Paris Extra Muros: Visiting the French capital region's centres d'art

"ACROSS FRANCE, the far right is consolidating its hold on elected offices, fascistic language spreads like wildfire in both local and national media, and cultural budgets have been frozen, if not cut altogether. Against these prevailing headwinds, or perhaps in response to them, this season's institutional exhibitions in Paris have been leaning heavily into various forms of collaboration, mutual learning, and dialogue."

"A collegial atmosphere is particularly palpable around the Île-de-France region, among its network of centres d'art. These public, noncollecting institutions, akin to Germany's kunstvereine, were for the most part founded in the 1980s and '90s to bring art directly to a "periphery" of small towns, schools, or distant suburbs. In the Paris area alone, over a dozen art centers dot the city, from Paris's thirteenth arrondissement ( Bétonsalon) to the suburb of Brétigny-sur-Orge ( CAC Brétigny)."

"In the town of Houilles, just west of Paris, La Graineterie is a city-run art center recognized for its Biennale de la jeune création (Biennial of Emerging Art), a project that has focused on exhibiting emerging French artists since 1997. Its regular exhibition programming also continues this mandate; guest curator Clément Raveu's exhibition, titled "ça parle en douce" (loosely translatable as "speaking quietly"), features work by a new generation of artists including Parisa Babaei, Rafael Moreno, Hatice Pinarbaşi, and Manoela Prates,"

Far-right political gains and the spread of fascistic language have coincided with frozen or reduced cultural budgets across France. Institutional exhibitions in Paris have leaned into collaboration, mutual learning, and dialogue as a response. A collegial atmosphere is evident around the Île-de-France network of centres d'art, public noncollecting institutions founded in the 1980s and '90s to bring art to peripheral towns, schools, and suburbs. Over a dozen such centers operate in the Paris area, including Bétonsalon and CAC Brétigny, often hosting experimental work and art forms overlooked by museums and the market. La Graineterie in Houilles runs the Biennale de la jeune création and programs a new generation of artists engaging spoken, visual, and written language.

Read at Artforum