Curating.info

Le Centre d’art de la Maison Populaire est situé en plein cœur de la ville de Montreuil. Conçu tel un laboratoire, il est un lieu de recherche et d’expérimentation. Il accueille depuis 1995 des expositions d’art contemporain dont la programmation est confiée chaque année à un commissaire en résidence pour y développer une hypothèse de travail personnel.

La programmation du lieu a déjà été confiée à des commissaires parmi les plus actifs de la scène actuelle, tels que Claire Le Restif, Jean-Charles Massera, Estelle Pagès, Yves Brochard, François Piron, Emilie Renard, Aurélie Voltz, Christophe Gallois, le collectif Le Bureau/, Florence Ostende, Raphaële Jeune, Anna Colin...
Le Centre d’art est membre du réseau TRAM qui regroupe à ce jour 31 lieux d’art d’Ile-de-France et renforce chaque année ses actions de médiation pour favoriser l’accès à une culture exigeante pour tous. Il est également membre de l’Association des Galeries d’Art Parisiennes.

Profil du commissaire
L’appel à projet est ouvert aux jeunes commissaires professionnel(le)s de moins de 45 ans, vivant en France, dont ce travail est l’activité principale et qui disposent au moins d’une première expérience de commissariat.

Mission du commissaire

En fonction d’une convention et du calendrier prédéfini, il (elle) sera chargé(e) :
d’assurer la réalisation de trois expositions sur une période de 9 mois en 2013 : janvier à juin 2013 et d’octobre à décembre 2013,
de gérer un budget de 50.000 euros pour la réalisation de trois expositions en 2013.
de sélectionner les artistes et coordonner les différentes phases préparatoires des expositions avec l’équipe en place et les différents partenaires,
de rédiger les différents supports de communication et de médiation,
de rédiger le catalogue et du suivi de sa fabrication, dont la parution doit intervenir dans le cadre du finissage de l’exposition en décembre 2013,
de participer à l’élaboration des événements en direction des publics (rencontres, conférences, projections, concerts, ateliers),
d’être présent(e) lors du jury de sélection de l’artiste multimédia en résidence à la Maison Populaire et l’intégrer au dernier volet de sa programmation.
d’être présent(e) lors des réunions de préparation, de montage, de démontage et de promotion de l’exposition.

Pour plus d'informations, visitez http://www.maisonpop.net/spip.php?article1596

IKT, the International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art, held its annual congress in Luxembourg, Metz, and Dudelange from 28 April - 1 May 2011.

It was a special Congress, as it was Enrico Lunghi's final one as President of the IKT. Enrico is highly regarded, his managerial competence keeping IKT as an organisation on an even keel, and his personal warmth and generosity making each IKT member feel genuinely welcomed at each Congress. It therefore seemed fitting that Enrico hosted this Congress at home (he's current Director of Mudam, and former Director of Casino Luxembourg), where he was able to reveal the cultural gems of Luxembourg and region to us. The congress participants visited Mudam, Casino Luxembourg, Carré Rotondes, Fondation de l'Architecture et de l'Ingénierie, FRAC Lorraine, Faux Movement, Centre Pompidou Metz, Centre d’art Nei Liicht, and the Centre National de l'Audiovisuel.

The Congress kicked off in beautiful Luxembourg with the traditional introductions, or Members' Forum as it is officially known. These introductions are quite something: it takes up nearly the entire morning, but every attendee (about 150 curators or so) stands up and introduces themselves briefly to the room. It is a deceptively simple thing, but it really helps to cement the names and faces of your colleagues in your mind, as well as allowing people to quickly reveal a little something of their personality (even in just two minutes, there's time for jokes, name-dropping, charming references, etc). After this Members' Forum, the Congress launched right into exhibition tours for the afternoon in Luxembourg, before swiftly moving on to Metz for more exhibitions. A very full day culminated in a behind-the-scenes tour of Centre Pompidou Metz. The highlight was definitely taking the world's nicest and smoothest freight elevator up to the top floor where artist Daniel Buren was waiting for us. He kindly chatted with us about the exhibition he was installing for several minutes before we went to the Town Hall of Metz for a welcome from the Mayor and a buffet dinner. Here's a short clip about Buren's show (in French):



