Centre national des arts plastiques - Cnap

NEW TAKES ON THE COLLECTION
Over the past decade, the CNAP has further expanded its mission
through involvement with museums, art centres, regional contemporary
art collections, art schools, associations, events, and contemporary
art festivals and biennales. The CNAP deploys its activities of support
to artistic creation and production, short-term and long-term loans,
project partnerships and State commissions, forging a “virtuous circle”
that places the CNAP, as a vehicle for national cultural policy, at the
heart of the contemporary art network.
Over the years, these activities have materialised a desire to approach
the collection from a variety of angles and thus demonstrate not only
its size but also its huge diversity. Taking a new approach each year,
the CNAP has staged a series of exhibitions in partnership with a
region of France or as part of a major contemporary art event in or
outside France. In 2007 it organised exhibitions in the city of Amiens;
in 2009 it was a partner to TILT, with exhibitions in eleven museums
in France’s Centre region. At nationwide level, in 2006 the CNAP
organised Les Visiteurs in partnership with 20 listed monuments; in
2010 it was part of Diagonales, a year-long event across twenty different
venues (museums, regional contemporary arts collections, art schools,
etc.) in France, Luxemburg and Belgium.
In 2011, museums in the Greater Lille area took part in Collector at
Lille’s Tripostal to show important works from the CNAP collections.
The event attracted more than 180,000 visitors. In 2012, in partnership
with the Loop Video Art Fair, the CNAP staged Número tres, de la casa
a la fábrica at the Virreina Centre de la Imatge in Barcelona.
Multi-form exhibitions such as these are an opportunity to develop
different takes on the collection, by inviting independent curators,
conservators, directors, and the artists themselves to suggest choices
that highlight iconic works. Segments of the collection that attract less
attention or are less frequently shown can be another focus, such as
graphic arts, photography, acoustic works and new media. Another
recent exhibition, Explorateurs at the Musée de l’Abbaye Sainte-Croix
in Les Sables d’Olonne, showcased works on the theme of exploration.
The CNAP has also given two artists carte blanche to curate an exhibition
of works from the collection: Marc Bembekoff’s The Mystery Spot
at the Fondation Ricard in 2012, and Patrick Tosani’s Des images comme
des oiseaux at La Friche la Belle de Mai art centre in Marseille, in 2013.
These exhibitions are also an opportunity to promote the current
art scene in France. For example, Documents pour une information
alternative at Rencontres Arles Photographies in 2012 compiled works
by photographers from the National Photography School in Arles;
L’Origine des choses is an exhibition of work by young artists in France,
to be held at the Centrale for Contemporary Art in Brussels in 2013.
The exposure which these exhibitions and events provides has drawn
attention to a number of artists and themes and, directly or indirectly,
led to loan requests from new institutions.
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View of The Mystery Spot, Fondation
Ricard, Paris, September 2012.
Curator: Marc Bembekoff. © Photo
Fondation Ricard
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View of Número tres, de la casa a la
fábrica, La Virreina Centre de la Imatge,
Barcelona, 2012. Curator: Pascal Beausse
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View of Explorateurs. Musée de l’Abbaye
Sainte-Croix (Les Sables d’Olonne), 2012.
Curator: Sébastien Faucon. © Photo
Aurélien Mole, Paris
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