Paris (AFP)

The Center Pompidou will reopen this summer in Paris with a committed program marked in particular by a public debate on racial discrimination and an exhibition, "Global (e) resistance", on "contemporary strategies of resistance".

In a press release, the National Museum of Modern Art confirmed its reopening to the public on July 1 while detailing its modalities: the reservation of a time slot online for the visit of temporary exhibitions and collections. And, in order to respect the standard of a visitor for 4 m2, maximum gauges are set up: 200 people in the exhibition spaces and 816 people in the rest of the museum.

"We want to both deconfine the pleasure of art and show how art can capture the world, get involved," summarized Serge Lasvignes, president of the Center Pompidou, confirming the programming of the exhibition suspended by the confinement mid-March, "Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Paris!" which takes on a particular relief after Christo's death and will open on the same day as the museum. The large exhibition "Matisse" will be hosted as planned in the fall.

At the end of July, "Global (e) Résistance" will unveil works by more than sixty artists gathered over the past decade: the majority come from the "South" (Africa, Middle East, Asia, Latin America) , with the ambition to "examine contemporary strategies of resistance". The exhibition will evoke political protest at the time of decolonization and the collapse of communist ideologies after 1989, while addressing the current rereading of history.

The day after the reopening in July, a debate with researchers and artists will be organized "to shed light on the hot topic of mobilization against racial discrimination," said the Center Pompidou.

In partnership with the City of Paris and Secours populaire, more than 200 children from day camps, social centers or homes will be welcomed for workshops, visits, meetings during the summer.

A "6 walls, 6 artists" operation will invite young people to create outdoors, after the long period of confinement at home. These artists, Treize Bis, Lor-K, Anne-Laure Maison, Eltono, Rebus and Gilbert1, will offer creative workshops. Six wall surfaces will be reinvested.

© 2020 AFP