The vision for the future? “The Center Pompidou will be a committed center. The announcement of a total closure of the Center Pompidou-Paris between 2023 and 2027 was a thunderclap in the art world. For …

"The new cultural project of the Center Pompidou" after the 2023-2027 works

Already under renovation, the Center Pompidou-Paris (here November 29, 2020) will be completely closed for work between September 2023 and 2027. © Siegfried Forster / RFI

Text by: Siegfried Forster Follow

7 min

The vision for the future?

“The Center Pompidou will be a committed center.

The announcement of a total closure of the Center Pompidou-Paris between 2023 and 2027 was a thunderclap in the art world.

For its inevitable renovation (asbestos removal, safety, technique ...), the largest art center in Europe is forced to close its doors, but, in the interview on Tuesday January 26, its president Serge Lasvignes already promises " a new cultural project ”with“ four strategic axes ”for its reopening and its 50th anniversary in 2027.

Publicity

RFI

: You announced a closure between the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2027. Are we talking about a closure of 3 years or 5 years

?

Serge Lasvignes

Precisely, we will close in September 2023 and reopen during the year 2027, that is to say for our 50th anniversary, with all the symbolic value that goes with it.

So I'll let you do the math.

The Center Pompidou-Paris is a locomotive for the modern and contemporary art scene.

After these long years of closure, how does the Center Pompidou intend to regain its rank

?
Will its concept have changed

?

This closure will allow work to be carried out which is a guarantee for the future.

It is essential to prevent the Center Pompidou from starting to have real technical problems, in terms of security, etc.

In addition, it should be avoided that it looks a little faded or from another era.

It has to be a shiny Pompidou Center.

Very important: this work will be accompanied at the same time by a reflection on a new culture project for the Center Pompidou.

I have already worked on the main lines of the project.

There are four main components.

First, in a very competitive context, the desire to further assert the personality of the Center Pompidou: multidisciplinary, in the collection, with architecture, design, the visual arts, but also with its library, and the institute musical, Ircam.

We must learn to make all these resources work better together.

I am also talking about personality, because the Center Pompidou is going to be a committed center.

We have defined lines of engagement in the areas of equality, gender, climate protection ... We are going to work very seriously on this.

What will be the second strategic axis

It is to make the Center Pompidou a "

friendly house

", that is to say a place where the relationship with the visitor is transformed, more convivial, more participative, more warm.

This work will be the occasion to fit out the Forum, the main entrance to the Center Pompidou, and all the common spaces, so that they are real living spaces where we find both art and the activity.

What will be the third strategic axis

It's about making sure that we use digital technology in the most intelligent way possible.

Both to prepare for the visit, to continue, after the visit, the relationship with the visitor but there will also be digital technology to produce new objects.

In February, you will see an exhibition called

Kandinsky

, produced with Google Arts & Culture.

It is an exhibition of a new kind.

We didn't just film a real exhibition, but we created a digital exhibition using the very rich archives we have at the Center Pompidou on Kandinsky.

What will be the fourth strategic axis

It is being able to be a global cultural operator, that is to say to also do consulting, engineering, for the benefit of all these new museums which open on all continents, knowing how to make exhibitions abroad.

All this must be consolidated in a global project.

It is this project that we will see develop when we reopen in 2017.

Digital technology will therefore occupy a very important place in the new cultural project of the Center Pompidou.

We know the budget for the works, 200 million euros.

What is the budget planned for the digital offer during this work

Budgets have not yet been determined, neither during the work nor after.

What is certain is that this period of closure will lead us to make reallocations in our budget.

In the operation, there will be expenses which will decrease enormously.

In particular all those which revolve around exhibitions, because during the works, we will not be exhibiting in the Center Pompidou.

We will make partnerships with other institutions.

So there will be a redeployment of our resources which will allow us to strengthen our efforts for digital.

As soon as I arrived, I made digital a priority.

In particular, I asked for the website to be redesigned, which was very interesting in terms of the depth and digitization of the works, but which I did not find suitable for maintaining a good relationship with the public.

A few months ago, we released a brand new site that I think is very promising.

We have installed a news magazine there which can continue during the closure.

And we will take advantage of this closure to embark on new projects.

For example ?

We produced, for example, a

serious game

, a video game for the knowledge of art, which is very successful.

We have just opened an online course, a Mooc, on women in painting, in abstraction.

We already have more than 13,000 registered.

These are really choices for the future.

How are you going to maintain the physical relationship with your audience during the shutdown

?
The Grand Palais, during its closure, will benefit from a Grand Palais Ephémère installed in Champs-de-Mars.
Will there be a Center Pompidou Éphémère installed in the center of Paris

?

What is certain is that there will be an ephemeral public library for our Public Information Library (BPI), which in terms of user capacity is the largest public reading library in Paris.

For her, it is absolutely essential to find premises in the center of Paris.

We are looking for the 10,000 square meters needed.

For the museum, the exhibitions, the shows, the priority will be partnerships.

The priority of priorities will be decentralization, that is to say partnerships in the provinces, with the major institutions and local communities.

Then, we are in the process of settling in Massy, in Essonne.

We are going to set up not only reserves there, but also a Center Pompidou Ile-de-France, a place where we will develop new forms, a new cultural project for audiences who do not necessarily come to the center of Paris.

After that, do we need an address in Paris?

We are thinking about it.

For exhibitions, is it really necessary?

We can work with the Musée d'Orsay, with the Louvre, with the Quai Branly museum, with the museums of the city of Paris.

We have to think about it.

In the same way for our cinema and shows programming, can we not conclude interesting partnerships with other institutions?

Do we need a particular real estate resource anyway?

We are thinking about it.

The difference with the Grand Palais is that the Grand Palais Éphémère will not only be used for cultural events, but also for mainly commercial events.

►Also read:

"Art is absolutely crucial", the Center Pompidou at the time of the coronavirus

"The new cultural project of the Center Pompidou" after the 2023-2027 works

"The new cultural project of the Center Pompidou" after the 2023-2027 works

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest