The Centre Pompidou-Metz presents four exhibitions of modern and contemporary art in 2012 including 1917, a major show that will feature Picasso’s monumental work, his overture curtain for the ballet Parade which has not been shown in France in more than 20 years. 1917 May 26–September 24, 2012 1917 examines artistic creation in wartime on the scale of a single “impossible year”[1] when the world floundered in endless, devastating conflict. Abounding and multidisciplinary, this broad panorama provides an instant view of every field of creativity during this year of the First World War. It investigates what the creative impulse can represent through the specific timeframe of a year, while breaking away from the expectations and a priori of art in wartime. A great range of artistic productions is embraced in this one very precise year, from famous works by avant-gardists (Beckmann, Duchamp, Kandinsky, Matisse, Picasso) and major 19th century figures (Monet, Renoir, Rodin), to art by official war artists and amateurs, to trench art that constitutes one of the highlights of the show. 1917 raises the question of the distance to the events (geographic and symbolic) and interrogates the notions of destruction and reconstruction (psychic, physical, environmental and architectural). The exhibition will gather works from public and private art and military collections, both French and international. Curators: Claire Garnier, Curator, Centre Pompidou-Metz Laurent Le Bon, Curator, Director of the Centre Pompidou-Metz Sol LeWitt September 9, 2012–January 9, 2013 Wall drawings on view starting March 2, 2012 The Centre Pompidou-Metz presents a major retrospective of the American conceptual artist Sol LeWitt (1928–2007). Alongside a large ensemble of over thirty black-and-white wall drawings, the exhibition will show for the first time in Europe a vast selection of works from the artist’s exceptional personal collection. Assembled mainly through trade rather than purchase, the LeWitt Collection gathers close to 4000 works, ranging from minimal and conceptual art—its core and initial focus—to vintage photography, contemporary sculpture, and Australian Aboriginal painting, among other things. Combined with “structures,” drawings on paper, photographs, artist’s books and prints by LeWitt, some 200 works by other artists culled from the LeWitt Collection will be displayed at Centre Pompidou-Metz, with generous loans provided by The LeWitt Collection, Chester, CT. The execution of the wall drawings will be the opportunity of a close collaboration between Centre Pompidou-Metz, LeWitt’s draftsmen, and several local art schools. Curator: Béatrice Gross, Independent Curator and Art Critic based in New York Sol LeWitt. Colors. In partnership with Centre Pompidou-Metz, M-Museum Leuven (Belgium) will present from June 21 through October 14, 2012 a chromatic pendant of the exhibition, featuring over twenty color wall drawings. Co-curators: Eva Wittocx (M Museum, Curator-in-chief) and Béatrice Gross. www.mleuven.be. MONO The exhibition is also part of MONO, an original cross-border initiative by fifteen modern and contemporary art venues in Lorraine (France), Luxembourg, and Saarland (Germany). Between June 2 and September 9, 2012, these venues will simultaneously present solo shows by contemporary artists. Also in 2012 Wander, Labyrinthine Variations Until March 5, 2012 Wander, Labyrinthine Variations is a group show, which develops the theme of the labyrinth to address questions of wandering, drifting and displacement, and their portrayal in contemporary art. It veers from an architectural maze to thoughtful meandering, from global political-economic chaos to disorientated contemporary urbanism, from bodily spatial confinement to maieutics. Curators: Hélène Guenin, Head of Programming Department at the Centre Pompidou-Metz Guillaume Désanges, Curator, Art Critic, Director of Work Method Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Bivouac Until July 30, 2012 Bivouac is the first major exhibition in France dedicated to the work of designers Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec. Staged across 1,000 square metres it sets out the result of almost fifteen years of collaboration between the two brothers. Curators: Hélène Guenin, Head of Programming Department at the Centre Pompidou-Metz Laurent Le Bon, Curator, Director of the Centre Pompidou-Metz Media contact: Claudine Colin Communication Valentine Dolla +33 (0)1 42 72 60 01 centrepompidoumetz@claudinecolin.com [1] Jean-Jacques Becker, 1917 en Europe : l’année impossible (Europe in 1917: the impossible year). Brussels, Éditions Complexe, 1997. Image above: Centre Pompidou-Metz © Shigeru Ban Architects Europe and Jean de Gastines Architectes, with Philip Gumuchdjian for the design stage of the winning competition project / Metz Métropole / Centre Pompidou-Metz / Photo Roland Halbe.