My formative years with The Danish Contemporary Art Foundation
From 1997 to 2003, I had the pleasure of working within an exclusive, dedicated team of contemporary art specialists. Working in the international sphere and communicating the endeavours of the vibrant Danish contemporary art scene was a beautiful and useful task putting us all forward. The DCA Foundation was admired and acclaimed by the international and domestic contemporary art community.
I was in particular following the French contemporary art scene and was asked to reflect on the art gallery of the 21st century as Palais de Tokyo opened in 2001.
Palais de Tokyo was originally built in 1937 for the World Exhibition. Until 1977 it had been home to The National Museum of Modern Art (which moved to the Pompidou Centre/Beaubourg), and The National Centre of Photography.
I contributed to the Palais de Tokyo’s opening catalogue with a short text on how I saw the ideal art gallery of the 21st century and what one could expect from it. This was my answer then, and my reply would probably be the same today:
“I expect the art institution of the 21st century to be a wonderful playground of reflection, creation, and expression – as well as simply a cool place to hang out”.
My answer could have been longer, but I thought it was more important to create a punch-line effect with a brief reply.
Below I quote Pierre Restany’s answer to the same question:
“In an age of global culture, the institution is part of the general structure of communication according to its speciality and vocation.
It must be the most subtle and the most effective operational vector of that communication. All bureaucratic burdens which tend to elude the law of transparency are phenomena that are both anachronistic and self-reductive.
The institution manages an activity whose specificity must not impede the insertion of its message in the overall flow of information. That implies a radical change in the psychology of the links between specialists and notably the general audience who are directly concerned”.
Pierre Restany (1930-2003) was a close friend of Yves Klein’s, art philosopher, critic and an intimate connoisseur of Klein’s oeuvre. In 1960, Restany created the idea of “Nouveau Réalisme” and became the protagonist of this movement which counted among others Yves Klein.
Always in admiration of Pierre Restany.
Catherine Lefebvre 