On Saturday we were in charming Dudelange. The discussion panel was entitled "What is the good of Mediation in contemporary art?" for this year, and was introduced by Maria Lind, featuring presentations from Jorge Munguia Matute, Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro, and Sally Tallant. Their presentations absolutely raised the problems of mediation, though they proposed some solutions too: notably, Pérez-Barreiro's example of the deep integration of audience development and education into the Mercosul Biennale that he curated (read a great interview with him in this PDF here). Jorge Munguia Matute cited several inspirational examples of creating public dialogue, such as with the Pase Usted project in Mexico City, and Sally Tallant took us under the bonnet of the Centre for Possible Studies, part of Serpentine Gallery's engagement with the communities living around Edgware Road in London.



The annual General Assembly also took place in Dudelange, and it was a little more exciting than usual, with plenty of discussion around the choice of venue for next year's Congress (Tel Aviv, Israel), new members being elected to the Board, and of course, the election of the new President: Friedemann Malsch, Director of the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein. The fact that the Presidency of IKT passed from one tiny country (Luxembourg) to an even tinier one (Liechtenstein) was pointed out by Enrico Lunghi, to laughter from the assembly. The evening's party at Casino Luxembourg was also wonderful and memorable, taking place in the cavernous, damp stone basement of the building and with enough delicious Crémant de Luxembourg to fuel us well into the evening.

A true highlight was the tour of private corporate collections that took place for those who decided to stay until Sunday. Enrico really worked some magic to get these collections open to us not only on a Sunday, but a Sunday on a holiday weekend! We toured the Deutsche Bank Luxembourg, Arendt & Medernach, and the European Investment Bank. It was a well-balanced combo: wealthy international bank, medium-sized legal business, and the largest multilateral lending institution in the world. At the European Investment Bank, it was interesting to hear of their plans to ship some of their collection to Greece for an exhibition. We were told they almost never send works out in this way, but that holding a small exhibition in Greece was a kind of expression of solidarity with Greeks in their difficult financial time.



As always, it was a great opportunity to meet and interact with curators from all over the world. I'm already looking forward to next year in Tel Aviv.

Photos by Elke Krasny

La Galerie, a non profit Contemporary Art Centre located in the suburbs of Paris, hosts each year a foreign curator in residence for a period of three months. First organised in 2006, the aim of the residency is to put on an exhibition at La Galerie within the context of a public art centre, and to meet artists and professionals working in the contemporary art field in France.

Residency dates: 7 April – 9 July 2011
Exhibition dates: 28 May– 23 July 2011
Deadline: application to be emailed at the latest 10 January 2011.

Free accommodation is provided (including costs of electricity, gas, internet, phone and public transport) in a 65 m2 flat in the centre of Noisy-le-Sec (10 minutes by train from Paris + 15 minutes walk). The flat includes a bedroom, a living room/kitchen and a workspace. In addition there is a cellar connected to the flat. A total budget of 25,000 EUR is provided by the art centre to cover all expenses of the exhibition including artists' and curator"s travel costs, the curator"s fee (3000 !), transport of art works, insurance costs, production costs, publicity (invitations, flyers, poster, etc), the publication of a 16 page bilingual French/ English leaflet and of a 12 page leaflet for children.

INFORMATION ABOUT LA GALERIE
La Galerie is part of the d.c.a network of Contemporary Art Centres in France. It is publicly funded by the City of Noisy-le-Sec, the DRAC Ile-de-France - Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Seine-Saint-Denis département and the Ile-de-France region. Founded in 1999, La Galerie offers a programme based on the notion of art as a sensory experience and a reflection of our relation to the world through a conceptual approach. Four exhibitions a year (two monographic, two thematic) offer hitherto unseen works by internationally recognized artists together with those of emerging French artists. The centre's main activities are to produce art works, publish bilingual reference publications, host artists and curators in residence and develop educational activities in relation to the artistic programme.

EXHIBITION SPACE
The exhibition space is 140 m2 on street level + project rooms in the basement.

