Page 26 - Studio International - March 1973

An experiment in active culture

in Paris: ARC 1967-1972

In the setting of the Museum of Modern Art in
Paris an experiment of nearly five years'
duration recently took place under the title
ARC (Animation-Research-Confrontation).
A statement can now be attempted in the form
of an historical summary of ARC, analysing its
aims, its results, its difficulties and, finally, the
reasons for its discontinuation.
First of all a summary of the Parisian scene
in the first half of the sixties : a slack time
(chiefly the years 1962—64), when the art market
was experiencing a critical period and the
mood was one of gloom, when cultural
institutions given over to modern art remained
behind the times and provincially narrow-
minded. The Paris School purred with self-
satisfaction and continued busily exporting
tasteful abstract paintings with 'made in Paris'
written all over them. The two museums,
municipal and national, of modern art were
in a state of suspended animation and
the National Museum refused exhibitions
considered too daring (notably Dubuffet
and Bacon!). This general failure resulted
in the Museum of Decorative Arts
being the only place in Paris, paradoxically,
where contemporary art was being exhibited. were working together in an attempt at These objectives were behind the
By contrast, the impetus given by the reconciliation with contemporary art, on a very organization of about a hundred exhibitions in
creation in I959 of the Ministry of Culture with modest percentage of the public funds voted by Paris for the plastic arts alone; the showing of
André Malraux at its head, was developing the Paris Council for all the city's museums. foreign retrospectives which had not yet been
in the provinces a new policy of cultural The aims which prompted the creation of seen in Paris (Warhol, Rauschenberg, Fontana);
activity symbolised by an initial series of ARC in December 1966, and which gradually new foreign art movements (Swedish
major cultural centres, but concentrated crystallized, were of three kinds : Research in the Alternative, Image-Design) the organization of
primarily on the theatre and its decentralization. sense of selection of works not approved or thematic exhibitions with critics (The Poetic
A new administrative leadership in Paris, even recognized (or not accepted in Paris), Fury, The World in Question), with artists
responsive to this current of activity and seeking out new groups or young artists who (Distances, International Print Biennale),
cultural stirring, conceived the idea of carrying did not have access to public exhibition places. shows of works of artists who had never
out a pilot experiment in the setting of an The idea was to give an impression, by means of previously exhibited (The Workshop in the
already existing cultural establishment: the several simultaneous exhibitions of short Museum, First Encounter), organization of
Museum of Modern Art in Paris, a traditional duration, of various propositions going off in exhibitions going beyond genre distinctions
and little frequented museum with collections various directions. The Museum was, in this and the normal limits of 'fine arts'
which were historically far from complete. way, becoming a place of convergence and of (Inflatables, Festival of Light Shows). To these
A space was marked out and divided into Confrontation. Finally Animation was must be added the many exhibitions of artists
exhibition rooms and a hall for discussions and essentially conceived not as an audio-visual on the way to establishing themselves, works
other artistic events. If the plastic arts formed practice but as the sum total of meetings and which for various reasons were not able to
the axis of the experiment, sections for dance, discussions held for the public, or for groups, enter the commercial circuit. Overall, the accent
theatre, contemporary music and jazz became critics and artists, either around the exhibits or was placed on controversial images and
grafted on, each in the care of a voluntary else in the information and discussion halls. political paintings, which were taken all over
director. The author of this article was given a All this was intended to bring into being a new the place and developed, including some in the
free hand in organizing the whole event with critical public, actively participating in the form of collective works (Red Room for
special responsibility for the plastic arts. It was adventure of art in the act of being made, and to Vietnam, Gabrielle Russier).
an ambiguous situation, in which liberty and transform the function, character and The positive result was publicity for a whole
maximum responsibility, in an official locale, atmosphere of a museum. new generation of artists working in Paris, even

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