A triennial event organized at initiative of the Ministry of Culture and Communication, LA FORCE DE L’ART aims to put on stage contemporary French creation and the artists who bring it about, with all the diversity of their origins and aesthetic choices. This second FORCE DE L’ART 02 will be presented in the Nave of the Grand Palais in Paris, from April 24th to June 1st 2009.

LA FORCE DE L’ART 02 offers a unique programme for all publics to have an encounter with creation in our time. By multiplying into so many events and in so many new sites, this new FORCE DE L’ART invents a new means of access, one that is greater and more open, to the art events of today.

Three curators, an architect and several space/times

Three renowned figures are responsible for curating LA FORCE DE L’ART 02: Jean-Louis Froment, Jean-Yves Jouannais and Didier Ottinger. They associated architect Philippe Rahm with their project, choosing him for the original and creative rapport he maintains with the space; he would construct an installation equal to the project's ambitions.

LA FORCE DE L’ART 02 splits into four Space-Times. A multiplicity of places, scenes and circuits, offering visitors original, varied and intense artistic experiences. So many events and singular worlds, responding to and encountering each other. So many works, selected for their expressive force, each bearing witness to the itinerary in view for a given contemporary artist, his commitments and his aesthetic choices.

The White Geology and the Residents

In the spectacular Nave of the Grand Palais, the "White Geology" creates the first Space-Time, which receives the works of the "Residents". A world of tectonic plates, surmounted with volumes springing from the ground, unfurling and dividing itself in accordance with the singular expression of each exhibited work or group of works. It is a world of substance, an abundant and a rich space, the movements and figures of which are shaped as an architectural environment, halfway between village and landscape. This world of artistic situations, close and intimate, or widely opened outward, create the conditions for a dynamic relationship between the works, the public and the space preceding them, transforming the visit into an intensely poetic experience.

The Paris of the Visitors

Another time, other scenes: LA FORCE DE L’ART 02 will also spread outside the Grand Palais, unexpectedly taking place in other "mythic" places symbolic of the Capital. Through a series of events, sometimes surprising, always unexpected, the "Visitors", renowned French artists, will reinvent the living performance that is art.

The Guests in the Nave

Throughout the entire period of the exhibition, the "Guest" artists will succeed each other in the Nave of the Grand Palais, creating a continual festival of events and performances: musical initiatives, live performance, speaking, borrowing and exchanging. Through about a dozen evenings, built on the principle of encounter, difference and the intermingling of disciplines, will weave multiple exchanges and dialogues between artists, occasions for strange blendings, where each art work and each gesture will reveal the unexpected.

 The national network

Finally, LA FORCE DE L’ART 02 will take place entirely on the national scene, thanks to private and public initiatives, including Art Centres, the FRACs (Regional Contemporary Art Funds), museums and foundations which will enrich this second triennial with their offerings.

Contemporary art for all

The goal of LA FORCE DE L’ART 02 is to permit all, including the youngest publics, to perceive the challenges of contemporary art, by offering a chance to approach the most varied subjects and debates of current society, through an intense artistic experience, deeply rooted in the richness of its originality and its diversity. To contribute to this, a policy of innovative and committed mediated learning will be carried out. This approach means the most varied publics can be welcomed and accompanied, through coordination with the Centre National des Arts Plastiques.

Welcoming all publics

To contribute to this, a policy of innovative and committed mediated learning will be carried out. This approach means the most varied publics can be welcomed and accompanied, through coordination with the Centre National des Arts Plastiques. Specialized mediators will welcome and orient individual visitors, and  themed guided visits will be offered.

To facilitate contact between contemporary creation and the widest possible public, prices for the FORCE DE L’ART 02 exhibition will be very accessible: admission will cost only 6 euros and the discount rate will be 4 euros.

Special learning initiatives will be undertaken to reach school groups. Numerous visit and workshop formats will be proposed for school groups ranging from age 3 to age 17, in partnership with the Ministry of National Education and French local education authorities. The proposed approaches will match school programmes which today are making a place for art education and the history of the art.

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