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Visual Arts FOCUS Paris-Lyon

Eighteen art professionals from different countries have been selected by Institut français and its cultural network to take part in the FOCUS programme. A unique opportunity for French and international artists and visual arts professionals to meet, FOCUS aims to raise the profile of the French art scene and facilitate the creation of professional networks and collaborations between France and other countries.

PROGRAMME

PARIS

For five days, FOCUS will feature a programme of exhibitions and artistic events in the field of contemporary art in Greater Paris. Participants will benefit from an exceptional programme that will enable them to discover the ecosystem of the French art scene, punctuated by visits to artists’ studios, art centres, foundations, museums, galleries and Tram network venues, as well as meetings with Prix Pernod Ricard and Prix Marcel Duchamp artists. They will also enjoy the diversity of fairs during the week, including Paris Internationale, AKAA, Asia Now and Art Basel Paris at the Grand Palais.

LYON

Participants will also be able to attend the 17^th Lyon Biennial. Created in 1991, the Lyon Biennial has established itself as France’s leading contemporary art event. The guest curator for this new edition, Alexia Fabre, Director of the Beaux-Arts de Paris, wanted to place the values of altruism and welcoming others at the heart of her program. Entitled “Les voix des fleuves – Crossing the water”, the Biennale opened on 21September 2024 until 5 January 2025. The project draws on the natural and human geography of the area, as well as on the spirit of the Biennial’s new venues, the Grandes Locos and the Cité Internationale de la Gastronomie. These sites, of which macLYON is the most historically linked to the Biennial, are permeated by the question of relationships and welcoming others. The artists echo the singular voices of these places, their narratives as well as their social characteristics. These places of construction and repair, of care and hospitality, of attention to the other, reveal as many destinies as forms of relationship – traditional, invented, hoped-for.

Participants in the Visual Arts FOCUS Paris- Lyon

Julie Leopold ALF, Director and founder, Enter Art Fair, Copenhagen (Danemark)

Noura AL-MAASHOUQ, Director, SOMACA Museum, Riyadh (Saoudi Arabia)

Yang BEICHEN, Director, Macalline Center of Art, Beijing (China)

Tatiana CUEVAS, Director, Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo – MUAC, México (Mexico)

Suni DANAZHA, Executive director, Sofia Art Fair, Sofia (Bulgaria)

Thiago DE PAULA, Co-curator, São Paulo Biennale, São Paulo (Brazil)

Emma ENDERBY, Director, KW Museum, Berlin (Germany)

Christine EYENE, Curator, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, (United Kingdom)

Alvaro Rodriguez FOMINAYA, Director, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León – MUSAC , Castilla y León (Spain)

Soumaya JEBNOUNI, Director, “Central” Art Center, Tunis (Tunisia)

Xianhe KONG, Artistic Director, Le Centre d’art Rodin, Shangai (China)

Carolina LOCH, Director of Implementation, International Museum of Art in Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná (Brazil) 

Shintaro MATSUNAGA, Curator in chief, Yokohama Museum of Art , Yokohama (Japan)

Je Yun MOON, Project Director, ArtSonje Center, Seoul (South Korea)

Karin OEN, Director, NTU Center for Contemporary Art (Singapore)

Magda RADU, Artistic Director, “Salonul de proiecte” Art Center, Bucharest (Romania)

Adelina VLAS, Curator in chief, The Power Plant Art Center, Toronto (Canada)

Anna-Karin WULGUÉ, Director, “Färgfabrik” Art Center , Stockholm (Sweden)