Palais de Tokyo


The Palais de Tokyo is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, facing the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs to the City of Paris, and hosts the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. The western wing belongs to the French state and since 2002 has hosted the Palais de Tokyo / Site de création contemporaine, the largest museum in France dedicated to temporary exhibitions of contemporary art.
The building is separated from the River Seine by the Avenue de New-York, which was formerly named Quai Debilly and later Avenue de Tokio. The name Palais de Tokyo derives from the name of this street.

History

The monument was inaugurated by President Lebrun on May 24, 1937, at the time of the International Exhibition of Arts and Technology of 1937. The original name of the building was Palais des Musées d'art moderne. The building has since then hosted a number of establishments, projects, and creative spaces. Among them; le musée d'art et d'essai, the FEMIS, the Centre national de la photographie, and in 1986 the Palais du cinéma. The current contemporary art center opened to the public in March 2002 under the new name "Site de création contemporaine (Site for contemporary creation]", specializing in the emerging French and international art scene. With no permanent collection, it is not a museum and produces all of its exhibitions.

Director

In March 2002, Nicolas Bourriaud and Jérôme Sans launched the Site de création contemporaine in the west wing of Palais de Tokyo. Endowed with a restricted operating budget, but run by a brilliant and committed team, it soon became simply known as Palais de Tokyo, quickly making its mark as a trendsetter in the art world.
Marc-Olivier Wahler directed the Palais de Tokyo from 2006 to 2012. Under Wahler's leadership, the Palais de Tokyo became one of the city's best springboards for young artists.
Jean de Loisy served as President of Palais de Tokyo from 2012 until 2018. In 2019, Emma Lavigne was chosen to become his successor; she became the first woman to hold the post since its launch.

Le Pavillon

The Pavillon was established in 2001. Intended as a studio and laboratory space for resident artists and curators invited to the project, the Pavillon is an experimental program, designed to demonstrate the resident artists' youthful creativity.
Since the opening of the building, the director of the programme has been artist and filmmaker, Ange Leccia.

''Palais /''

The Museum also publishes the magazine Palais /, which annually releases three editions and was created in 2006 by Marc-Olivier Wahler. The Magazine features articles centering around a central artistic theme selected for each edition. The subjects are conceptual, and are explored using photography, various artistic media, essays, and often experimental media. The theme generally coincides with the exhibition concurrently featured at the museum.
In addition to Palais /, Palais de Tokyo also published five volumes of a contemporary art encyclopedia, From Yodeling to Quantum Physics between 2007–2011.