Fonds PERSPEKTIVE 2021 winning projects

Initiated by the Bureau des arts plastiques (BDAP) of the Institut français Germany in 2014, the PERSPEKTIVE fund supports exchange-based and collaborative projects between France and Germany in the fields of contemporary art and architecture. PERSPEKTIVE contributes to the visibility and networking of artists and arts practitioners in a European context through its promotion of French-German dialogue on myriad levels: innovative and experimental exhibition concepts accompanied by conferences, symposia, festivals and various educational activities.

Realizing transnational projects will continue to present real challenges in 2021. This has strengthened the PERSPEKTIVE fund’s commitment to supporting and accompanying the five innovative projects selected by a jury of independent experts via video conference in January of this year. The pandemic has impacted the development of the projects but all have shown great adaptability in ensuring that public audiences experience the artistic events and activities while still complying with the health-protection regulations now part of our daily lives.

This year’s five winning projects are dedicated to transnational dialogue and the critical importance of giving voice to a variety of perspectives. The project The Wake uses radio programming to inspire new conversations between Europe and the Caribbean by bringing people together to share stories and develop new visions for the future. Created is a space for dreams, fantasies and collective travel for those confined to their homelands, stranded at the gates of the Western world, but who refuse to let this keep them from forming alliances and making their voices heard. The resonating power of collective voices is also at the heart of Polyphon, a project that investigates the impacts and influences of fusing discourse with multiple voices and sounds. Drawing inspiration from literary historian Mikhaïl Bakhtine’s concept, the artists’ performances examine how codes and systems of expression and representation are articulated, even occasionally contradictory ones. Here, a variety of individual and collective sounds interact and reflect on the harmonies and dissonances of our contemporary era. Social dialogues form the central component of the third project Proximité(s) / Nähe (Proximities) whose workshops explore neighborhoods on the urban periphery. These suburban areas are home to significant numbers of low-income populations with common migration histories who also share similar fates and realities in both Germany and France.

The selected architectural projects focus in particular on including citizens and environmental issues in urban construction initiatives. The participatory project The yard and the water addresses the relationship between architecture and the environment against the backdrop of climate change—the central crisis of the Anthropocene—as well as nature’s ability to create landscape. The festival encourages participants to reflect on the nature of productive land and rural realities and involves residents, farmers, students, architects, and artists. As a collective unit they will map out resources and come up with new ways of thinking about sustainable transformation while collaborating with second or even third generation “neo-ruralists” who live off the land and promote a dynamic that never ceases to amaze urban dwellers. Architectural experiments and innovations are the focus of the project Les Utopies Constructives, presented as a festival held in the city park of Richelieu. In a series of discussions and workshops involving architects, engineers, urban planners, landscape architects, researchers, craftsmen, artists and students, the project’s main themes of resources and manufacturing will be collectively debated in an effort to pool existing knowledge and think up new design approaches.

The Wake
Organizers: Ateliers Médicis, Clichy / Montfermeil (France); Savvy Contemporary, Berlin (Germany)
Participants: Olivier Marboeuf, Léonard Jean-Baptiste, Françoise Vergès, Sophonie Maignan, Jephthé Carmil and others
Dates: April–May 2021
Venues: Ateliers Médicis, Clichy / Montfermeil (France); Savvy Contemporary, Berlin (Germany) – online

Polyphon
Organizers: Kunstsammlung, Gera (Germany); Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Gera; Musée d‘art et d'histoire Paul Éluard, Saint-Denis (France)
Participants: Claudia Tittel, Anne Zeitz, Holger Peter Saupe, Anne Yanover, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Félicia Atkinson, Oliver Beer Candice Breitz and others
Dates: March 2021–January 2022
Venues: Centre allemand d’histoire de l’art, Paris (France); Musée d’art et d’histoire Paul Éluard, Saint-Denis (France); Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, Leipzig (Germany); Kunstsammlung, Gera (Germany); Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Gera (Germany) – online

Proximité(s) / Nähe
Organizers: Veduta/Biennale d’art contemporain de Lyon, Lyon (France); How to: The Flow of Spirit collective (Germany)
Participants: Adeline Lépine, Jan Kopp, Annette Hans, Oliver Bulas, Félix Luna, Van Bo Le Mentzel and others
Dates: April–November 2021
Venues: Cité Jardin de Gerland, Lyon (France); High-Deck Siedlung, Neukölln (Germany) – online

The yard and the water
Organizers: Centre d’art et de design La cuisine, Nègrepelisse (France); City of Nègrepelisse (France); Constructlab, Berlin (Germany)
Participants: Marta Jonville, Matthieu Duperrex, Joanne Pouzenc, Camille de Toledo, Alexander Römer, Joanne Pouzenc, Katja Fischer, and others
Dates: May–September 2021
Venues: Centre d’art et de design La cuisine, Nègrepelisse (France); RCR Arquitectes, Olot (Catalonia)

Les Utopies Constructives
Organizers: Le BETA, Paris (France); La Teinturerie, Richelieu (France); ILEK, Research Laboratory, Stuttgart (Germany)
Participants: Benjamin Marolleau, Marc Hymans, Geoffrey Clamou, Camille Sineau, Dr. Priscillia Jorge and others
Dates: February–September 2021
Venues: Richelieu Park (France)

This year’s jury included: Eike Becker (architect, Berlin), Monica Bonvicini (artist, Berlin), Hélène Guenin (museum director, Musée d’Art moderne et d’Art contemporain, Nice), Christina Landbrecht (art program director, Schering Foundation, Berlin), Jean-Hubert Martin (curator, Paris)

PERSPEKTIVE - Contemporary Art and Architecture Fund is an initiative of the Bureau des arts plastiques / French Institut Germany and is supported by the French Ministry of Culture and the Goethe-Institut.

More information on the selected projects, jury members and the fund is available at: www.fonds-perspektive.de.

Contact: Bureau des arts plastiques
Marie Graftieaux – Director, Bureau des arts plastiques
Amandine Croset – Communication assistant, Bureau des arts plastiques
T +49 (0)30 590 03 92 44 | perspektive@institutfrancais.de
www.fonds-perspektive.de