Battambang & S’Art Urban Art Festival 2025: when the street becomes a collective work

Until November 8, 2025, Battambang ignites with creativity with the official opening of the 4th edition of the S’Art Urban Art Festival, an event confirming the city as the beating heart of the contemporary Cambodian artistic scene.

A city transformed into a living museum

Resulting from a collaboration between Phare Ponleu Selpak, local authorities, and a network of international artists, the festival brings together this year more than 70 creators from 18 countries. The walls of Battambang become canvases of expression, raising awareness on issues of cultural dialogue, creativity, and urban memory.

One of the highlights is undoubtedly the first national mural contest, a unique initiative that will offer the city its first permanent open-air gallery. Through these works emerge new faces of the young Cambodian scene, dialoguing with graffiti masters from Japan, France, or Vietnam.

Meetings and exchanges at the heart of the program

Beyond visual performances, the festival offers a series of workshops and conferences exploring contemporary forms of urban expression: graffiti, breakdance, circus arts, giant puppet-making. These moments of sharing between artists and the public embody the philosophy of the S’Art Festival — an accessible, participative art deeply rooted in city life.

Every evening, rue 2 comes alive with “Art After Dark,” a festive event mixing concerts, dance battles, circus demonstrations, and a craft market with more than 60 local food and creator stalls. On November 7, urban dance enthusiasts will attend a large-scale Breaking Battle overseen by judges from Japan, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

Finally, the Grand Finale on November 8 promises a spectacular closing with the Art Parade, a procession of illuminated floats, giant puppets, and a three-hour concert marathon gathering Vanthan, hip-hop finalists, and musicians and artists from the Phare circus.

Art as a tool for transmission and identity

Beyond celebration, the S’Art Urban Art Festival asserts a deeper ambition: to make art a vector of cultural transmission and social cohesion. The workshops creating illuminated floats led by local students symbolize this approach: involving youth in the visual and symbolic shaping of their city.

Another highlight is the collaboration between the French troupe Les Grandes Personnes and Khmer puppeteers, offering spectators poetic and monumental performances, true dialogues between tradition and modernity.

Another innovation in this edition is the “Culture & Arts Immersive” tour, a two-hour guided visit retracing the political and cultural history of Battambang through a device mixing theater, music, and dance, hosted by Phare Ponleu Selpak students.

Battambang, laboratory of Cambodian artistic modernity

A city with an intact colonial heritage, Battambang is increasingly asserting itself each year as Cambodia’s alternative cultural capital. Unlike the tourist fervor of Siem Reap or the effervescence of Phnom Penh, the city has preserved an authenticity inspiring painters, musicians, and performers.

The S’Art Urban Art Festival fully participates in this dynamic: it does not just exhibit, it weaves links, questions the boundaries between art and daily life, between rural heritage and urban innovation.

S’Art Urban Art Festival 2025 — Battambang, from November 3 to 8, 2025When creativity meets community, the entire city becomes a shared work.

Information:www.sartfestival.com

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