Conference Review
The French Connection: New Perspectives on French Contemporary Art across Disciplines
Summary Abstract
An international conference on French contemporary art, The French Connection: New Perspectives on French Contemporary Art across Disciplines offered a platform to reflect upon the recent changes in French art as well as an opportunity for its further 'promotion'. This conference also offered a space for reflection on the idea of 'national art’, a questioning that opened onto a discussion of French identity, cross-cultural artistic practices, and disciplinary change.
Conference Review
The French Connection: New Perspectives on French Contemporary Art AcrossDisciplines was conceived as a timely intervention in the debate about French contemporary at a unique cultural moment. While art critics bemoan the relative absence of contemporary French art in today’s international art scene, multiple initiatives serving to promote contemporary French art both within France and abroad mark a wave of renewed interest. With this conference, our intention was to provide an international forum for a discussion of this fascinating cultural phenomenon, by inviting contributors from a wide range of interconnected disciplines, including artists (Pascal Convert), art historians (Sophie Berrebi, Amanda Crawley-Jackson, Antigoni Memou, Geraldine McIlwaine, Céline Robillard), film scholars (Isabelle McNeill, Laura McMahon), philosophy scholars (Nigel Saint, Jérôme Game ), art critics (Paul Ardenne), sociologists (Alain Quemin, Femke Van Hest) and curators (Anne-Sophie Dinant, Suzanne Cotter, Anaïs Bourquin, Caroline Soyez-Petithomme). Following the ‘promotional’ spirit of many state and private-funded initiatives that multiplied in the recent past, this conference aimed to increase the awareness of French contemporary art and film in the UK. This has been achieved with a special programme of films, selected and presented by Anne-Sophie Dinant from South London Gallery. This selection, entitled Pas d’histoires, was screened daily and brought together contemporary French films working with, and sometimes against, the tradition of documentary. In an attempt to attract general non-specialist audience, this event benefited from a dedicated advertising campaign and was free to attend to all.
In addition to disseminating knowledge of contemporary French art, our aim has been to offer above all a critical platform to reflect on the recent developments, including recent promotional initiatives. This was the topic of the Roundtable Discussion, that gathered curators with very different profiles: from established institutions (Suzanne Cotter), from the university background (Amanda Crawley-Jackson) and from the booming independent sector (Anne-Sophie Dinant and Caroline Soyez-Petithomme). What united these different curators was their experience of organising exhibitions of French artists in the UK. The often radically different experiences and perspectives resulted in a truly informative and stimulating debate. The ‘artist in conversation’ event featuring Pascal Convert interviewed by Nigel Saint, offered a yet another perspective on production of French art.
The main body of the conference comprised of four academic panels that gathered papers around four themes. The following four themes imposed themselves as key in addressing the recent developments in French contemporary art: intersections between French philosophy and art; new developments in French photography; art institutions; new models of exhibition and curating. The two keynote lectures fittingly treated issues we considered to be pivotal for this conference, namely the specificity of a national art scene (discussed by Paul Ardenne) and the international impact of French art (as presented in a talk by Alain Quemin). Generally, the papers, and the discussions that took place around conference’s many events, formal and informal, focussed on the following issues:
• The specificity of the French art scene, judged against the examples of other national art scenes. The interrelated problems of decrying a ‘national’ art or a national art scene.
• The specificity of French art, and the problems involved in describing an art scene noted for its extreme heterogeneity.
The way this scene reflects cultural, social, philosophical, and political context in which art is made.
• Tradition and innovation in contemporary French art, as well as exhibition and curating strategies.
On the whole, judging by the feedback received from the audience members and delegates, this conference offered a timely opportunity to reflect on these and other issues affecting production, exhibition and promotion of French contemporary art. The feedback also showed that the audience enjoyed the balance between the more conventional models of presentation (such as academic papers) and less traditional events (Roundtable discussion, artist-in-conversation). As an international event, the conference also offered invaluable opportunity for academics, critics and specialists from the UK, France and Netherlands to meet and forge links for future collaborations.
It is hoped that the successive stages of the French Connection project will offer yet another opportunity for further promotion of French art in the UK. This we plan to achieve by showcasing the work of franckDavid, the artist whose work has been used for the conference poster. We are also considering publishing conference proceedings in the form of a special issue of a magazine publication. Our aim will be to find a publication whose profile will reflect the interdisciplinary ethos (French culture/exhibition/visual arts/social sciences) of the conference papers.
