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<\/p>\n\n\tParis Art Week is filled with vibrant events, the flashiest of which will, of course, be Art Basel Paris. Equally attention-grabbing in its own way is an event of a different sort: the reopening of the Fondation Cartier pour l\u2019art contemporain, which will inaugurate its new space on October 25.<\/p>\n
\n\tCreated in 1984 by Alain Dominique Perrin, then the president of Cartier International, at the suggestion of artist C\u00e9sar, the foundation will reopen its doors at 2 Place du Palais-Royal, near major cultural landmarks such as the Louvre and Fran\u00e7ois Pinault\u2019s private museum, the Bourse de Commerce. The foundation\u2019s lease is set for two consecutive terms that will allow this four-decade-old foundation to be here for 40 more years.<\/p>\n
\t\tRelated Articles<\/p>\n
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\n\tConstructed for the 1855 Exposition Universelle in a Haussmannian style, the building first served as the Grand H\u00f4tel du Louvre, a majestic five-story hotel showcasing France\u2019s industrial progress during the Second Empire. In 1887, it was transformed into the Grands Magasins du Louvre, an iconic department store known for its innovative retail spaces and themed exhibitions, and in the 1970s, it was renovated into the Louvre des Antiquaires, hosting over 240 antique shops and art galleries until its closure in 2019 due to declining attendance.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile the arcades along Rue de Rivoli\u2014originally designed by Charles Percier and Pierre Fran\u00e7ois L\u00e9onard Fontaine\u2014preserve the building\u2019s architectural dialogue with the historic district, the interior has been entirely reimagined by French architect Jean Nouvel, who was responsible for the Fondation Cartier\u2019s previous glass-and-steel home on Boulevard Raspail. \u201cOur building is the only one in the neighborhood with a seamlessly unified architectural program on the ground floor, accessible through any door along its 150-meter [492-foot] facade,\u201d said Beatrice Grenier, director of strategic and international projects at the Fondation Cartier and cocurator of the inaugural exhibition.<\/p>\n
\n\tNouvel\u2019s new design prioritizes openness and flexibility, with natural light filtering through the galleries. At the heart of the project is an innovative modular system composed of five movable platforms (from 2,150 square feet to 3,900 square feet) made of recycled steel, each capable of adjusting to 11 different height positions. This cutting-edge infrastructure, fostering adaptability and responsiveness, allows for a wide range of spatial configurations. \u201cWe are situated directly across from the Louvre, an institution defined by a classical typology\u2014with linear galleries and a chronological presentation,\u201d said Grenier. \u201cRather than a traditional approach grounded in the narrative of objects, here we are immersed in the narrative of ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThis architectural project extends Nouvel\u2019s long-standing reflection on what a 21st-century museum should be\u2014not a static repository for artworks, but rather a dynamic, experimental platform for cultural exchange and creative dialogue. A glass canopy, recalling those that once lined Rue Saint-Honor\u00e9 and Rue de Marengo, connects the experience of the street with the interior. A transparent layout allows views through the entire building\u2014from Rue de Rivoli to Place du Palais-Royal\u2014reinterpreting the logic of the traditional storefront window once used to display goods to passersby. Large ground-floor windows open the building to the city, establishing immediate visual continuity.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\tThe Fondation Cartier pour l\u2019art contemporain.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9Martin Argyroglo\/\u00a9Jean Nouvel\/ADAGP, Paris, 2025<\/p>\n
\n\tOut of the 91,500 square feet accessible to the public, 69,965 are devoted to exhibitions\u2014including the inaugural show, whose title\u2014\u201cExposition G\u00e9n\u00e9rale\u201d(General Exhibition)\u2014alludes to the late 19th-century displays of the Grands Magasins du Louvre department store. This presentation offers a deep dive into nearly 600 works by more than 100 artists who have shaped the Fondation\u2019s history. Which naturally raises the question: who\u2019s not in the line-up?<\/p>\n
\n\tNan Goldin, whose work has appeared at least twice at the foundation over the past decades, is absent, though not for any particular reason\u2014she will soon be the focus of a dedicated show at the Grand Palais opening in March of next year. Raymond Hains\u2019s\u00a0Du Grand Louvre aux 3 Cartier\u00a0is also missing, though only temporarily: it won\u2019t be shown until June 2026. First exhibited at the Fondation Cartier in 1994\u2014the year of its inauguration on Boulevard Raspail\u2014this outdoor photographic installation documents the modernization of the Louvre, including the construction of I. M. Pei\u2019s iconic glass pyramid. The work recalls a time when giant advertising posters adorned the facades overlooking Place du Palais-Royal, drawing passersby into the Grands Magasins du Louvre department store.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe display\u00a0opens with \u201cMachines d\u2019architecture,\u201d a section that reflects Fondation Cartier\u2019s seminal commitment to architecture as a multi-purpose space for experimentation. \u201cThe first platform can be seen as a monument-free extension of Paris with Agn\u00e8s Varda\u2019s trunk, for example,\u201d said Grenier. She was referring to Varda\u2019s Nini on her tree (2019), a sculpture of a cat perched on a trunk, which was part of the Fondation\u2019s 2019 \u201cNous les Arbres\u201d show. Highlights include Alessandro Mendini\u2019s playful\u00a0Petite Cath\u00e9drale (1999-2002), Jun\u2019ya Ishigami\u2019s ethereal\u00a0Chapel of Valley (2018), and Freddy Mamani\u2019s\u00a0site-specific Sal\u00f3n de eventos. These are contrasted with the utopian urban visions of Bodys Isek Kingelez and Mamadou Ciss\u00e9, who reimagine the city as a tool for social transformation. <\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\tThe view inside the new Fondation Cartier, with Cai Guo-Qiang\u2019s\u00a0The Vague Border at the Edge of Time \/ Space Project\u00a0(1991) at front center.