MORE INFORMATION
www.noisylesec.fr (no specific website yet)
La Galerie is a member of: tram, Paris/Île-de-France contemporary art network: http://www.tram-idf.fr
d.c.a, French association for the development of art centres: http://www.dca-art.com

APPLICATION CRITERIA
Each candidate must submit an exhibition proposal which he/she would be able to implement with the help of La Galerie's team. The exhibition can be a group show, a duo, a solo show.

In addition, the curator would be required to:
- Take into consideration the general artistic programme of La Galerie
- Have an interest in the French art scene
- Engage as much as possible with the context of the art centre and participate actively in public talks and events organised by La Galerie
- Write an introductory text and accompanying texts on the works for the press release and the exhibition leaflet.
To facilitate communication with the La Galerie team and the public, the curator should speak French or English.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES
Applications have to be e-mailed to lagaleri[email protected] to the attention of: Marianne Lanavère, Director

Applications should contain only 2 attached files in PDF format (maximum total weight: 4 Mo)
1) The curator's CV/résumé (PDF file) with his/her name, address, phone and email contacts, list of curated exhibitions, pieces of writing etc
2) An exhibition proposal (PDF file) including:
- a text (maximum 2 pages) explaining the idea behind the exhibition
- a list of considered artists (even if they're obviously not confirmed at this stage)
- a short text about each considered artist specifying how his/her work relates in the exhibition (5 lines maximum)
- one picture (reproduction of an art work or exhibition view) for each artist.
In the case of a duo or a solo exhibition, please provide pictures of various works.
Applications sent by postal mail will not be accepted.
For additional information please email: lagalerie -at- noisylesec.fr
Deadline: application to be emailed at the latest 10 January 2011.

After an initial evaluation, 4 to 5 pre-selected curators will be invited to present their project to a selection panel during a conference call mid January 2011. The other candidates will be informed by email after the selection panel.

H + F CURATORIAL GRANT
3rd edition 2010/2011
CALL FOR AN ASSISTANT CURATOR / EXHIBITION COORDINATOR

FRAC Nord – Pas de Calais (F), de Appel arts centre (NL), H + F Curatorial Grant

The 'H+F Curatorial Grant' is an ambitious and original initiative which allows the FRAC Nord–Pas de Calais (Dunkirk/France) in close partnership with the private collector Han Nefkens (H+F Collection) and the de Appel arts centre (Amsterdam/NL), to give young international curators the opportunity to participate in the development of exhibition projects based on the collection of FRAC Nord-Pas-de- Calais.

This grant, which was launched in 2007, offers emerging art curators a unique infrastructure and environment with free access to a research and documentation centre as well as to one of the best French collections of contemporary art. The FRAC acts as the first intermediary for these future professionals of contemporary art by helping them to develop and implement their projects.

A panel composed of Han Nefkens (H+F Collection), Ann Demeester (Director of de Appel) and Hilde Teerlinck (Director of the FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais) will select the new candidate. The selected person will become part of the FRAC's team as an assistant curator, coordinating local, national and international exhibition-projects. She / he will receive in exchange a grant for 12 months (May 2010>May 2011) that will help finance her/his living and travel expenses.

An excellent knowledge of English is required, knowledge of French would be helpful.

The candidate will have to install her/himself in Dunkirk for the mentioned period.

This project has been made possible thanks to the generous support of Han Nefkens (journalist, writer and art collector), which enables the FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais to reinforce the development of a strong and active policy of patronage around its activities. From 2008 onwards the application process is open for former students of de Appel Curatorial Programme and all aspiring young curators who wish to enhance their expertise and further develop their skills and agilities in project management.

Please send your application containing a recent CV (including a photograph) and a motivation letter before February 28th 2010 to:

FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais
930 avenue de Rosendaël
59240 Dunkerque (France)
Tel. 03 28 65 84 20
www.fracnpdc.fr
h-teerlinck -at- fracnpdc.fr

Lumi Tan (US), the second curator to be awarded the H+F Curatorial Grant, will present her exhibition-project 'Pilot Light' for the FRAC in collaboration with the ArtAids Foundation on 04.02.2010 in multiple locations in Lille (F).

