Paris (AFP)

The International Contemporary Art Fair (FIAC), which took place virtually in March due to the Covid, returns in force on the ground and online from Thursday to Sunday, accompanied by its little sister dedicated to Asia, Asia Now.

A "grandiose" 47th edition, promises to AFP the New Zealander Jennifer Flay, director of the FIAC, who speaks of a "new impetus" for a "hybrid" edition (physical and online until October 25) and a "renaissance of Paris as a stronghold of international contemporary art" with "the installation of a dozen galleries in the capital in less than two years, despite the pandemic".

A new site, the ephemeral Grandinterna Palais, of 10,000 m2, designed by the architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte and installed near the Military School in the perspective of the Eiffel Tower, hosts 174 galleries from 25 countries.

It was inaugurated in June to host the fairs and exhibitions that were usually held at the Grand Palais, under construction.

A monumental work by Alexander Calder, "Flying Dragon" (1975), will be presented on Place Vendôme, in collaboration with the City of Paris and the Gagosian gallery.

At the Delacroix museum, the exhibition will also bring together the works of Eugène Delacroix and those of the French artist Jean Claracq, barely thirty, and his figurative painting from screens, around the theme of youth.

At the same time, Asia Now is holding its 7th edition in a private mansion on avenue Hoche, to "highlight artists who are still a little under the radar in Europe when they are already spotted in Asia and collected, or even hosted in museums and foundations. ", says Alexandra Fain, its director at AFP.

Forty galleries and more than 200 artists from a dozen countries are expected (China, Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Thailand ...) including some coming for the first time from Iran, guest of honor.

Alongside the galleries, "carte blanche" will be given to guest curators in order to discover "other points of view".

Round tables are scheduled on themes such as ecology, and, this year, Afghanistan.

Odile Burluraux, curator at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, will bring together ten Iranian artists around video.

Paris will host for the first time eight galleries from Tehran and some sixty artists, working in Tehran or from the Iranian diaspora.

© 2021 AFP