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9Cyril Marcilhacy<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cBeing Nature,\u201d the show\u2019s second section, shifts the focus from the built to the living, bringing the complexity of forest ecosystems into the museum. Works by Claudia Andujar and the Yanomami community raise urgent questions about Indigenous land and cultural preservation, while a site-specific soundscape by Soundwalk Collective and Bernie Krause immerses visitors in the sensory experience of the natural world. Mirac\u00e9us, a 2003-04 installation made of thousands of feathers collected by Solange Pessoa, is one of the Fondation\u2019s most recent acquisitions\u2014and one of the exhibition\u2019s most memorable works. <\/p>\n
\n\tThe \u201cMaking Things\u201d section explores contemporary creation through craft, materiality, and ancestral know-how, from Andrea Branzi\u2019s open steel pavilion beneath the fifth platform to Olga de Amaral\u2019s monumental woven walls and Jean-Michel Othoniel\u2019s glass sculptures on the first floor. Each section can stretch across multiple gallery levels. \u201cThat\u2019s the whole point,\u201d said Grenier. \u201cYou glimpse a work from a distance, turn away, then walk up to it with a new perspective after seeing other objects.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\tSarah Sze\u2019s\u00a0Tracing Fallen Sky is among the works on view at the new Fondation Cartier.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9Marc Domage<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cA Real World\u201d\u00a0presents speculative\u2014at times dystopian\u2014yet deeply imaginative visions of our contemporary condition. This section offers\u00a0Sarah Sze\u2019s\u00a0Tracing Fallen Sky, whose initial presentation was cut short by the Covid pandemic, a renewed moment of visibility. This installation\u2014composed of a concave, mirror\u2011like floor structure and stainless steel fragments, video projections, everyday objects, and a pendulum that swings irregularly\u2014explores how the proliferation of digital images has transformed our relationship to time and memory.\u00a0Also on view is\u00a0EXIT\u00a0by\u00a0Diller Scofidio + Renfro, based on an original concept by philosopher\u00a0Paul Virilio. The data-driven installation uses information gathered by scientists to map various forms of global migration\u2014economic, political, and environmental. It was updated in\u00a02025\u00a0to coincide with the\u00a0inaugural exhibition of the Fondation Cartier at Place du Palais-Royal.<\/p>\n
\n\tThere is a bittersweet quality to\u00a0Cai Guo-Qiang\u2019s\u00a0The Vague Border at the Edge of Time \/ Space Project\u00a0(1991), one of seven folding panels created using gunpowder. This particular piece was acquired years ago by a former organizing committee, while others from the same series have since entered major institutions such as the\u00a0Guggenheim. What might appear as a gap\u2014or even a curatorial misstep\u2014simply reflects the contingencies of institutional history. Yet unlike the Museum of Modern Art, which actively follows a\u00a0deaccessioning-acquisition policy, removing works from its permanent collection to fund new purchases, the\u00a0Fondation Cartier\u00a0has sold very little of its holdings. Its collection is shaped less by strategic trade-offs than by a sustained sense of loyalty to the artists it supports.<\/p>\n
\n\tBecause of their sustainable approach and their long-term relationship with the Fondation, Formafantasma was charged with the exhibition design. Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, the founders of the Milan- and Rotterdam-based studio had featured as artists in the 2019 \u201cYoung Artists in Europe. Metamorphoses\u201dshow. Their collaboration with the foundation continued with the \u201cMondo Reale\u201d presentation at the 2022 Triennale Milano, and with the exhibitions\u00a0\u201cCambio\u201d and \u201cOltre Terra in Paris.\u201d For \u201cExposition G\u00e9n\u00e9rale,\u201d theItalian duo has imagined fabric displays to guide the visitors through the artworks and exhibition signage. \u201cTextiles are important\u2014they reference the era of department stores, where there was no hierarchy between mediums,\u201d said Grenier.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\tThe new Fondation Cartier.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9Martin Argyroglo\/\u00a9Jean Nouvel\/ADAGP, Paris, 2025<\/p>\n
\n\tThe move was an opportunity for Fondation Cartier to expand its contemporary art program with two additional spaces that reflect the diversity of 21st-century artistic expression. A new auditorium will host performances, concerts, shows, and a vibrant schedule of talks and debates, offering a platform where creators can engage in dialogue\u2014either as extensions of or counterpoints to the exhibitions. A bookstore will feature a rich selection of cross-disciplinary works, with a strong emphasis on the Fondation\u2019s own publications, developed in close collaboration with artists.<\/p>\n
\n\tLooking ahead to 2026, the Fondation will inaugurate\u00a0La Manufacture, a 3,230-square-foot educational space on the first floor dedicated to art education for all ages and backgrounds. Inspired by traditions of learning through gesture, the space will emphasize the \u201cintelligence of the hand\u201d as a pedagogical foundation for workshops, creative programs, and educational initiatives. A high-end restaurant will also open on-site, led by a world-renowned chef\u2014whose identity, for now, remains a closely guarded secret.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paris Art Week is filled with vibrant events, the flashiest of which will, of course, be Art Basel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267],"tags":[365,362,363,364,366,18,117,80215,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-139467","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-fondation-cartier-pour-lart-contemporain","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}