NOTE D’INTENTION — HYPERTEXTE, LE RÉSEAU PINKPONG, LA VILLE ET L’ÉCOLE DES BEAUX-ARTS DE TOULOUSE S’ASSOCIENT POUR LA CRÉATION D’UN APPEL EN DIRECTION D’UN(E) COMMISSAIRE D’EXPOSITION INDÉPENDANT(E), OU D’UN GROUPE DE COMMISSAIRES
Date limite de réception des projets en pdf : Vendredi 11 décembre 2009.

LE CONTEXTE — Sur l’initiative du projet Hypertexte et en partenariat étroit avec l’école des beaux-arts de Toulouse, un commissaire est invité à développer un projet d’exposition entre janvier et août 2010 à Toulouse.

Il aura en charge la conception, la coordination, les relations avec les artistes, la production, le montage et le démontage de l’exposition. Le commissaire invité travaillera en lien direct avec l’équipe du projet Hypertexte qui assure l’organisation générale de cette invitation. Il associera à sa recherche un groupe d’étudiants de l’école des beaux-arts qui l’accompagnera tout au long du projet. Deux monteurs d’exposition seront mis à disposition. Le commissaire proposera également une stratégie de communication et assurera la production de tous les textes et documents liés à l’exposition (dossier de presse, livret…). Il concevra enfin l’accueil des visiteurs dans l’exposition (en impliquant le groupe d’étudiants associé) et se rendra lui-même disponible pour un rendez-vous spécial avec le public.

LE PROJET — Sa dimension critique, la qualité, la singularité de sa recherche seront les principaux critères de sélection. aider la création — Depuis les années 80 au moins, avec l’apparition d’Harald Szeemann, de l’Agence pour le travail intellectuel à la demande et de son Musée des obsessions, la notion d’auteur s’applique au médium « exposition ». Si des formations, des bourses et des résidences existent ailleurs en France, ce n’est pas le cas à Toulouse. Cette invitation répond à un manque. Pour autant, elle s’appuie d’abord sur le désir de structures dédiées à la création contemporaine de partager une expérience et une ouverture sur d’autres conceptions de l’exposition.

Calendrier — Ouverture de l’appel : 17 novembre / 11 décembre 2009.
Date limite de réception des projets en pdf : Vendredi 11 décembre 2009.
Pré-sélection de quatre dossiers : Vendredi 18 décembre 2009.
Audition des candidats et sélection : Jeudi 7 janvier 2010.
Workshop d’une dizaine de jours avec les étudiants : Février / juin 2010.

LA CANDIDATURE — LES DOSSIERS DOIVENT PARVENIR AVANT LE 12 DÉCEMBRE EN PDF DE
3,5 MO (MAX.) À hy-call@projet-hypertexte.com ET DOIVENT ÊTRE SUIVIS D’UN EXEMPLAIRE
SUR PAPIER ADRSSÉ À « PROJET HYPERTEXTE, 5 RUE DE L’INDUSTRIE, 31000 TOULOUSE ».

Pour télécharger l'appel : http://projet-hypertexte.com/

La Galerie, a Contemporary Art Centre located in the suburbs of Paris, hosts each year a foreign curator in residence for a period of three months. First organised in 2006, the aim of the residency is to put on an exhibition at La Galerie within the context of an art centre, and to meet artists and professionals working in the contemporary art field in France.

Residency dates: 6 April – 5 July 2010
Exhibition dates: 25 September – 28 November 2010 (tbc)
Deadline: application to be postmarked or emailed at the latest Wednesday 16 December 2009.

In 2010, exhibition proposals will have to deal with the city as an image. The selected exhibition proposal will be part of the “Art Grandeur Nature” biennial in Seine-Saint-Denis department. (1)

Free accommodation is provided (including costs of electricity, gas, internet, phone and transport) in a 65 m2 flat in the centre of Noisy-le-Sec (10 minutes by train from Paris + 15 minutes walk). The flat includes a bedroom, a living room/kitchen and a workspace. In addition there is a cellar connected to the flat.

