France: New cultural spaces and new art practices. A lecture by Marie-Pierre Bouchaudy

February 13, 7:30 PM

The phenomenon of transforming abandoned factories, often those located on the periphery of large cities, into new cultural centres first appeared in northern Europe during the 1970s under the name “Fabrik” (Factory). The first such cultural centres to appear in France date back to the mid-1980s.

Centres of this kind are known in France as “transitional spaces”: it is here that the boldest artistic experiments take place. Since 2001 they have drawn particular interest from France’s Ministry of Culture, which has decided to dedicate significant funding to their upkeep and development. Marie-Pierre Bouchaudy, whose brief within the French Ministry of Culture is the analysis and development strategy for the “transitional spaces”, will give a talk on the history and ongoing development of these spaces, which first appeared as a form of protest and have become with time both an instrument for political discourse and a foundation for contemporary France’s self-identification. It is no accident that France dedicated its pavilion at the 2018 Venice Biennale to these very “undefined spaces, within which research and experiments are conducted into the collective construction of the world”.

Marie-Pierre Bouchaudy has worked at the French Ministry of Culture since 1990. She initially worked on education projects in the agricultural sector, before joining the team of Michel Dufour, secretary of state for cultural heritage and the decentralisation of cultural policy, where she worked on the phenomenon that would come to be known as “New art territories”. In 2014 she was appointed Head of the Culture Department for Brittany, where her main policy objective is the creation of a multi-branched ecosystem of cultural institutions for the entire region. From 2011-16 she worked as advisor on cultural development to the nine towns known collectively as the “Plaine Commune” which form part of Greater Paris. Working in collaboration with the composer Nicholas Frize, she creates artistic interventions for the process of intensive urbanistic development of this region. Today, Marie-Pierre Bouchaudy serves as head of the quality assessment department of the General Directorate for Artistic Creativity.

The lecture will be given in French with synchronous translation. Admission is free and places are limited, so please register in advance. 18+

This event is organised in cooperation with the French Institute in Russia as part of the Supporting urban transformation project.