Eighteen art world professionals from 17 different countries have been selected by the Institut français and the cultural network to take part in a Focus tour. A unique opportunity for French and international artists and visual arts professionals to meet, this Focus aims to raise the profile of the French art scene, and facilitate the creation of professional networks and collaborations between France and other countries.

Ten Ukrainian curators, jointly invited by the French Ministry of Culture and the Institut français, will also join the Focus highlights as part of a program of visits and encounters set up specifically for them.

Over five days, the Focus will feature a programme of exhibitions and artistic events in the field of contemporary art in Greater Paris, visits to key art venues - foundations, museums, art centres in the Tram network, galleries, Frac, artists' studios, venues in the Trampoline network of private foundations - and networking opportunities with professionals and artists from the French scene.

In Dunkerque, visitors can discover the second edition of the Triennale Art & Industrie, entitled "Chaleur humaine - consciences énergétiques". Organised with the help of two independent curators, Anna Colin and Camille Richert, the event brings together works by 130 artists, mainly from France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK: Tiphaine Calmette, Éric Baudelaire, Valérie Belin, Laure Prouvost and many others... The works come from various collections - including those of the Cnap (Centre National des Arts Plastiques) and the Centre Pompidou - but have also been commissioned from artists, covering a period from the end of the Thirty Glorious to the emergence of eco-anxiety at the dawn of the 2000s. The curators' aim here is to "understand energy activities, environmental upheavals and the ways in which they affect creation".

DUNKERQUE

Entitled Chaleur humaine - consciences énergétiques, the second edition of the Art & Industry Triennial, to be held throughout the second half of 2023 in Dunkerque and across the Hauts-de-France region, will explore the subject of energy. Dedicated to the relationship between art and industry, it revisits the singular paths taken by artists from the 20th and 21st centuries. It builds bridges between creativity and the economy, showcasing an area characterised by its industrial and port complex and creating synergies between institutions and regional players.

PARIS

Participants will benefit from an exceptional programme that will enable them to discover the diversity and dynamism of the French art scene ecosystem, with visits to artists' residences, art centres, foundations, Frac, museums and galleries, and meetings with artists who have won prestigious awards on the French scene, from the Emerige prize for young artists to the Pernod Ricard prize and the prestigious Marcel Duchamp prize. They will also have the opportunity to discover various art fairs, including Paris Internationale, the Salon de Montrouge, Asia Now and, of course, Paris + by Art Basel in the Grand Palais Éphémère and its extension on the Champ de Mars.

• Michelle NEWTON, Deputy Director at Artspace, Sydney (Australia)
• Mirela BACIAK, Director of the Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzbourg (Austria)
• Eliel JONES, Curator in charge of performances at Kanal-Centre Pompidou, Bruxelles (Belgium)
• Lorraine PINHEIRO MENDES, Curator at the Pinacoteca, São Paulo (Brazil)
• Carol YINGHUA LU, Director of Inside-Out Museum, Beijing and co-artistic director, 8th Yokohama Triennale (China)
• Stéphane Kyowa KABILA, Curator, Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of Congo)
• Sara MORAIS DOS SANTOS BRUSS, Curator of scientific, digital and media practices at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (Germany)
• Anushka RAJENDRAN, Independant Curator, Counselor for the Prameya art Foundation, New Dehli (India)
• Junya YAMAMINE, CEO / Curator at the NYAW.inc Japan (Curating and Consulting agency), Tokyo (Japan)
• Lina RUKEVICIUTE, Curator at the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists' Association / cultural center SODAS 2123,Vilnius (Lituania)
• Meriem BERRADA, Artistic Director at MACAAL (The Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden), Marrakech (Morocco)
• Małgorzata LUDWISIAK, Deputy Director, Head of programming at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (Poland)
• Alberta Romano : Curator at the Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisboa (Portugal)
• Eunju CHOI, Director of SeMA (Seoul Museum of Art), Seoul (South Korea)
• Hela DJOBBI, Director of contemporary art center 32bis, Tunis (Tunisia)
• Eleanor EDMONDSON, Curator at Art Festival of Edinburgh (United Kingdom)  
• Pietro RIGOLO, Associate Curator for Modern and Contemporary Collection Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (United States)
• Eriola PIRA, Curator at the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, New York (United States)

Professionals from Ukraine

• Tetyana VOLOCHINA, Curator, House of Ukraine, Kiev
• Alisa GRYCHANOVA, Curator, House of Ukraine, Kiev
• Irina POLIKARCHUK, Curator, ArtSvit Contemporary Art Center, Dnipro
• Kateryna RADCHENKO, Founder of the Odesa Photo Days festival, Odessa
• Oleksandra SIEHAL, Curator, National Museum of Fine Arts, Odessa
• Natalia MATSENKO, Independent curator, Kiev
• Lidia APOLLONOVA, Curator, Association “Museum of Contemporary Art", Kiev
• Pavlo GOUDIMOV, Founder of Ya Galerie, Lviv
• Kateryna IAKOVLENKO, Independent curator, Kiev
• Anastasia MANULIAK, Curator, head of the visual arts section of the Ukrainian Institute, Kiev

Asian delegation

•  Tong TAY, Directeur, Director, Sector Development (Visual Arts), National Arts Council (Singapore)
• Tessa CHUNG, Director, Sector Development (Visual Arts), National Arts Council (Singapore)
• Zhenzhong Zhang, Artistic director, Aranya art center, Bejing, (China)
• Jia Li, Curator, Beijing (China)
• Li Chen, Curator, Beijing (China)

FOCUS is a major attraction programme developed by the Institut français since 2010, covering all creative sectors. FOCUS is a scouting programme aimed at foreign professionals who can act as opinion leaders, raising awareness of the vitality of France's artistic scene and helping to promote it more widely around the world.

Since 2010, they have successfully generated

• The promotion of over 170 French artists
• More than 160 exhibition projects worldwide
• 305 international curators invited to France