIM

A child attends a swimming camp organized by the Grand Bleu Association which facilitates access to the sea for marginalized children in Marseille, France, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Brahim Timricht, who grew up in the northern neighborhoods known as the “quartiers nord,“ founded the association more than two decades ago to bring children to enjoy the sea that shimmers below their often-dilapidated high-rises on the rocky cliffs.

Then he realized that many weren’t learning basic swimming in school — a requirement for elementary students in France — and figured he could take advantage of the warm summer months to introduce them to that skill.

“Then the mothers told me they still wouldn’t go to the beach, because they didn’t know how to swim and were afraid, so we started programs with them,” Timricht said as dozens of children happily splashed under the hot July sun a few days before the opening of the Olympic sailing competition.

The lack of pools for school programs is a sign of “social and economic segregation,” said Jean Cugier, who teaches physical education in a high school in the quartiers nord and belongs to the national union of PE teachers.

Over the past academic year, he’s been taking 30 sixth-graders 45 minutes by bus to a pool where two lanes were reserved for them — an unsustainable model, he said, that he’s hoping to modify with pool-based summer camps.

Children attend a swimming camp organized by the Grand Bleu Association which facilitates access to the sea for marginalized children in Marseille, France, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

While the city has discussed using the Olympic marina after the Games — as Paris plans to do with an Olympic pool — the sea is too chilly to swim in during most of the school year. So the only concrete answer to the pool shortage is building more infrastructure, Cugier believes.

Another issue complicating swimming education, according to the Ministry of Education, has been the medical certificates that parents bring to excuse children from class. Officials say these are often fake and driven by the desire of some conservative Muslim families not to have boys and girls together at a pool.

Pools have become a flashpoint in France’s struggle over its unique approach to “laïcité” — loosely translated as “secularism” and strictly regulating the role of religion in the public space, including schools and even the Olympics.

But sports are also a way out of the margins. One of France’s soccer greats, Zinedine Zidane, who carried the Olympic torch in the Paris opening ceremony, was born in the most notorious of Marseille’s quartiers nord. And soccer remains the unifying passion of Marseille’s residents, who routinely flock to cheer home team Olympique de Marseille at the Vélodrome stadium — one of the venues for Olympic soccer matches.

For the boys and girls at the Corbière marina, the overall seaside experience has been a chance to meet new people from outside their neighborhood.

“They don’t want to leave,” said one of the group leaders, Sephora Saïd, on the camp’s last day. She had worn a hijab during the outing, including while paddle-boarding.

SEA, SEA EVERYWHERE

FILE – Sunbathers enjoy the sunset at the entrance to Marseille’s Old Port in southern France, Tuesday, May 26, 2020 as France gradually lifts its COVID-19 lockdown. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole, File)

The sea as an entry and a meeting point is engrained in the very DNA of Marseille. Founded by Greek colonists 2,600 years ago as a trading post, it is France’s oldest city, and its second largest.

“Before it’s a city, Marseille is a port,” said Fabrice Denise, director of the Museum of Marseille History, built next to the Greek archeological site in what is still the city’s center. “If you want to understand all that’s extraordinary about it, including the realities of cosmopolitanism, you need to understand its multi-century history as a port.”

Today’s port, the Mediterranean’s third largest in cargo tonnage, includes everything from refineries to a busy cruise ship area and extends along nearly 40 kilometers (25 miles). But it all started in a small inlet that is today’s top tourist attraction, the Vieux Port.

Large boats built of wood and caulked with cotton and fiber carried transforming cargos like grapevines, Denise said. The trade expanded north along the Rhone River in what is now one of France’s most celebrated wine-producing regions.

At the end of the harbor, a small boatyard still restores a handful of boats built in the old way. They were used for fishing until a few decades ago but now are too expensive to maintain for utilitarian purposes.

FILE – Fireworks go off as the Belem, the three-masted sailing ship bringing the Olympic flame from Greece, enters the Old Port in Marseille, southern France, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File)

FILE – Women sit on a bench in Marseille, southern France, Friday, June 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole, File)

Not far away are the forts that King Louis XIV added in the 17th century to protect the port and the military arsenal he established. The small city became a metropolis.

Religious diversity arrived by sea too — Christians in reality and in myth, one of the most popular ones being that Mary Magdalen herself sailed to Marseille, which is commemorated with a large boat procession each year.

