Contemporary Art and the Côte d’Azur. A Territory for Experimentation, 1951-2011 from June 25 to November 7, 2011
Dedicated to 60 years of contemporary art from 1951 to today, a beautiful journey is offered by around thirty cultural venues (museums, art centers, art schools, foundations, galleries, cultural and artistic associations) to present through the works of more than 200 artists, a history rich in movements and personalities, as well as events.
This event follows the exhibition The Côte d’Azur and Modernity – 1918-1958, organized in 1997 by about thirty establishments in the Alpes-Maritimes department.
Contemporary Art and the Côte d’Azur aim to show that beyond the usual clichés, the Côte d’Azur has been an incredible laboratory for 60 years, continually producing and welcoming artists in an exceptional dynamic.
A dynamic that reinvents itself over time and with the evolution of art, while taking into account sociological or political parameters that extend beyond the sole field of creation.
The Côte d’Azur is still this “great art workshop” described by art historian André Chastel. It is also “a territory for experimentation” unveiled in broad daylight thanks to this event.
The institutions behind this project have chosen to organize a historical and scientific exhibition aimed at highlighting most of the subjects or mediums, explored by artists since 1951 (painting, video, objects, performance, sound, architecture, color, figure and self-representation).
This exhibition constitutes the first part of the event: the
national museums of the 20th century of the Alpes-Maritimes (Marc Chagall in Nice, Fernand Léger in Biot, Pablo Picasso, War and Peace in Vallauris, with off-site projects at the Eco’Parc de Mougins and in the heart of the village of Coaraze), the MAMAC-Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art- of Nice, the Jean Cocteau Museum in Menton, the Château de Villeneuve/Emile Hugues Foundation in Vence and the National Center for Contemporary Art at the Villa Arson in Nice.
By surpassing the usual landmarks between different artistic movements, the exhibition reveals several aspects of the same artistic approach. The diversity of the chosen approaches aims to create intersections, to facilitate connections, to highlight what unites the works or what differentiates them and to emphasize the intrinsic richness of each one.
Because contemporary art is a story that keeps reinventing itself, the exhibition is accompanied by a second part composed of proposals from various contributors to the dissemination of creation on the Côte d’Azur.
These places provide a complementary or different artistic perspective to the themes outlined by the great historical exhibition. It is also about analyzing in most cases, the identity of these structures through experiences or projects that characterize them in a unique way: the Espace de l’Art Concret in Mouans-Sartoux, the Photography and Image Theater in Nice, the International Center for Contemporary Art in Carros, the La Malmaison Art Center in Cannes, the Magnelli Museum/Ceramics Museum in Vallauris, the Botox[s] network with the André Villers Photography Museum in Mougins, the Station, the Singular House/ Gallery, the Abandoned House/Villa Cameline, the Art editions, Catherine Issert galleries, Depardieu, Sandrine Mons, Sapone, Sintitulo, Espace A Vendre, the Marine Gallery, the Soardi Workshop, the Windsor Hotel in Nice as well as Artists’ Documents, VideChroniques, the Ambulatory Gallery, Artmandat, The Dojo, The Module, No-made, the Concierge, Eclat, the Cinematheque of Nice, the Abattoirs – Chantier Sang Neuf in Nice, the Nice Urbanism and Architecture Forum, the Hartung Bergman Foundation in Antibes, the Bernar Venet Foundation at Muy, the Experimental Workshop in Clans, the International Perfume Museum in Grasse…
The historical exhibition Contemporary Art and the Côte d’Azur – A Territory for Experimentation, 1951-2011 will culminate in the publication of a book by Presses du Réel / JRP Ringier editions in French and English. Scheduled for release in June 2011.
The association Contemporary Art and the Côte d’Azur is organizing, in partnership with the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, an international symposium on Thursday, September 29, Friday, September 30, and Saturday, October 1, 2011.
The event Contemporary Art and the Côte d’Azur is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region, and the Alpes-Maritimes Department.
