ART DESTINATION

TOuR DE fRANcE

by Robert Holden - with the collaboration of Ruben Modigliani

Regional museums designed by stars of architecture. Agricultural estates designer interventions. Top galleries opening up in small towns. France’s artistic geography today is a pure invitation to travel. To leave the capital and explore the country

fRAc BRETAGNE, RENNES 1/ More than 300 km from Paris, a small contemporary art centre (5,000 m2)

with extremely strong impact. Here, we see the multi-faceted entrance hall volumes of the auditorium.

Designed by Odile Decq, it also accommodates a cafe and a library (continues on page 34).

32elle decor elle decor33

ART DESTINATION

châTEAu lA cOSTE, lE Puy-SAINTE-RéPARADE/ A late 17th century villa and its estate, near to Aix-en-Provence, have been transformed by Patrick McKillen, an Irish property developer, into a perfect world. Biodynamic agriculture and quality wine production. And interventions by major artists and architects: the visitor centre (top, with sculpture by Alexander Calder) is by Tadao Ando, the music pavilion is by Frank Gehry. And the green areas are dotted with works by Louise Bourgeois, Liam Gillick (bottom) and many others. www.chateau-la-coste.com

fRAc BRETAGNE, RENNES 2/ The Fonds Régionaux d’Art

Contemporain were established in the 1980s with the aim

of taking contemporary artistic expressions across the whole

of France. The network, with a collection of approximately

26,000 works, has been further enhanced in recent years with the opening of six new bases

scheduled between 2012 and 2015. These include the site in

Rennes. A cultural centre holding approximately 4,000 works,

displayed on rotation, it is extremely active in the regional

area thanks to a packed schedule of events and meetings.

And also thanks to the meeting space it offers. The granite

columns that face onto the glass wall of the ground floor are a

work by the artist Aurélie Nemours. www.fracbretagne.fr

GAllERIA cONTINuA, BOISSy-lE-châTEl/ A disused industrial complex to the east of Paris, Le Moulin, is the location chosen by one of Italy’s most important galleries as its French branch. A large-scale project: long-term installations (on the left, wall drawing by Pascale

Marthine Tayou and a work by Kader Attia) and exhibitions by international stars (on the right, Ordos by Ai Weiwei). www.galleriacontinua.com

THE WHOLE COUNTRY is a hive of activity. And the main driver of change was decentralisation

34elle decor elle decor35

ART DESTINATION

GAlERIE ThADDAEuS ROPAc, PANTIN/ A challenge: to create in the grey Parisian banlieue, in the middle of its 1930s industrial architecture, a citadel of culture. The site is a former metalworking plant restored with the maximum clean lines (designed by the studio Buttazzoni & Associés). The ceilings stretch up to 12 metre high and there is also a separate space for performances and events. ropac.net

THE CONTEMPORARY now lives in the former

industrial banlieue of Paris

GAGOSIAN GAllERy, lE BOuRGET/ For his twelfth base in the world, the superstar Larry Gagosian has chosen an industrial architecture close to Le Bourget airport. Volumes renovated by Jean Nouvel for extra-large exhibitions (due to the sizes of the works displayed). As the one on this page, a combination between Jean Prouvé and Alexander Calder; just opened is, on the other hand, An American in Paris, dedicated to Jeff Koons (until 3 May). For those without an aeroplane, it can also be reached - thankfully - by bus. www.gagosian.com

France only has one big city: Paris. The rest of the country has always been considered, precisely, the rest. In recent times, however, something unique is happening: the whole country is a hive of activity. The main driver of this change has been contemporary art, which is no longer confined to Ville Lumière, but is reaching beyond. To the suburbs, towns and open countryside. The amount of spaces that have recently opened would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. These are parallel stories inspired by different requirements which, in a surprising manner, contribute to a great renewal. Outside the famous Périph (the Boulevard Périphérique, the ring road that marks out the boundaries of the capital city), three major names of the international scene have opened bases worth a visit. The world-famous gallery-owner Thaddaeus Ropac has purchased a former metalworking plant of 4,700 m2 to display monumental works by Anselm Kiefer or Antony Gormley. Not far away, Jean Nouvel has designed the re-conversion of 1,700 m2 of space in the Le Bourget airport complex (favoured runway for private jets) for the American gallery-owner Larry Gagosian. While in Boissy-le-Châtel the Italian founders of the Galleria Continua have opened up a 10,000 m2 base by restoring life to an abandoned paper mill, designed by the architecture studio La Ville Rayée. But there are also other stories. At Marines, 50 km from Paris, the industrialist Jean-Philippe Billarant and his wife have transformed a silo into an amazing private museum open to the public, a project designed by the young architect Xavier Prédine-Hug (Le Silo, Tel. +33.1.42252264, lesilo@billarant.com). And, last summer, the Irish millionaire collector Patrick McKillen opened the doors to his new wine estate Château La Coste, near to Aix-en-Provence. An architectural paradise where, in order to house various collections, he commissioned pavilions from Richard Rogers, Tadao Ando, Gehry and Jean Nouvel (and Piano, Niemeyer and Foster remain under development). In Rennes, in Brittany, Odile Decq opened, in late 2011, the first, spectacular building of the new generation of the FRAC (Fonds Régionaux d’Art Contemporain), a museum concept established in the 1980s as a place of interaction between residents of a region and contemporary art, which has now, once again, become powerfully topical. And in the town of Lens, in northern France, the latest Louvre has made its debut - not exactly contemporary art, but a marvel of glass and sandblasted steel designed by the Japanese studio SANAA (www.louvrelens.fr). To conclude this unexpected map, among the mountains of the Haute Provence geological reserve, the British artist Andy Goldsworthy, famous for his land art works, has completed the Refuge d’Art project, where his poetic works have found their home. Truly far from everything (www.refugedart.fr).•

36elle decor elle decor37