Frac île-de-france
The Frac Île-de-France promotes and supports contemporary art and artists through the production of works and the development of a public collection of international standing which is accessible to all. It is committed to disseminating and facilitating understanding of contemporary art throughout the Île-de-France region.
This is why the Frac Île-de-France has chosen to pursue a ‘multi-site’ project to establish its presence within different areas of the Île-de-France region, in order to disseminate contemporary creation to all types of audiences, both on- and off-site. Through its three sites – le Plateau, in Paris; le Château, in Rentilly; and les Réserves, in Romainville – it is able to present works in three different types of area: in Paris itself and in the city’s inner and outer suburbs.
- Le Plateau, Paris: a venue of experimentation, production and support for contemporary creation
- Le Château, Rentilly: an exceptional setting for showing the Frac collection and hosting visiting collections
- Les Réserves, Romainville: a site for storing the collection and making it accessible to a wider audience
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Vue du Plateau, photo Martin Argyroglo -
Vue du Château, photo Martin Argyroglo -
Vue des Réserves, photo Martin Argyroglo
The Frac’s collection, comprising nearly 2,000 works and spanning all fields of artistic creation, is also a unique resource that enables it to exhibit works off-site, in locations not usually devoted to art, such as schools, cultural and social centres, and hospitals. It is particularly focussed on the emergence of new generations of artists, on the advancement of the practices of more established artists, on compiling a representative body of work by certain artists to go beyond a single vision of their work, and on developing a range of exhibition systems designed by artists.
Embodying an institution that is mindful of the various audiences in the Île-de-France region
The forthcoming opening of Les Réserves, the new Romainville storage facility of the Frac Île-de-France, is the final touch in an innovative development plan. Its aim is to avoid concentrating all of the Frac’s activities – management, conservation, exhibition, cultural outreach – in a single place, but to spread them over several sites so as to embody in structural form the notion of an institution that is mindful of the various audiences in the Île-de-France region.
Its long-standing presence in Paris, with le Plateau, provides a historic site where the emphasis is on production – specific exhibition projects, new works; its presence in the outlying suburban area, at Rentilly, provides a venue, unlike any other in France, at the Château de Rentilly, for exhibitions of public collections; its presence in the inner suburban area, with les Réserves at Romainville, provides a site for the storage and upkeep of the reserve collections, comprising over two thousand works. A site for storage – but much more besides! In Romainville works from the collection will be put on public display on a regular basis, with the initiative ‘Sors de ta réserve!’ (literally, ‘leave your reserve behind’), a novel project requiring audience participation.
In these ways, and in these different venues that reflect a resolutely new Frac model, the Frac Île-de-France aims to show, experience and promote contemporary creation for the benefit of all.
Xavier Franceschi has been director of the Frac Île-de-France since 2006. From 1991 to 2002, he was director of the Centre d’Art Contemporain (CAC) of Brétigny where he curated the solo exhibitions of Philippe Perrot, Claude Closky, Ghada Amer, Richard Fauguet, Carsten Höller, Franck Scurti, Michel Blazy, Maurizio Cattelan, Atelier van Lieshout, Xavier Veilhan, Bruno Perramant, Pierre Bismuth and Bojan Sarcevič. He also produced the first monographic catalogues of many of the featured artists. From 2002 to 2006, he was inspector of artistic creation responsible for public commissions at the Visual Arts Division (DAP) of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. In this capacity, he was involved in the design of many projects with Tobias Rehberger, Jeppe Hein and Bruno Peinado. At the Frac Île-de-France, he put forward the multi-site development project for the institution. Since joining the Frac Île-de-France, he has organised over 50 exhibitions on- and off-site, including the first solo exhibitions in France of Ulla von Brandenburg, Keren Cytter, Charles Avery, Joao Gusmao/Pedro Paiva, Alejandro Cesarco, Haris Epaminonda and Élad Lassry at Le Plateau. He is also Vice-President of the Tram contemporary art network in Paris/Île-de-France.
Comité technique d'achat
Anna Colin
Céline Poulin
Marie Cozette
Daisy Lambert
Administration
Béatrice Lecouturier
Céline Poulin
Contact
Frac Île-de-France
Le Plateau
22, rue des Alouettes
75019 Paris, France
info@fraciledefrance.com
T. +33 (0)1 76 21 13 41