Outdoor Readings at Montmajour Abbey

📍 Montmajour Abbey, Arles

▪️ iDzia installation: the sound

When Words Take Root in Stone

From June 9 to 12, 2026, the MO(n)TMAJOUR event featured four evenings dedicated to literature at Montmajour Abbey, combining readings and discussions in an exceptional historic setting. The iDzia team was pleased to provide technical support for this event and contribute to its organization.

Montmajour Abbey, a landmark on the outskirts of Arles

Founded in the 10th century by Benedictine monks, Montmajour Abbey is a jewel of Provençal Romanesque heritage, designated a historic monument and managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux. It is against this backdrop that the MO(n)TMAJOUR festival takes place: a venue where the natural acoustics of the stone and the light of summer evenings create an atmosphere conducive to storytelling.

The 2026 Edition: Four Evenings, Four Worlds

This year, MO(n)TMAJOUR presented an eclectic program centered around nightly events :

• On Tuesday, June 9, the festival opened with Valentine Goby, accompanied by guitarist Xavier Llamas, for a literary concert based on the book Le Palmier.

• On Wednesday, June 10, Marin Fouqué and Samira Negrouche performed a duet based on Pente raide.

• On Thursday, June 11, Carol Trébor brought the figure of Marc Bloch to life through her narrative Marc Bloch: Non au déni de l'Histoire.

• On Friday, June 12, the closing night took the form of a literary ball conceived by Fabrice Melquiot : an invitation to dance with words.

A Partnership Centered on Live Readings

Behind this event are two key institutions: the Association du Méjan and Actes Sud Publishing.

• Founded in 1984, the Association du Méjan has been shaping Arles’s cultural life for over forty years through a program that blends music, visual arts, lectures, and readings.

• Actes Sud, founded in Arles in 1978, is much more than a publishing house: it embodies an independent editorial vision that has transformed a provincial town into a major center of Francophone literature.

It is in this spirit that the two organizations have been jointly hosting these reading evenings, continuing their commitment to living literature since 2016.

Sound Design in the Service of Cultural Transmission

Providing sound reinforcement in a historic monument is a challenge that requires both precision and sensitivity. For these public readings, iDzia deployed a speaker system designed to project the speakers’ voices clearly and naturally, without altering the venue’s intimate atmosphere.

As we regularly provide services for cultural events in Provence, our team is well-versed in the unique constraints of heritage sites and outdoor spaces. It is this expertise that enables us to support projects like MO(n)TMAJOUR: events where every nuance counts and where nothing is lost, neither the breath nor the silence.