The Centre Pompidou Is Opening an ‘Art Factory’ in the Suburbs of Paris as a Hub for Conservation and Community Partnerships

The Centre Pompidou is continuing to grow. The
Paris museum has announced that it
will open a new 235,000-square-foot satellite space in the city’s
suburbs. 

The new outpost, located in the
commune of Massy on the
Ile-de-France, is billed as
a fabrique de l’art (art factory). It will house the
majority of the 120,000
works in the collection of the Musée national d’art moderne, which
are currently at the
Pompidou, as well as exhibition space and conservation
facilities. 

Museum officials say the venue
is expected to open in 2025. 

Citing a need to better
accommodate its growing collection and share it with the people of
France, the Pompidou seeks to “design a new type of reserves,” one
that “boasts all the necessary conditions to the preservation of
its heritage,” the museum said in a statement. “It will be both a
center of excellence for the conservation and restoration of the
works in the collection, and a new cultural and creative venue
deeply rooted in its territory.”

Co-funded by the country’s
Ministry of Culture, the Région Ile-de-France, and the Department
of Essonne, the new branch will aim to connect the community with
local cultural organizations and figures, according to the
announcement.

In addition to hosting “live
shows, performances, conferences, screenings, and workshops,” an
outside curator will be invited annually to mount a show from the
museum’s collection and create a slate of educational programs with
local schools. The museum will also offer professional
apprenticeships and research opportunities for students.

The news of the art factory
comes just weeks before the museum’s most recent expansion
effort—an outpost in Shanghai called the Centre Pompidou x
West Bund Museum—opens to the
public. Occupying a
270,000-square-foot wing of the David Chipperfield-designed West
Bund Art Museum, the space will host its official inauguration in
the first week of November with a pair of shows curated from the
Pompidou’s collection.

The museum also operates a
“pop-up” branch in Málaga, Spain, a project which was renewed for
another five years in 2018. Meanwhile, a fourth outpost is planned
to open in Brussels in 2023.

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the Suburbs of Paris as a Hub for Conservation and Community
Partnerships appeared first on artnet News.