Contemporary Art Lecture Series – 1: Contemporary Art in Progress in Paris

Text and images by Chen Chi-Hsiang

"Contemporary Art Lecture Series - 1"

Time: Friday, Dec 2, 6:30-8:30 pm

Speaker: Chen Chi-Hsiang

Topic: Contemporary Art in Progress in Paris.

This session introduces France’s cultural system: from the Department of Visual Arts to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of Culture international strategy, local contemporary art development, spaces, and regional contemporary art collections. Overall, France’s cultural promotion is built on a national stance, with resources coming from the national cultural budget and another source from arts sponsorship activities by French multinational and international corporations and foundations. The Maison des Artistes handles professional certification as well as health insurance and retirement mechanisms.

Paris and International: Paris continues to play the role of an international capital of contemporary art, a place where global contemporary artists compete for prominence, maintaining its indispensable contemporary art network and status. Paris maintains its peak visibility in international contemporary art exhibitions through state operations, displayed via exhibition networks at major museums such as the Centre Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne (Centre Georges Pompidou), Palais de Tokyo, Grand Palais, Palace of Versailles, or the Louvre. These galleries activate the energy and awareness of French contemporary art and globalization. Although France is not a model for private collecting, the state uses its abundant resources to coordinate and operate the vitality of contemporary art, creating influence—for example, through local museums, contemporary art centers, or contemporary art galleries operated by various provinces and cities, providing exhibition spaces for local artists or curating international artists' shows. Each year, provincial and municipal contemporary art banks acquire works by French or international artists using collection budgets.

Contemporary Art in Progress in Paris: Through the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and contemporary art centers, wise planning organizes various modern and contemporary art special exhibitions. Each venue has its own contemporary thinking route: the Centre Pompidou becomes the model for twentieth-century exhibitions, hosting retrospectives of many modern masters or special exhibitions of contemporary trends; the Palais de Tokyo focuses on curating exhibitions of contemporary artistic thought, which I call the "weather station" of contemporary art. The Musée National d'Art Moderne et Contemporain serves as a comprehensive space for modern and contemporary thought; Le Plateau is a contemporary art space for Greater Paris, focusing on the operation of French and globalized art; and the 104 Comprehensive Art Space north of Paris frequently hosts contemporary art special exhibitions. MAC VAL Contemporary Art Museum is purely a regional French contemporary art museum for the Greater Paris area, focusing only on mid-to-young generation French contemporary artists. Ivry (a political stronghold of the French Communist Party since the post-war period) is a regional contemporary art center, the most vibrant contemporary art center in the Greater Paris area.

In addition, several important foundations act as key promoters of contemporary art, branching out and blooming for French contemporary art with their substantial resources, such as the Fondation Cartier and Fondation Louis Vuitton, and the Fondation Maison Rouge. Currently, the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles each year host important contemporary art exhibitions, bringing new vitality to these two palaces and turning globalized culture and art into tourism resources. The Musée du quai Branly also curates special exhibitions of indigenous art and contemporary art. The French art world has its important "Marcel Duchamp Prize," which acts as a promoter of French contemporary art development, shaping new creative energy.

The grandest contemporary art event in Paris every year is the October "Nuit Blanche" (White Night), a one-night contemporary art event that keeps all of Paris open, truly unimaginable. Every autumn when the wind blows cold, the visual arts at the Paris Autumn Carnival are also impressive. Recently, at the Palais de Tokyo, young artist Tino Sehgal's empty "Good Morning, Today 'People Have Never Seen This' There Artwork, Is Us" special exhibition was held.

The Grand Palais is the showcase for French politics, economy, and humanities/art. This space acts as a window for French and international exhibitions, presenting magnificent French creativity and artistic vision. Throughout the year, it hosts grand modern and contemporary art special exhibitions or retrospectives, almost all classic masterpieces of art history, such as the American Art Icon Special Exhibition, Jean Paul Gaultier Retrospective, Seydo Keita Retrospective, Mexican Modern Art 1900-1950 Special Exhibition, etc. The main hall hosts ART PARIS ART FAIR in late March/early April, the French Contemporary Art Fair in early October, followed by Paris Photos, antique exhibitions, or special exhibitions on French bullet trains, etc. Sometimes there are fashion shows or large-scale concerts as well. Everything you could want is available.

Paris indeed has endless exhibitions to see. Galleries in Paris and internationally occupy their rightful market and lead artistic fashion trends. Just visiting galleries every month allows one to absorb current artistic information and glimpse the zeitgeist. Paris also has a new emerging street museum located in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, open for visits day and night. Around summer vacation, every district in Paris or the Greater Paris area opens "artist studios," allowing glimpses of artistic creation in the corners of Paris. These are all important annual art exhibition activities in Paris, keeping art lovers endlessly engaged.

Location: Cafe de Gear, No. 3 Ningbo East Street, 2nd Floor Transportation: Exit 3, Zhongshan Memorial Hall Station Activity Method: Please register in advance. Paid course, limited to 20 participants. Curator: Pema Lamo Administrative Sponsor/Jinglu Gallery: For registration, please contact nina@jingluart.com Registration Email: Please note "Contemporary Art Lecture" registration and include your contact phone number and number of registrants. After receiving registration materials, we will confirm payment methods with you. If the reserved quota is full, priority registration will be extended to the next session. Second Lecture Time: Friday, Dec 16, 6:30-8:30 pm