Conceiving an Art Center

  • Publish On 27 September 2017
  • Nicolas Bourriaud
  • 5 minutes

Nicolas Bourriaud is an art historian, art critic, theorist and curator. He co-founded the Palais de Tokyo in Paris and directed it from 1999 to 2006. He is currently leading the future MoCo (Montpellier Contemporain), an ambitious art center project in three locations in Montpellier, in the South West of France.

Nicolas Bourriaud rejects the institutions located in “logo building”, like the Guggenheim Bilbao. In the course of this interview, he develops the principles on which he conceives a new institution, which must meet both the requirements of its territory and its time.

Bibliography

explore

Article
Article

Collective Intelligence in the Making

Collective intelligence has become key to understanding and acting upon the complexity of the contemporary world. But how can the conditions for its advent be brought about? Originating in PSL, the “Life in the Making” collective, which brings together researchers in natural sciences, in the humanities, as well as artists, has been exploring this dialogue between intelligences around the theme of the living since 2014. By operating through a flexible framework, the collective has developed a praxis of interdisciplinary collective intelligence—all the while establishing new insights on life, in particular through experimentations between art and science.

Discover
Vidéo

Emmanuelle Déchelette, Lucie Ponard, Thomas Gaudron, Jean-Claude Morel

Vidéo

Soil

Although soil is used as a building material in many parts of the world, it has often been regarded as a waste product in France in recent decades, with little use being made of excavated soil. However, its thermal and hygrometric properties, its extremely low carbon footprint when used raw, its abundance and the natural variations in colour that it offers in every region make it a rich and inspiring material for today’s architects and designers. How can we adapt our building techniques to bring this material into line with contemporary requirements, and get rid of the vision of primitive housing that it still evokes for many people?

Discover
Article
Article

"The network is alive" — Networks and those who maintain them

The French underground and aerial landscape is made up of approximately 910,000 km of drinking water distribution pipes, and over 1.4 million km of power lines. Indispensable in our daily lives, they are nonetheless invisible and increasingly questioned in the light of ecological and technological challenges that are transforming our territories. But can’t these infrastructures be seen as a heritage to be maintained and cared for?

Discover
Vidéo

Antoine Laugier, Thanh-Phong Lê

Vidéo

Aesthetic of Structures

Aesthetic of Structures is a collective work published by the Architects-Engineers & Engineers-Architects association (AAIIA). Established agencies, young practitioners, researchers and students discuss a new relationship with structures, moving away from the Vitruvian principles of utility, solidity and beauty, towards an economy of materials, reversibility of use and the reuse of materials. Here we meet two of the book’s designers: architect-engineer Antoine Laugier and graphic designer Thanh-Phong Lê, who give us an insight into the book, as an object and as a structure.

Discover
Vidéo

Justine Emard, Nicolas Bourriaud, Pierre Pauze

Vidéo

Artificial Intelligence in the creation process

AI is a new form of intelligence whose development is stirring up concerns and dystopian fables. Far from replacing human intelligence, AIs are emerging as new tools to be trained, controlled and shaped to achieve the desired result. For the artist, photographer, architect, film-maker, musician or illustrator, AIs become an agent with which to collaborate, resulting in co-creation. Inaugural lecture of the “AI and Creation” series at the Stream Innovation Center.

Discover
Podcast

“ What can we change in the way we inhabit the land to preserve the soil as an environment? ”

Podcast

“ What can we change in the way we inhabit the land to preserve the soil as an environment? ”


Soil as an environment, property as an inhabiting capacity

Elissa Al Saad is an architect and laureate of the 2023 Palladio Fellowships for her thesis on soil as an environment. By comparing different possible forms of land appropriation, she raises the issue of preserving land resources in relation to ownership. The aim is to think of property as a support for a way of inhabiting that considers land as a common good.

Discover
Podcast

“ Sewers are the mirror image of what happens on the surface. ”

What sewers say about us

Catherine Carré, Thomas Thiebault

Podcast

“ Sewers are the mirror image of what happens on the surface. ”


What sewers say about us

Did you know that we have a lot to learn from sewers? Sewers contain numerous chemical indicators that provide information about the practices of people living above ground, such as the use of medicines and drugs, diet and the state of intestinal flora. By focusing on the city of Paris, the EGOUTS (sewers) research project, funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR), is seeking to shed light on public policy ‘through the dark side of the City of Light’.

Discover
Vidéo

Jérôme Denis, David Pontille, Bérénice Gaussuin, Fanny Lopez

Vidéo

Restoration, transformation, maintenance

In this round-table discussion, the four researchers look at the issue of transition through the prism of the different notions of maintenance, transformation, repair and restoration. These concepts are reminiscent of the issues of destruction, reconstruction and rehabilitation in architecture.

Discover