A total budget of 25,000 € is provided by the art centre to cover artists' and curator’s travel costs, the curator’s fee (3000 €), transport of art works, insurance costs, production costs, publicity (invitations, flyers, poster, etc), the publication of a 16 page bilingual French/ English leaflet and of a 12 page leaflet for children.

In addition to the residency period, a one-week stay will be paid to the curator in order to supervise the installation of the works in the exhibition space and to attend the opening of the exhibition.

INFORMATION ABOUT LA GALERIE
La Galerie is one of the 46 Contemporary Art Centres in France, publicly funded by the City of Noisy-le-Sec, the DRAC Ile-de-France - Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Seine-Saint-Denis département and the Ile-de-France region. Founded in 1999, La Galerie offers a programme based on the notion of art as a sensory experience and a reflection of our relation to the world through a conceptual approach. Four exhibitions a year (two monographic, two thematic) offer hitherto unseen works by internationally recognized artists together with those of emerging French artists.

The centre's main activities are to produce art works, publish bilingual reference publications, host artists and curators in residence and develop educational activities in relation to the artistic programme.

EXHIBITION SPACE
The exhibition space is 140 m2 on street level.

MORE INFORMATION
www.noisylesec.net (no specific website yet)

APPLICATION CRITERIA
Each candidate must submit an exhibition proposal which he/she would be able to implement with the help of La Galerie's team. In addition, the curator would be required to:

- Take into consideration the general artistic programme of La Galerie
- Propose an exhibition that deals in some ways with the city as an image (1)
- Have an interest in the French art scene
- Engage as much as possible with the context of the art centre and participate actively in public talks and events organised by La Galerie
- Write an introductory text and accompanying texts on the works for the press release and the exhibition leaflet.

To facilitate communication with the La Galerie team and the public, the curator should speak French or English.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES
The application should contain:
- The curator’s CV/résumé with his/her name, address, phone and e-mail
- An exhibition proposal (2 pages maximum, excluding images), explaining the idea behind the exhibition. In addition it should provide a list of artists with a short text about each artist (5 lines max) and one picture for each artist.

Applications can be e-mailed to lagalerie -at- noisylesec.fr or mailed to:
Marianne Lanavère, Director
La Galerie, Contemporary Art Centre
1 rue Jean-Jaurès
F-93130 Noisy-le-Sec, France

Deadline: application to be postmarked or emailed at the latest Wed. 16 December 2009.

After an initial evaluation, 4 to 5 pre-selected curators will be invited to present their projects to a selection panel during a conference call at the beginning of January 2010.

1.) Additional information on the 10th Art Grandeur Nature Biennial in Seine-Saint-Denis September – November 2010, various locations in Noisy-le-Sec, Les Lilas and Pantin The city is without any doubt the most filmed subject and decor in the history of cinema. The birth of cinema coincides furthermore with the emergence of the modern metropolis. Television, video and more recently different kinds of digital tools for image & sound recording, processing and broadcasting have since then accompanied significant phases of the urbanization of the world throughout the second half of the 20th century and up till now.

All these means of expression that help us to grasp the world “at live”, whether they are appearing in complementary or conflicting ways, have shaped and will continue to shape our relationships to the city. The cinematographic, video- and media-related visions possess an imaginary potentiality which has an impact on our ways of apprehending the urban space. An urban aesthetics takes shape and transforms the metropolis and its rhythms into a flow of images, which is structured by travellings, sequence shots, depths of field, sound and luminous intensities, etc.

The 2010 edition of the international Art Grandeur Nature biennial will take this evolution of the urban imagination into an artistic and sociological consideration and thus questioning the capacity of our contemporary media tools to affect our perception of (sub)urban everyday life. The Art Grandeur Nature biennial is organized by the Department of the Seine-Saint-Denis since 1993.

MARCO/FRAC Lorraine Award for Young Curators
Deadline: 7pm, Friday 30th October, 2009

Organized by the MARCO, Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo, Spain and FRAC Lorraine, Metz (Fonds regional d’art contemporain de Lorraine), France, the purpose of the MARCO/FRAC Lorraine Award for Young Curators is to offer participants the chance to execute an exhibition project to occupy MARCO’s first floor and the exhibition venues at FRAC Lorraine. Entries will focus on the field of contemporary artistic creation and contemplate the participation of two or more artists.

