Kengo Kuma and inaugural exhibitions
Opening weekend: 6 and 7 April 2013, 10am–6pm
Frac Franche-Comté
Cité des arts / 2, passage des arts
25000 Besançon
France
T +33 (0)3 81 87 87 00
The Fonds régional d’art contemporain (Frac) of Franche-Comté housed within the Cité des Arts in Besançon (France), designed by Kengo Kuma, will be inaugurated today by Aurélie Filipetti, Minister of Culture and Communication, and opens its doors to the public tomorrow. It is presenting two inaugural exhibitions:
Des Mondes Possibles (Possible Worlds) (6 April–25 August)
The public will discover a selection of works from the Frac’s collection relating to the question of time, a central theme enriching the collection since 2006. It consists of proposing a pathway in time or rather within the two-fold acceptation of time, physical and psychological—the first concerning the measure of time, physical sciences, the second duration, time experienced and lived out—via work examining it.
With Marina Abramovic, Micol Assaël, Richard Baquié, Rosa Barba, Neal Beggs, Nina Beier, Julien Berthier, Etienne Bossut, Robert Breer, Alain Bublex, Balthasar Burkhard, James Lee Byars, Manon De Boer, Philippe Decrauzat, Silvie Defraoui, Simon Faithfull, Mario Garcia Torres, Shilpa Gupta, Jung Hee Choi, Julius Koller, Suzanne Lafont, Didier Marcel, Gianni Motti, Jean-Christophe Norman, Hans Schabus, Gregor Schneider, Georgina Starr, and Laurent Tixador.
test pattern [no 4] by Ryoji Ikeda (6 April–15 September)
Resonating with the Japanese influence at the Cité des Arts and notably its system of “pixels” governing the building, the test pattern [no 4] installation by Japanese artist and composer Ryoji Ikeda invites the visitor to engage in an ultra-contemporary universe, to experience an immersion in image, light and minimal electronic sound.
In parallel to these exhibitions, the Frac offers the public an ambitious cultural programming built of encounters, choreographies and concerts. The opening weekend will therefore be representative of such activity: choreographic performance created by Joanne Leighton linked to the Possible Worlds exhibition, a concert by Ryoji Ikeda, the reading of the minutes from the Brancusi legal proceedings against the United States…
Likewise, true to its mission to support and sustain creation, the Frac is following up its policies of work production by way of the commission of perennial works by artists Etienne Bossut, Marylène Negro and Joël Auxenfans especially designed for the public space around its new building.
The first public commission of Japanese architect Kengo Kuma in France, the Cité des Arts harbors under a same monumental and pixilated roof the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional (CRR) of Grand Besançon and the Fonds régional d’art contemporain (Frac) of Franche-Comté, covering 11,000 square meters. This building is exemplary from an environmental and energy-saving point of view, appealing due to its fluidity of line, insertion in the natural and urban environments and the originality of its roof.
The Frac’s layout consists of 2,900 square meters, with two exhibition rooms at its disposal for a total of 600 square meters, a conference room, educational spaces, two apartments, an artist workshop, a documentation center and storage space adapted for preventative conservation.
The Fonds régional d’art contemporain of Franche-Comté is one of the 23 Fracs created in France in 1982 in the framework of a decentralization policy set in place by the State and one of five Fracs to benefit from a new building in this anniversary year celebrating 30 years of the Frac. It builds and manages a public collection of contemporary art which is the unique significant collection of its kind in the Franche-Comté Region, assembling 546 works by 283 artists, including Marina Abramovic, Robert Breer, Christian Boltanski, Balthasard Burkhard, Gérard Gasiorowski, Christian Marclay, Xavier Veilhan, Gérard Collin-Thiébaut, Didier Marcel, Cyprien Gaillard, Manon de Boer, Mario Garcia Torrès, Maja Bajevic, Rosa Barba, Shilpa Gupta, Simon Faithfull, Raphaël Zarka, and Julius Koller.
Press contacts:
Frac Franche-Comté
Domna Kossyfidou, communications and press officer, +33(0)3 81 87 87 50,
domna.kossyfidou [at] frac-franche-comte.fr
Anne Samson Communications
Léopoldine Turbat, +33(0)1 40 36 84 35, leopoldine [at] annesamson.com