Centuries later, and increasingly since decolonization, Muslims from North Africa flocked to Marseille’s shores. Of the city’s 870,000 residents, some 300,000 trace their roots to Algeria alone.

In the narrow streets uphill from the Vieux Port, Arabic rings from market stalls, cafés and couscous restaurants — the second-most spoken language in the city. Marseille’s French itself is unique, incorporating not only a distinctive accent but words from the countryside’s Provençal language, said Médéric Gasquet-Cyrus, a linguist and professor at the University of Aix-Marseille. He is co-author of the French-language book “Marseille for Dummies.”

On its cover, as on the background of most photos including those of the Olympic regattas, stands the hilltop black-and-white-striped 19th century basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde, topped by a nearly 10-meter (33-foot) gold-covered statue of the Virgin Mary looking out to sea. It’s known as “la Bonne Mère” — the good mother.

“The Bonne Mère, it’s almost a pagan symbol,” quipped Gasquet-Cyrus, who says he is an atheist but still goes to visit. “She’s the protector of the city.”

The church welcomes around 2.5 million visitors a year, many for its daily Masses and more on its wide terrace. Its 360-degree views encompass the new and old ports, the villa-studded neighborhoods where the Olympic marina is nestled as well as the blocky towers of the quartiers nord.

“You can see Marseille, and the sea, and the horizon, all under her benevolent gaze,” said the basilica’s rector, the Rev. Olivier Spinosa. “It’s easier to see beauty from up high, and it invites us to work on beautiful things when we’re down below.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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August 26, 2024

Team USA’s Sam Watson sets world record in speed climbing, initiates ‘Selfie Olympics’

New Olympic sports are making their debut at the Paris Games, with Team USA climber Sam Watson setting a new world record in speed climbing and initiating a unique “Selfie Olympics.”Watson said, “I was wondering if I could get a person from all of these different delegations to take a selfie with me.”His idea led him to his own, “Selfie Olympics.” Watson admitted, “I don’t think I’ll get to all 203 because there are some delegations that have already left.”There are 204 nations represented in Paris and Watson is quite proud of one pic he secured.Watson explained, “A member from Tuvalu, which is a tiny island nation. I looked at where they were entered and they were only surfing and sailing. Surfing is Tahiti and sailing is Marseille, so there’s almost no one in Paris.”Watson understands the athletes he’s taking selfies with have different cultural and political views. Watson said, “All of these countries are still human, they’re still Olympians, they’re still competitors, and we still share that, so it is really special to get all this.”Watson, just 18 years old, set a new world record in a qualifying round earlier this week.He’ll compete in the speed climbing medal event on Thursday. The climbing events at the Paris Olympics will conclude on Saturday. When asked about the difference between speed climbing and traditional climbing, climbing coaches likened it to the difference between the 100-meter sprint and the marathon in track and field.

PARIS, IDF —

New Olympic sports are making their debut at the Paris Games, with Team USA climber Sam Watson setting a new world record in speed climbing and initiating a unique “Selfie Olympics.”

Watson said, “I was wondering if I could get a person from all of these different delegations to take a selfie with me.”

His idea led him to his own, “Selfie Olympics.”

Watson admitted, “I don’t think I’ll get to all 203 because there are some delegations that have already left.”

There are 204 nations represented in Paris and Watson is quite proud of one pic he secured.

Watson explained, “A member from Tuvalu, which is a tiny island nation. I looked at where they were entered and they were only surfing and sailing. Surfing is Tahiti and sailing is Marseille, so there’s almost no one in Paris.”

Watson understands the athletes he’s taking selfies with have different cultural and political views.

Watson said, “All of these countries are still human, they’re still Olympians, they’re still competitors, and we still share that, so it is really special to get all this.”

Watson, just 18 years old, set a new world record in a qualifying round earlier this week.

He’ll compete in the speed climbing medal event on Thursday. The climbing events at the Paris Olympics will conclude on Saturday.

When asked about the difference between speed climbing and traditional climbing, climbing coaches likened it to the difference between the 100-meter sprint and the marathon in track and field.

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August 7, 2024

NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

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Video of a post office on fire in the Philippines misrepresented as library in France during riots

CLAIM: A video shows a major library in France burning during riots sparked by the police killing of a 17-year-old.

Oregon Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek has appointed a new secretary of state. LaVonne Griffin-Valade will take over from Shemia Fagan, who resigned in May after coming under fire for her consultancy work for a marijuana business.