The exhibition project will have a budget of a maximum sum of 30,000 Euro for each venue. The exhibition will take place from May to September, 2010 at MARCO Vigo, and from October, 2010 and January 2011 at FRAC Lorraine. Proposals that include works from the Collection FRAC Lorraine shall be taken into account. To visit the Collection: http://collection.fraclorraine.org

All curators born in and after 1970 are eligible to enter the competition. If an entry is a group creation, one person will be chosen from that group to represent it and act as mediator with the institution. Curators will not be allowed to participate as artists. Entries must be previously unpublished and must contemplate the participation of two or more artists. No more than one project per entrant will be accepted.

The curator of the winning project will sign a contract with the Fundación MARCO and FRAC Lorraine, agreeing to comply with the functions derived from curating an exhibition, the characteristics of which will be specified in the contract. These will include the selection and location of the works, the design and supervision of the installation, and the writing of at least one text for the catalogue. The curator will receive the sum of 7,000 Euro, tax included, as an honorarium.

A jury made up of professionals of the art world will select the winning project and two finalists in November. The jury’s decision is final. The jury may declare the award void should they consider this necessary. The criteria for evaluating the entries will be based on quality and suitability to the characteristics of the first floor of the MARCO as an exhibition space and exhibition spaces at FRAC Lorraine.

The jury will be composed of:
Beatrice Josse, FRAC Lorraine Director
Iñaki Martínez Antelo, MARCO Director
Kevin Muhlen, Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain Director
Agar Ledo Arias, MARCO Head of the Exhibitions Dept.
Pedro de Llano, Art Critic and curator

The jury’s decision will be made public in November 2009 and all participants will be notified.

Entries must be exclusively and simultaneously submitted, PDF format to the following e-mail addresses info at marcovigo.com and fraclorraine.coordination at wanadoo.fr, subject: ‘Award for Young Curators’. In case of sending additional information, please send it to: MARCO, Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo. Rúa Príncipe, 54. 36202 Vigo (Pontevedra), Spain and 49 Nord 6 Est - FRAC Lorraine. 1 bis, rue des Trinitaires. 57000 Metz, France. Dossiers received in only one venue will not be accepted. Projects must be preferably written in English, although Spanish, French or Galician languages are admitted.

The closing date for the reception of entries is 7pm, Friday 30th October, 2009. Dossiers received after this time will not be accepted.

For more information:
http://www.marcovigo.com
http://www.fraclorraine.org

Welcome to February's Pick 'N Mix: the credit crunch special!

- They say the financial trends that impact the art world are about six months behind larger global financial trends. Perhaps there's a grain of truth to that, given the doom and gloom in the headlines recently, including a 20% reduction in staff at the LA MoCA and the Rose Museum's (apparent) imminent closure.

- Significant job security worries aside for a moment, what could this mean for curators? Mark Spiegler, Art Basel co-director believes that "...with less money flowing around, gallerists may conclude that if there are no sure sales, they might as well do something interesting and significant. In the past, certain types of art were sure to sell, and if you took a risk, you were leaving money on the table." Glasgow-based curator Francis McKee concurs with this sentiment, explaining in this longer segment on BBC Scotland the largely positive impact that the last major recession had on the London and Glasgow art scenes: "the recession will actually help us in some ways".

- And of course, in these tough financial times, it's never a bad idea for the state to intervene: In France, Nicolas Sarkozy has canceled a cut to culture funding and he instead increased the budget by €100 million, established a new cultural council, and implemented a policy enabling free entrance to museums for visitors under twenty-five years of age. Bravo!

- Last but not least, while we may have to stretch budgets a bit further for practical things, Ben Davis argues we should not allow ourselves to enter an intellectual recession as he discusses a current crisis in art criticism: "For if a neoliberal boom has been the context for the "crisis of criticism" debate heretofore, the current, stomach-turning collapse represents the implosion of that economic model. [...] Mainstream ideas about what makes sense for society are in flux. Shouldn’t criticism be too?"

