MONUMENTA 2007/ANSELM KIEFER
GRAND PALAIS-PARIS
May 30 – July 8, 2007
Monumenta 2007
One artist, one place, one work :
an exceptional artistic challenge
From spring 2007, the French Ministry of Culture and Communication presents a major new art event: Monumenta. Each year, Monumenta offers an exceptional artistic challenge, inviting an internationally renowned artist to engage with the nave of the Grand Palais in Paris. Each new encounter will give rise to a unique work of art, shaped and inspired by this spectacular setting.
Three contemporary artists have already agreed to participate in this bold new venture, starting with Anselm Kiefer, from May 30 to July 8, 2007. The next two installations in the series will be created by the American sculptor Richard Serra, in 2008, and the French artist Christian Boltanksi, in 2009.
Born in 1945, and a leading figure on the contemporary art scene since the 1970s, Anselm Kiefer has chosen to live and work in France for the past decade. His work comprises paintings and sculptures of tremendous emotional power and immediacy, inspired by the great dramas of the 20th century, with a wealth of motifs and symbols exploring creation mythology and the nature of the cosmos. Kiefer’s grandiose works draw on a range of media and imagery, from sand, branches, celestial bodies and hair, to poetic, mystical or scientific texts.
Under the title Sternenfall (‘Falling Stars’), Anselm Kiefer has chosen to dedicate the new group of works created specially for the Grand Palais to two central figures of 20th-century German literature, the Jewish-born poet Paul Celan (1920-1970) and the Austrian poetess Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973), both noted for their strident political stance and their commitment to the duty of remembrance.
A commitment to outreach
MONUMENTA is dedicated to supporting the creation of new works of art, together with an exceptional range of services and interpretive resources for the widest possible public, designed to provide each visitor with the tools they need to understand and enjoy works by the artists of our day.
A team of contemporary art specialists will be available on site at the Grand Palais, helping the public to explore the new works on display to the full. Free audio guides deliver targeted, expert commentaries, background knowledge, and audio content covering a range of themes (‘Matter and signs’, ‘European culture after the Shoah’, ‘Cosmogony and mythology’, ‘Painting, literature and poetry’ etc.) designed to highlight the importance of the individual viewer at the heart of the artist’s world.
A new perspective on today’s world. A new perspective on the Grand Palais.
The recently-renovated Grand Palais is one of the great historic buildings of Paris, and the world. Designed for the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900, the monumental steel-and-glass roof rises to a height of 45 metres beneath the central dome, while the nave extends for over 200 metres at ground level, covering a surface of 13,500 square metres in a single span. The Grand Palais is the setting for numerous prestigious cultural events. Now, MONUMENTA provides individual contemporary artists with an unparalleled opportunity to work in this extraordinary environment, expressing their creativity and artistic power to their fullest extent. A new way to discover the work of a living artist. A new way to discover the Grand Palais.
Curator : José Alvarez
For further information, visit www.monumenta.com
Monumenta 2007 : Anselm Kiefer
From May 30 to July 8, 2007
Grand Palais
Avenue Winston Churchill 75008 PARIS
Daily except Tuesday
Monday and Wednesday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Thursday / Friday / Saturday / Sunday: Noon to midnight
For further information: 33 (0)1 40 15 73 11
Group visits, school parties: 33 (0)1 40 15 38 43
