A drop of water falling from the ceiling: this is the perturbation at the base of the project realized by Diller Scofidio + Retro to celebrate 30 years of Cartier Foundation in Paris.

A reflection on space and its relationship with the public and an enhancement of the glass building by Jean Nouvel, which is twenty years old this year. Ballade pour une boite de verre, the name of the duchampian installation, aims to completely empty rooms on the foundation’s ground floor creating new and strange spatial effects with the help of a sound project by David Lang and Jody ELFF .
At its third collaboration with these artists, the Fondation Cartier organized a rich calendar of events to celebrate his thirtieth anniversary it organizes a full calendar of events also including a lot of old friends.

CARTIER_017
The other exhibition that will open on October 25th, along with the American architects’ one, is Les Habitants by the Argentinean artist Guillermo Kuitca , which already exhibited at Cartier Foundation in 2000. Inspired by the title of a film by Artavzd Pelechian , Kuitca combines in one room a group of works by various artists: Tarsila Do Amaral, Francis Bacon, Vija Celmins, David Lynch, Patti Smith and, of course, Artavzd Pelechian. The inhabitants of this large-scale installation, in which the artist creator merges with the curator, have in common a previous collaboration with the Fondation Cartier. The artwork wants so to represent symbolically the foundation’s activity, fitting perfectly, however, with the reflection on connections that Kuitca carried out by several years.
The events for thirty years have also been the opportunity for some considerations about the foundation’s activity from 1984 till today. That’s why the direction committed to Tadanori Yokoo 110 Portraits, to remember all the personalities who have collaborated , exhibited or dialogued with this institution.

The movie Mémoeries vives by Fredi Casco is an important work lead on archives to the discovery of new interviews and testimonies from all the people, artists, conservators , collectors, which meant that the Foundation Cartier became one of the most important French institution in contemporary art promotion. In the same spirit it has also been published a box, consisting of two volumes, telling exhibitions’ history and personalities who made foundation’s fortune.
To let a larger public benefit of these riches recently discovered, it has also been realized a digital platform, accessible from the website, making available unpublished archival materials, images and video.
Inaugurated by Patti Smith concert on October 23th, the series of events and exhibitions organized for this important anniversary coincides with FIAC, the largest French contemporary art fair, showing the Fondation Cartier’s responsibility to its position in contemporary art scene.

fondation.cartier.com

This post is also available in: Italian