La Galerie, a Contemporary Art Centre located in the suburbs of Paris, hosts each year a foreign curator in residence for a period of three months. First organised in 2006, the aim of the residency is to put on an exhibition at La Galerie within the context of an art centre, and to meet artists and professionals working in the contemporary art field in France.

2009 residency dates: from 6 April – 4 July 2009
2009 exhibition dates: 30 May – 25 July 2009

Deadline: application to be postmarked at the latest Friday 23 January 2009.

Free accommodation is provided (including costs of electricity, gas, internet, phone and transport) in a 65 m2 flat in the centre of Noisy-le-Sec (10 minutes by train from Paris + 15 minutes walk). The flat includes a bedroom, a living room/kitchen and a workspace. In addition there is a cellar connected to the flat.

A total budget of 25,000 € is provided by the art centre to cover artists' and curator’s travel costs, the curator’s fee (3000 €), transport of art works, insurance costs, production costs, publicity (invitations, flyers, poster, etc), the publication of a 16 page bilingual French/ English leaflet and of a 12 page leaflet for children.

A short visit (3 days) will be organised before the residency period in order to see the space, meet the team and do some studio visits with artists. The first curator in residence was Bettina Klein (born 1970 in Wadern, Germany, lives in Berlin) for her exhibition “Objet à part” (Ryan Gander, Alexander Gutke, Maria M. Loboda, Kirsten Pieroth, Wilhelm Sasnal, Albrecht Schäfer, Florian Slotawa and Simon Starling) which took place at the art centre from 13 May to 22 July 2006. Then, Anna Johansson (born 1976 in Uppsala, lives in Malmö, Sweden) was selected by the jury to produce her project entitled “A History of One’s Own” (Victor Alimpiev, Marie Andersson, Karlotta Blöndal, Aurélien Froment, Graham Gussin, Martin Karlsson, Guillaume Leblon) from 26 May to 21 July 2007, in the art centre. Last year, Simone Menegoi (born 1976 in Verona, Italy, lives between Verona and Milano) was selected by the jury for his exhibition “Tales of Disbelief” (Athanasios Argianas, Ulla von Brandenburg, Kit Craig, Christian Frosi, João Maria Gusmão + Pedro Paiva, Nick Laessing, Goshka Macuga) from 24 May to 26 July 2008, in the art centre.

INFORMATION ABOUT LA GALERIE
La Galerie is one of the 45 Contemporary Art Centres in France, publicly funded by the City of Noisy-le-Sec, the DRAC Ile-de-France - Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Seine-Saint-Denis département and the Ile-de-France region. Founded in 1999, La Galerie offers a programme based on the notion of art as a sensory experience and a reflection of our relation to the world through a conceptual approach. Four exhibitions a year (two monographic, two thematic) offer hitherto unseen works by internationally recognized artists together with those of emerging French artists. The centre's main activities are to produce art works, publish bilingual reference publications, host artists and curators in residence and develop educational activities in relation to the artistic programme.

EXHIBITION SPACE
The exhibition space is 140 m2 on street level.

MORE INFORMATION
www.noisylesec.net (no specific website yet)
La Galerie is a member of: tram, Paris/Île-de-France contemporary art network: http://www.tram-idf.fr
d.c.a, French association for the development of art centres: http://www.dca-art.com

APPLICATION CRITERIA
Each candidate must submit an exhibition proposal, which he/she would be able to implement with the help of La Galerie's team. In addition, the curator would be required to:

- Take into consideration the general artistic programme of La Galerie
- Have an interest in the French art scene and consider it in the final exhibition proposal (through the
possibility of a short visit to Paris before the residency period)
- Engage as much as possible with the context of the art centre and participate actively in public talks and events organised by La Galerie
- Write an introductory text and accompanying texts on the works for the press release and the exhibition leaflet.
To facilitate communication with the La Galerie team and the public, the curator should speak French or English.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES
The application should contain:
- The curator’s CV/résumé with his/her name, address, phone and e-mail
- An exhibition proposal (2 pages maximum, excluding images), explaining the idea behind the exhibition. In addition it should provide a list of artists with a short text about each artist (5 lines max) and one picture for each artist. The exhibition will take place 7 weeks after the curator’s arrival, so the proposal should be as comprehensive as possible.

