Fransk kultur i undtagelsestilstand – franske kunst- og kulturarenaer i en digital æra

Abstract

Centre Pompidou revisited – French arenas for art and culture In the late 1970’s the author of this article visited Centre Pompidou in Paris, a cultural institution which at the time was the most cutting edge cultural arena in Europe. With its pop-art inspired architecture, use of new media and trendy placement in the old slaughterhouse Les Halles, it was a first-mover within the tendency of regeneration of former industrial areas with culture as a motor. The main question of this article is weather Centre Pompidou today still is a laboratory for artistic and cultural development or if it has become a brand in itself. And to what degree can it compete with those activities and the cultural mediation happening in Paris more recent arenas for art and culture? To highlight this, other so-called grand projets by later French presidents such as Musee d’Orsay, Bibliotheque Nationale, the new ethnographical museum Musee du quai Branly and the art center Palais de Tokyo are analyzed. Also the new municipal Gaite lyrique is included as an example of the fusion of the arts and digital culture. These artistic and cultural arenas are analyzed within a cultural policy context and discussed with focus on their architecture, atmosphere, design and mediation strategy. On this background it is concluded that the French culture is in an ‘urgency situation’ as so far as the French cultural policy on the state level is prioritizing the national cultural heritage at the disadvantage of more future orientated digital forms of creativity and communication.