Interview with Dominique Bozo

Abstract

This interview with Dominique Bozo, Director of the National Museum of Modern Art, Paris, took place in May 1985 upon the partial reopening of the museum's permanent collections while redesign of the museum was in progress. Director Bozo discusses the development of the museum's collection and the museum's overall plan to develop appropriate installations for both its historic collection and its contemporary galleries. QUESTION: Upon your appointment as Director of the Musee National d'Art Modern (MNAM) in October 1981, you proposed to redesign the installation of the permanent collections. Why did you feel that the installation as conceived at the time of the opening of the Georges Pompidou Centre in 1977 was out of date? D. BOZO: This is a problem that concerns not only the Pompidou Centre's MNAM but all museums and their directors. If one examines the last two or three decades in the evolution of museums of modern art, one can see that they have all been obliged to rethink their installations, mainly because of the growth of their collections. But I do not see this as being peculiar to museums of modern art. After all, the Louvre museum underwent three major transformations in the space of twenty years in the Grande Galerie, for example, French paintings replaced Italian paintings, only to be once again replaced by Italian art. It is essential that every museum renew its installations on a regular basis, if only in those areas where their collections have increased in size. In essence, however, this is a particularly pressing problem in the field of contemporary art ... both today's and tomorrow's. review the presentation of the collections, so as to adapt it to a new content, above all from the historical angle and marked by the recent acquisition of major works of art. By the same token, there resulted a pressing need for extra space. Faced with these circumstances, we very soon realized that the method of presentation adopted when the Centre had first been opened was of a kind that was 'temporary' and mobile, whereas what was required was more space, volumes that were more clearly determined and higher hanging walls, which would allow for specifically adapted lighting systems. In a word, what we had was in total contradiction with the contents and with the architecture. We kept to this course, with the idea of emphasizing this century's major artistic figures, around whom everything takes shape and becomes organised, and to spotlight certain specific strong points within the collection Cubism, for example. We have tried to achieve a more unified presentation, as opposed to the old-style presentation, which was more fragmented and dispersed. An Inappropriate Installation Principle The other reason is the architectural concept of the building itself. When the museum staff responsible for its installation within the Centre took possession of the new premises, it found it was up against an unexpected situation presenting unexpected difficulties. Dividing up large unstructured areas was no easy task. How could we best present a permanent collection on those enormous floors? How could works of art-that had for the most part been created in a small space, with private owners in mind-find a space appropriate to their own scale? In the initial project (which aimed to break with traditional museum design), the notions of flexibility and mobility, of transitory staging-these being the same for all the Centre's exhibitions-prevailed, and for a while it seemed that the experience was worth a try. It was thought that the absence of a predetermined structure would increase the possibilities of potential presentations. However, time has shown the limitations Development of the Collection The need for change now being experienced by the MNAM owes much to the unprecedented increase in the size of the collection, as well as to its orientation. It is without a doubt the only museum in the world whose collections have evolved so quickly over the last few years. Indeed, their quality has greatly improved over the past ten years, thanks to donations and to a purchasing policy that seeks to fill the most obvious historical gaps. It proved therefore vitally important to Originally published by the Musee National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, 75191 Paris Cedex 04, France. Reprinted by permission. Fig. 1. Redesign of the permanent collection exhibition spaces, 4th floor, May 1985, Mus6e National d'Art Moderne, Paris. (Photo: Alain Fleischer) LEONARDO, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 78-82,1987 Pergamon Journals Ltd. Printed in Great Britain. 0024-094X/87 $3.00+0.00 I *: :.,~..... ...