Applications can be mailed or e-mailed to:
Marianne Lanavère, Director, La Galerie,
1 rue Jean-Jaurès, 93130 Noisy-le-Sec, France.
lagalerie -at- noisylesec.fr

Deadline: application to be postmarked at the latest Friday 23 January 2009. After an initial evaluation, 5 or 6 pre-selected curators will be invited to present their projects to a selection panel during a conference call at the very beginning of February 2009.

Etant donnés: The French-American Fund for Contemporary Art
Application deadline: March 31st, 2008

Etant donnés: The French-American Fund for Contemporary Art offers financial support in the form of grants to American nonprofit institutions organizing exhibitions, installations, artist residencies, publications, or other projects by living French artists or to French nonprofit institutions presenting the same types of projects involving American artists. Qualifying projects may be in the fields of visual arts, architecture and design. The Fund, established in 1994 with the French Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, and FACE (French American Cultural Exchange), with support from the Florence Gould Foundation, has distributed nearly 2 million dollars to support more than 200 projects at major French and American institutions.

Since 2005, Etant Donnés also offers Curatorial Research Grants supporting the professional development of American curators by offering them extended stays of up to three months in France for research projects in the field of contemporary art. The grants are intended to facilitate the discovery of new talents, reinforce interest in established contemporary artists, and encourage the exploration of France's cultural resources. Eligible projects may include research for an exhibition or publication, travel to visit specific sites and collections, an intensive period of reading or writing or other projects that support professional development. The grants are reserved for curators and scholars, who must be U.S. citizens or legal residents of the United States for at least five years who have a minimum of three years of research or professional experience in the field and are currently employed by or have a specific project in collaboration with a nonprofit art space.

Grants are awarded through an open competition administered by the Etant donnés Fund. Applications are reviewed by the Etant donnés Artistic Committee, composed of prominent curators, art critics and arts administrators. Completed applications must be received on or before March 31st of each year, for projects beginning after June 1st. Incomplete or late applications cannot be accepted for consideration.

Complete guidelines and application forms are available at the FACE website.

While the Pompidou tries to entice a younger generation by offering wireless internet, the hip and flashy (and, based on the rumblings of folk I know in Paris - sometimes hated) Palais de Tokyo has turned to old media to further its reach to audiences.

"France has changed, the world has changed, and we have to adapt,'' says Bruno Racine, the Pomipdou Center's 54-year-old president, in his red-walled office near the museum. "The Pompidou Center needs to renew itself, live up to the dual challenge of expanding its domestic audience and becoming a global institution.''

There is an excellent article here, that chronicles the recent troubles and triumphs of the Pompidou. The tale inevitably ends on the note of the fiscal viability of the Pompidou, with Racine saying:

"Subsidies are going to plateau,'' he says. "Clearly, we have to diversify our resources by building up visitor numbers, but also forming closer links with companies and collectors.''

Zipping on over to palaisdetokyo.com (or 13 Avenue de Président Wilson, whichever is more convenient), we see that the latest hot news item is their new magazine - yes, printed on dead trees, not on a blog or wiki! - that costs 5-7 Euros (depending on where you live) or 4.50 GBP.

Every quarter, PALAIS / outlines the expanded artistic universe of the new program and invites many contributions from diverse fields: it features images of the exhibitions presented at the Palais de Tokyo, portfolios as well as texts by art critics or philosophers, writers, footballers, artists, etc. and a "carte blanche" given to another magazine.

Throughout PALAIS / is the notion of elasticity: it pulls art toward reality and reality toward art. Are there any potential points of rupture? Where are the intersections, those unlikely places where yodeling and quantum physics meet?

It is simply an interesting study in contrasts. I would actually like to see a mash-up of these approaches - presenting the intersections where quantum physics and yodeling meet, but through a podcast, Wi-Fi portal page, or file I download from Bit Torrent. I'll be happy to see what the Pomipdou makes of dabbling in giving away Wi-Fi and other possible digital efforts, as well as what Palais de Tokyo does with the "old media" - for now.