Arts visuels, architecture

The department for Artistic Cooperations and Exchanges brings together the entire cultural spectrum of performing arts, visual arts and architecture, for artists living and working in France as well as those on the African continent and in the Caribbean region.

The integration of initiatives driven from Africa and the Caribbean in productions within the Institut français artistic department reaffirms that promoting diversity is at the heart of our policy. 

The department for Artistic Cooperations and Exchanges builds its annual programme around some major activities initiated with international partners, for which it has a production or co-production role. In parallel, it enables diverse and independent projects to be supported by means of a biannual call for proposals and inviting responses for such requests.  

The department for Artistic Cooperations and Exchanges is thus organised into 2 areas:
- productions and major activities
- travel, exchanges and training (support for requests)
within which project leaders are responsible for monitoring projects within their sectors.  


PRODUCTIONS AND MAJOR ACTIVITIES 



The major biennial events held by the Institut français coincide with major activities put on by the department for Artistic Cooperations and Exchanges

- French Pavilion at the Venice Biennials for visual arts and architecture

- African Photography Biennial / Bamako Encounters

- "Danse l’Afrique Danse!" / African Dance

- Luang Prabang Photography Biennial

- "L’Afrique est à la Mode" / Africa is in Fashion

- Sao Paulo Architecture Biennial 

Major activities have been initiated or held by the department for Artistic Cooperations and Exchanges around cross-functional topics (put on for different disciplines as appropriate for each of them) enabling them to be reactive and in step with major international issues - political, economic, artistic or social, etc.

These activities enable:

      -       artistic settings to be found, by building activities with major events or institutions in France, Africa or the Caribbean; these enable constructive relationships to be developed with French and international groups (FOCUS with La Force de l’Art in Paris, the Printemps de Bourges, the Lyon biennials, Babel Med, etc.) 

      -       development of themed projects with local partners (at the municipal or national level) that facilitate multidisciplinary programming

      -       or support for dynamic promotional events, adding value to artistic settings across various disciplines (capital of culture, anniversary of a "political" event, etc.) 

      -       participation in creating artistic programming for cultural seasons and “années croisées” (crossover years) in conjunction with organisers and partners of such events. 

The department for Artistic Cooperations and Exchanges also supports international partners in setting up focused activities around a discipline or an artist (France Danse activities in Spain, Vilnius or Montreal, co-production projects with French directors and international teams,   Baltic Sounds, French in Northern Europe, etc).

The department for Artistic Cooperations and Exchanges seeks to strengthen the dynamics at play in countries in the French solidarity zone (Africa and the Caribbean), aiding creativity, supporting cultural operators and events to develop local markets and promoting the diffusion of artists and works on the international stage.
 

TRAVEL, EXCHANGES AND TRAINING (SUPPORT FOR REQUESTS)


Through its calls for projects mechanism, the department for Artistic Cooperations and Exchanges supports many projects for which it is not the driving force, which are handled directly by artists and companies, by international partners or by the French cultural network overseas.

It also supports major international tours of shows with a regional dimension and exhibitions in the context of exchanges with leading museums or overseas partners.