Fondation d’entreprise Ricard 20 years of experimentation
Fondation d’entreprise Ricard has been an active force on the French art scene for more than two decades, seeking out, exhibiting and supporting artists and curators. Represented by the steadfast gaze of Colette Barbier, with her true passion for art and artists, the foundation is now celebrating the 20th anniversary of its Prize, with a new book that traces back through its remarkably coherent evolution.
It has often played with role reversals, shuffling the cards, as though covering her tracks in order to better reveal the landscape. As Neïl Beloufa – the artist invited to direct the 20th edition of the prize, awarded to Liv Schulman – points out: “For 20 years now, the Fondation d’entreprise Ricard has been participating in the construction of the French art scene, with its structures, hierarchies, methods and forms. Year after year, it legitimizes the practices of artists, curators and institutions, while at the time disrupting expectations when it invites artists to act as curators and curators to act as artists.” Indeed, by enriching the variety of approaches that give visibility to the French scene – both at home and abroad – over the years the prize has taken on the role of an observatory, and often an incubator, of artistic expressions. The half-dozen exhibitions presented each year inside the facility on Rue Boissy d’Anglas, in Paris, are accompanied by a series of public meetings and roundtables that bring together artists, theorists and thinkers from all disciplines. “The notion of exchange and commitment is paramount in our choices,” says Colette Barbier. “Encountering a work and an artist is a generous and crucial process that leaves a trace and a link forever. From these milestones come the currents of ideas that nourish men, women, and the world. That is why the exchange and freedom of spirit fostered by contemporary art remain the spice of life, most definitely of mine.” To mark this commitment, the foundation has chosen to produce, under the direction of Michel Gauthier, curator at the Musée national d’art moderne at Centre Pompidou, and Marjolaine Lévy, art historian and curator, 20 ans d’art en France. Une histoire sinon rien (Editions Flammarion) providing an overview of exhibitions and significant events in the history of contemporary art in France, from 1999 to 2018. To end the year in style, the foundation is hosting “A Barbarian in Paris,” a proposal by curators Joachim Hamou, Maija Rudovska and Barbara Sirieix, inspired by the manifesto Art Actif written in 1923 by the Latvian collector, writer and physician Andrejs Kurcijs, with works by 23102015, Tatjana Danneberg, Virgile Fraisse, Signe Frederiksen, Guillaume Maraud, Viktor Timofeev, Anna-Stina Treumund, and Evita Vasiljeva.
“A Barbarian in Paris.” Fondation d’entreprise Ricard, Paris. Through December 22.