Art Insight #27: Thierry Raspail

Q. You have led the Museum of Contemporary Art of Lyon since its creation in 1984. How does MAC Lyon distinguish itself from other culture or art institutions?

MAC Lyon mainly distinguishes itself from other institutions with its collection. Generally, museums in France are established on the basis of a pre-existing collection. However, we started from scratch, without zero artworks in the collection. The idea was to organize exhibitions with artists and to make the entirety of exhibitions our collection. MAC Lyon archives both our exhibitions and their moments. We are also a museum without walls. To organize an exhibition, we tear down the entire exhibition space and reconstruct everything. It is the nature of the artwork to determine the design and the space of the museum at every moment. We (the audience) are surrounded by works and the exhibition defined by the artist. The artist is responsible for the exhibition and at the same time for what will remain in history.

Q. Compared to other international biennials, the Lyon Biennale is known for its particularity in selecting themes. You, as the artistic director, select one single subject that overarches three consecutive biennales, and a guest curator is invited to organize each biennale according to his or her own curatorial taste. What is the reason for selecting one topic for three biennales? What are the advantages?

Since the creation of the Lyon Biennale in 1991, I have invited guest curators to think about one word. I always choose an extensive word that allows for different interpretations. The word may be same but its relationships with history, the global world and modernity vary, depending on culture, continent and country. It is extremely interesting to see such differences. Lyon Biennale’s trilogy scheme helps us experience and communicate with diverse cultures. I consider this highly positive because we, as an international art exhibition, span not only the Western world, but truly a global world.

Q. More than 500 artists participated in the 13th Lyon Biennale (2015) and approximately 250,000 visitors made it to the exhibition. It was a great success, indeed. What was the driving force behind the growth and development of the Biennale?

For a biennial to be successful, it must take into account a global element. Biennials speak to the world—professionals, artists, and citizens from all around the world. But at the same time, biennials must establish their roots in the local community as well. The link between the global and the local is absolutely essential. We used to call this "glocal." Successful biennials know how to engage with local scenes and also develop local networks. Among our platforms is "Veduta," first launched in 2007, which aims to create and foster encounters among artworks, artists, territories and local residents. For example, the gardening artist Thierry Boutonnier planted damask roses to harvest and to share with local neighbors. Lee Mingwei used stories to invite the public to travel back in time to their childhood years. I believe settlement in the region as well as real, tangible work concerning locality is extremely important.

Q. Cooperation between corporate brands and art institutions has been a boom recently. What is your view on this collaboration? In your opinion, what should ideal cooperation between cultural arts institutions and companies look like?

We are very interested in such collaborations. Governments and cities, or in other words, public institutions and local groups, cannot manage to do realize projects such as masterpiece restorations or event organization solely on their own. We must search for ways elsewhere, and we expect the participation and support of galleries and companies. If we are not open to such notions, we may find ourselves at risk, not only financially but also culturally. Many companies and private foundations today have great interests in culture, art and the realm of creation. Cooperation and partnership agreement between the market and biennials or the market and museums are natural, reasonable and common. This trend is being accepted more generally. There is neither an ideal situation nor ideal form. But I do believe that collaborations, partnerships, conventions and sponsorships are absolutely necessary, because there is no other solution.

Thierry Raspail majored in art history and began his curatorial career at the Grenoble Museum (Musée de Grenoble). After several assignments in Western Africa, he designed the museography of the Bamako National Museum (Musée National de Bamako) in Mali. Raspail has been the director of MAC Lyon since it opened in 1984. At the time, he developed a museographic project based on the principle of “collection of moments,” putting together a collection comprised mainly of comprehensive and often monumental artworks. He has served as the chief curator of a number of significant exhibitions, including those of Robert Morris, Joseph Kosuth, Dan Flavin, Louise Bourgeois, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Huang Yong Ping, Gustav Metzger, Jean-Luc Mylayne, and Oliver Beer, and has also authored several exhibition catalogues. In 1991, Thierry Raspail established the Biennale of Contemporary Art in Lyon (La Biennale de Lyon), and has since been its Artistic Director.