FILE - Joel Aslin accepts groceries for his neighbor, Karen Colby, from a volunteer with the nonprofit Store to Door on July 22, 2021, in Portland, Ore. Colby spent 10 days in the hospital with complications from heat stroke after nearly dying during a record-smashing heat wave that hit the Pacific Northwest with temperatures of up to 116 F. Oregon’s most populous county is suing more than a dozen large fossil fuel companies Thursday, June 22, 2023, to recover costs related to extreme weather events linked to climate change. The lawsuit filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court alleges the combined carbon pollution the companies emitted was a substantial factor in causing and exacerbating a 2021 heat dome, which killed 69 people in the county. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus, File)

Oregon’s most populous county is suing more than a dozen fossil fuel companies to recover costs related to extreme weather events.

FILE - An attendee holds up a sign during a rally calling for an end to the Senate Republican walkout at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem, Ore., on May 11, 2023. Oregon lawmakers have been rushing to approve hundreds of bills and a budget for the next two years before the legislative session ends on Sunday, June 25, 2023. The bills were stalled by the six-week Republican walkout that ended last week. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman, File)

Oregon lawmakers are rushing to approve hundreds of bills and a budget for the next two years before the legislative session ends on Sunday.

FILE - The Oregon state Senate convenes for the first day of the legislative session on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, at the state Capitol in Salem, Ore. Oregon lawmakers have passed amended versions of the two bills that were at the center of a six-week Republican walkout. One of the bills protects access to abortion and gender-affirming care. The other punishes the manufacturing and sale of untraceable firearms, commonly referred to as ghost guns. (AP Photo/Claire Rush, File)

Oregon lawmakers have passed amended versions of the two bills that were at the center of a six-week Republican walkout.

THE FACTS: While the facade of a library in Marseille was reportedly vandalized during the unrest, the widely shared video shows the fiery destruction of a historic post office in the Philippines in May. Social media users are nevertheless claiming the video shows a storied library in France set ablaze by rioters during the European nation’s unrest. The dramatic aerial footage shows a massive structure with Roman-style columns along the water fully engulfed in flames. “France’s national library being culturally enriched,” wrote one user on Instagram who shared the video. “How do you feel about the arson attack on the Bibliothèque nationale de France?” “Now this is tragic. I’m truly shocked and can’t comprehend this. The biggest library in France (in Marseille) burnt down by rioters,” wrote a Twitter user who also shared the video. The footage actually shows a massive fire in the Philippines that tore through the Central Post Office in the capital city of Manila on May 22. News reports at the time, including from The Associated Press, feature similar video clips of the classically-designed building with flames and dark billowy smoke pouring out. Spokespersons for Manila’s Public Information Office, which provided the aerial footage to the AP, confirmed the video being widely shared showed the Central Post Office burning in May. Elodie Vincent, a spokesperson for France’s National Library, also confirmed in an email that the Parisian library was unharmed during the unrest. What’s more, the exteriors and locations of the two French libraries referenced in social media posts are vastly different from that of the five-story Manila post office, which sits along the banks of the Pasig River. France’s National Library is a lower slung building built in the Beaux Arts style that’s located a few blocks away from the Seine, near the Jardin du Palais Royal. The Alcazar Library is similarly located blocks away from the waterfront, in Marseille’s central commercial district. The library reopened Tuesday after its front windows were shattered and entry vandalized by rioters, according to local news reports.

— Associated Press writer Philip Marcelo in New York contributed this report.

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A video of an Australian parking lot fire is being misrepresented as a protest in Marseille

CLAIM: A video shows a parking lot of cars that was set on fire by protesters in Marseille, France.

THE FACTS: The video shows a fire at an auction yard in Perth, Australia, in April. The dramatic footage showing dozens of cars going up in flames spread on social media this week, following violent unrest in France after the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old in suburban Paris. The video shows a large parking lot with vehicles stacked three levels high on racks. One section of the yard is completely engulfed in flames, and loud pops can be heard as sparks erupt from cars on the top level. “Marseille: Rioters set fire to a parking lot filled with brand new vehicles,” read one tweet shared hundreds of times. While there is real footage of cars set ablaze during the recent protests, this video was taken several months earlier and on the other side of the planet. A reverse image search shows the footage matches a clip posted to Twitter on April 28 of a fire at a lot owned by Pickles, an Australian auction house. The Twitter user, Jacey Knowles, confirmed to The Associated Press that she took the video near her home in Bibra Lake, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Pickles said in a statement at the time that a fire had broken out that day at a storage yard housing salvage vehicles in Bibra Lake. Kelly Drew, a spokesperson for Pickles, said in an email Monday that the video circulating on social media this week looks like the same fire, pointing to an article in The West Australian newspaper that showed similar footage from a different angle. The footage also matches imagery on Google Maps of the lot. One other clue gives away the video’s real location: People can be heard speaking in Australian accents in the background.

