SAINT-ETIENNE, FRANCE.- Saint-Etienne International Design Biennial 2004. Bolstered by its industrial heritage and its creativity, Saint-Etienne has for several years been demonstrating its determination to reposition and reinvent itself through design. Launched in 1998 by Michel Thiollière, Senator-Mayor of Saint-Etienne, and Jacques Bonnaval, former director of the local Fine Arts School, this event paved the way for the town to promote itself as the reference point for design on a national and international scale. From 6 to 14 November 2004, the International Design Biennial aims to present leading designs from across the world, bringing together designers from the five continents. Attracting over 150,000 visitors and 1,500,000 web surfers in the month of November alone, and from the outset winning enormous interest from both the general public and professionals, the success of this event encouraged the town council to continue its work to transform the area into a real hub of design. Which brings us up to date, when Saint-Etienne and its suburbs offer a wealth of design resources, both for training through the regional fine arts school and its postgraduate studies, and with iconic sites such as the museums of Modern Art and Art and Industry, the Le Corbusier site in Firminy or the future City of Design in Saint-Etienne, that will be established on the former site of Giat Industries in the town centre.

The distinguishing feature of this event lies in the designers’ investment in a large number of sites. Exhibition space will total 40000 m2 spread across various locations around the town as well as a large number of ‘off’ venues. The exhibition park will once again house the international selection, representing about 80 countries. For this 4th event, the International Design Biennial is to unveil a new site: the City of Design on the Carnot site. It is anticipated that a number of buildings within the City will house exhibitions. Céline Savoye, General Commissioner of this Biennial 2004, intends to put at the forefront the cultural identities that feed the world’s globalisation strategies with their diversity and originality. Economy and industry, essential to civilisation, will also be touched upon through innovation, that fine line we walk to balance culture development and development culture.

International design schools are invited to take part, either through displaying a free choice selection of works from their department or by working on the Coffee project, one of this year’s themed spotlight exhibitions. This event is organised by the Regional Fine Arts School, under the aegis of the Town Council in partnership with Saint-Etienne Métropole, the Mining Museum, the Museum of Art and Industry, the Modern Art Museum, the School of Architecture, the Town Council of Firminy and the Le Corbusier site, the Rhône-Alpes Design Centre and the French Design Institute, and gratefully receives the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and Communication, the AFAA (French Association of Artistic Actions), the Rhône-Alpes Region, the Loire Département, the Loire General Council and private partners.