Location: India
City: Delhi
Date: Mon, 2013/03/18 – 11:00am
« A unique video collection showcase »
This exhibition proposes to showcase the best of video art from the collection of the French National Centre for Visual Arts.
The Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP) is a public institution under the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. Its mission is to promote and support contemporary artistic creation in all fields related to the visual arts: painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video, multimedia, graphic art, design and more.
As a public collector acting on behalf of the State, the Centre national des arts plastiques has a direct role in the economy of the arts sector, as it adds to and manages a body of works from all artistic disciplines. This body of work is known as the Fonds national d’art contemporain, the national contemporary art collection. The works thus acquired or commissioned are intended for public view, as short-term or long-term loans. In this respect, the Centre national des arts plastiques fulfils a public service mission with respect to both national administrative authorities (embassies, ministries etc.) and French and international cultural institutions. In doing so, it helps bring contemporary art to the widest possible audiences.
The Centre national des arts plastiques sets out to promote the role of contemporary art in society, and to encourage increased cooperation between the artistic and economic sectors.
The video collection of some 500 purchased or commissioned works (video-projections, installations, monoband works) offers great scope and variety, with pieces by very young artists (Serge Comte, Laetitia Bénat, Camille Henrot) alongside installations by established names (Gary Hill, Bill Viola, Antoni Muntadas, Dennis Adams, Rodney Graham, Thierry Kuntzel). The video collection was started in 1972 reflecting its growing presence as a contemporary art medium.
Large numbers of works were purchased, by Absalon, Michael Joo, Joachim Koester, Joël Bartoloméo, Marie-Ange Guilleminot, Pipilotti Rist, Franck Scurti, Rineke Dijkstra, Eric Hattan, as well as installations by Pierre Huyghe and Pierre Bismuth, and video-projections by Doug Aitken, Rebecca Bournigaut, Tacita Dean, Roderick Buchanan and Peter Land.