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Oregon does not have more registered voters than residents, despite claims

CLAIM: Oregon has more registered voters than state residents.

THE FACTS: The population of Oregon is more than 4 million, according to the most recent U.S. Census, while state election records show approximately 3.2 million people are eligible to vote in the state and approximately 2.99 million are actually registered. Social media users falsely claimed the state now has more registered voters than people because of HB 2691, a 2021 law that requires county officials to mail a notice to voters 75 days prior to an election if their registration has been deemed inactive. It also prohibits voters from being classified as inactive for not voting or updating their voter registration. “Thanks to the Democrat Super Majority in 2021, Oregon has more registered and active voters than the entire population of the state,” wrote one Instagram user, sharing a clip that claims voter registration data “by county” shows more than 4.2 million “active voters.” “This indicates a major problem and possibility that we may have hundreds of thousands of phantom voters.” But the population of Oregon remains sizably larger than the total number of people eligible to vote in the state and the number of those actually registered is smaller than both figures, according to federal census and state voter records. During last November’s election, the northwestern state had a total population of 4,266,560, of which 3,190,451 were eligible to vote, according to a report at the time from the Oregon Secretary of State’s office, which oversees elections. Of those eligible, 2,985,820 had actually registered to vote. The number of registered voters has inched up slightly since to 2,987,447, according to the most recent county-by-county breakdown of voter registration data released by the office last month. But that’s still nowhere close to the 4,237,256 counted in the 2020 Census, let alone the more recent population estimates cited in the state’s post-election report. Ben Morris, a spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office, also rejected the notion floated in one of the social media posts that county level data contradicts the state figures and shows evidence of so-called “phantom voters.” “This is false. The state keeps the voter registration list and there is no ‘county’ data that isn’t represented in the numbers I gave you earlier,” he wrote, referencing the June voter registration report. Brian Van Bergen, elections and recording manager for Marion County, which includes the state capital of Salem, confirmed Oregon’s voter registration system is a single database used by all 36 counties in the state. “The thought that county-level data is somehow different than statewide data is completely false,” he wrote in an email. “It is all the same data.” Officials also disputed the notion that HB 2681 prohibited elections officials from updating voter rolls and automatically turned all inactive voter registrations into active voter registrations. “Oregon still updates voter registration lists continuously to remove deceased people, people who move and people who become ineligible for other reasons,” wrote Morris.

— Philip Marcelo

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Fabricated image tweeted by a Russian embassy shows a made-up Politico article about Ukraine

CLAIM: A screenshot shows a Politico article about the war in Ukraine titled, “20 000 000 lives for the sake of freedom,” which reported that Ukraine will need to sacrifice tens of millions of lives to win its war against Russia.

THE FACTS: The screenshot of the article is fabricated and the news outlet has never published such a story, a spokesperson for Politico confirmed to The Associated Press. Russia’s embassy in South Africa tweeted the falsified image this week, suggesting that the political news outlet had published the article to its website. “#Ukraine will need 20 000 000 lives to ‘return’ territories – Politico,” reads the post. “As they have already said, #NATO is pushing a war to be fought until the last Ukrainian.” The fabricated image mimics how an article would look if viewed on Politico’s website from a mobile device. It includes the outlet’s logo and a tag above the headline that reads, “Research,” but the text is also full of grammar and punctuation errors. For example, the headline, which reads, “20 000 000 lives for the sake of freedom,” is missing two commas. “And this, as turned out is almost the entire working-age population,” reads a subheadline, which leaves out the word “it,” among other mistakes. Searches on Politico’s website show no record of such an article and Melissa Cooke, a spokesperson for the outlet, confirmed in an email to the AP that “this article was not published by POLITICO.” The Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of South Africa did not immediately respond to a request for comment about its tweet.

— Associated Press writer Melissa Goldin in New York contributed this report.