Last week marked two major dates for Paris’ Palais de Tokyo: not only did it just reopen after months of intensive construction works, expanding from 8,000 to 22,000 square meters, it also launched the Triennial – an ambitious, intricately politicised art happening. Sleek met the Palais’ new director Jean de Loisy – previously the curator of the Centre Pompidou as well as Anish Kapoor’s Monumenta –s to discuss the institutional notion of the exhibition, the weight of memory, and the ethnographic potential of art.
Sleek: What makes the Palais de Tokyo different than other art spaces in France? Jean de Loisy: The Palais de Tokyo is now the biggest art space in Europe – not to be confused with a museum, as we have no permanent collection. In other words, all we have to offer is the possibility of an experience, which is precisely what we’ve been looking into: the existence of an exhibition, the viewer’s voyage into it as well as into himself.
How will you put this aim into practice? To avoid the classical ‘exhibition-between-four-walls’ syndrome, one must accept that art is in a constant state of metamorphosis, and its future incarnation can’t be predicted. We have hence left empty spaces all over the Palais, ‘low-control zones’, for last minute interventions, reactions against political events for example.
Also, curators will be more involved than ever: next year, we have a show planned that will be in the hands of 15 curators at once, most not French. We want to reflect an international, contemporary voice.
Sure, but how do you truly open up to a wide range of voices, and avoid being elitist? We are trying to push for a decentralised art system, and work with school all over the country rather than simply in Paris; we will also have partnerships with schools and independent art centres round Europe. Also, we will show pieces by scientists and mathematicians to explore the porousness of the art world.
What is the philosophy behind the space’s new look? The space creates an effect of surprise – all its “scars” or traces of previous lives are left visible rather than painted over. This suggests the need to embrace memory in order to innovate. Every space has its own dramaturgy, is an experience of its own, and will offer, throughout the space, semi permanent pieces – which will also sprawl over staircases and windows. The idea is to break the boundaries of where an art space begins and stops.
How does the Triennial reflect a similar philosophy? The curator of the Triennial, Okwi Enwesor is also a poet, a writer, and a critic. He is working with four young curators, and together, they are drawing a parallel between the exhibition and the study of ethnography – with a focus on the works of Claude Levi Strauss. Again, this allows conveying a social responsibility to art, and also portraying the artist as an urban ethnographer. Okwi puts forward to power of artists to redefine questions of otherness.
Do you feel these are prosperous times to create? In times of crisis, the artist’s redefining of categories can trigger a deep change of systems; this can lead to their reinvention. Artists are the only ones who can take us out of the crisis, and truly teach us alternative modes of thought.
Palais de Tokyo April 20th-August 26th 2012. Midday to midnight, closed Tuesdays.