The Frac Bretagne’s artistic and cultural mission is to examine the institution’s future against the legitimate expectations of our contemporary society. It aims to be:
· inclusive by promoting a horizontal and participative outreach policy;
· open to diversity by involving the Frac Bretagne in international circles;
· decompartmentalised by embracing other disciplines;
· engaged within Brittany and across the world by basing all its actions on co-production ;
· committed to the cultural rights of individuals, gender equality and eco-responsibility.
Seeking to disseminate, share and open up the institution’s work to the public, the Frac Bretagne has launched the initiatives of Les jeunes acquéreurs (‘Young buyers’) and Société mouvante (‘Changing society’).
The Les jeunes acquéreurs initiative aims to involve the public in the acquisitions process. After schoolchildren and high school students from Rennes in 2020, eight individuals from Les Jardins de la Baie, a workshop in Douarnenez to facilitate integrate into the workforce, have volunteered to take part in the technical commission for acquisitions of the collection’s works in 2021.
Société mouvante, the Frac Bretagne’s active public forum, is a group of volunteers who reflect, debate and advise on the way that the Frac operates and is governed. This forum raises questions about both art and the Frac itself from the perspective of contemporary societal concerns. It is based on the idea that society can be changed, is shifting and is altered through contact with those who shape it. Every year, Société mouvante changes direction, joins forces with a new specialist, and a new group of volunteers steps in.
In 2021, Société mouvante has begun to focus on issues of gender equality in collaboration with the association HF Bretagne.
Étienne Bernard previously directed Passerelle Contemporary Art Centre in Brest (2013–19), the researcher-in-residence programme Fieldwork: Marfa in the US (2010–13), as well as the International Poster and Graphic Design Festival of (2007–09).
He was also associate curator at the CAPC Centre for Contemporary Visual Arts in Bordeaux (2007–09) and curator of the 6th edition of Les Ateliers de Rennes contemporary art Biennale, with Céline Kopp (2018). In the course of his career, he has undertaken numerous projects involving artists such as John Akomfrah, Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz, Bouchra Khalili, Mierle Laderman Ukeless, Nathaniel Mellors, Senga Nengudi, Koki Tanaka, Fredrik Vaerslev, Ola Vasiljeva, Erika Vogt and Ming Wong.
Étienne Bernard has also taught art theory at Sorbonne University (Paris I) (2008–13) and at the Académie des Arts in Nantes (2010–13) and has lectured at a number of art schools, including HEAD in Geneva, Switzerland, Krabbesholm Højskole in Denmark and Malmö Art Academy in Sweden.
Frac Bretagne
19 avenue André Mussat
CS 81123
F-35011 Rennes cedex
France
accueil@fracbretagne.fr
T +33 (0)2 99 37 37 93