NEW YORK.-Etant donnés: The French-American Fund for Contemporary Art, has announced its fall 2004 grantees. The Fund’s Artistic Committee, which meets twice a year, held its second annual meeting in Paris on October 21, 2004 and subsequently allocated $103,500 in grants to nine contemporary art organizations both in the U.S. and in France. The largest grants were awarded to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, which received $31,000 and $20,000 respectively.
A total of nine projects were awarded grants: the exhibition Introduction to Modernity [Model Modernity] (March 9 – April 21, 2005) at Artists Space, New York, NY; the residency and exhibition of Bojan Sarcevic (January 31 – May 8, 2005) at ArtPace, San Antonio, TX; the exhibition of Alain Bublex’s work Plug-in City (April 23 – June 12, 2005) at the Blaffer Gallery, Houston, TX; the exhibition Image Bank for Everyday Revolution Life (January 26 – March 26, 2006) at RedCat Gallery, California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles, CA; the exhibition CNEAI = Ephemeras (November 3 – December 10, 2004) at the Point Ephémère organized by the Centre National de l’Estampe et de l’Art Imprimé (CNEAI), Chatou, France; the exhibition OK/OKAY (April 19 – July 16, 2005) at the Swiss Institute and the Grey Art Gallery, New York, NY; the exhibition Utopia = One World, One War, One Army, One Dress (September 21, 2005 – January 1, 2006) at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston, MA; the exhibition Xavier Veilhan – The Hyperrealist Project (May 19-July 31, 2005) at the Rose Art Center, Waltham, MA; and, the exhibition Huang Yong Ping : A Retrospective (October 16, 2005 – February 26, 2006) at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN.
A new initiative to support curatorial research programs was also announced during this meeting in Paris. The Curatorial Research Fellowships will support American curators wishing to conduct research in France. The first applications will be reviewed in the spring of 2005.
According to Jean-René Gehan, Chairman of the Artistic Committee, “this meeting exemplified the philosophy of the Fund, which is always looking for new ways to strengthen the relationships between the U.S. and France by supporting and encouraging high-quality contemporary art programming. As the Fund prepares to celebrate its tenth anniversary, it has set goals for the next year to expand its resources and programs and provide more opportunities for American and French artists to present their work on both sides of the Atlantic.”
In 2004 Etant donnés allocated $167,500 in grants to seven French institutions and ten American institutions. Since its creation in 1994, Etant donnés has distributed more than $1.5 million in grants, supporting some 180 projects. Over the years, Etant donnés has become an established force recognized for encouraging the discovery of many emerging artists and being instrumental in the realization of a substantial number of projects. Its activities go beyond project aid and have been essential to the creation of a network of professionals, forging closer relationships between France and the United States.
The current Artistic Committee is composed of the following individuals : Jean-René Gehan, Chairman, Cultural Counselor, French Embassy, New York; Olivier Poivre d'Arvor, Vice Chairman, Director, AFAA (Association Française d'Action Artistique) Paris, France; Bill Arning, Curator, MIT LIST Visual Center, Cambridge, MA; Nicholas Baume, Chief Curator, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; Connie Butler, Curator, MOCA, Los Angeles, CA; Martin Bethenod, Director of Visual Arts, Ministry of Culture, Paris, France; Eungie Joo, Gallery Director and Curator, CalArts Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Laurence Gateau, Director, Villa Arson, Nice, France; Armelle Leturcq, Art Critic, Paris, France; Christine Macel, Curator of Contemporary Art, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Hamza Walker, Director of Education, Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, IL; Benjamin Weil, Curatorial Chair, Eyebeam, New York, NY; Eric Mangion, Director, FRAC Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur, Marseille, France.
Etant donnés is a program of FACE, the council for French American Cultural Exchange, and is based in New York. Major support for Etant donnés comes from the Florence Gould Foundation, New York, AFAA (Association Française d’Action Artistique), Paris, and the DAP, Paris (Délégation aux Arts Plastiques, Ministère de la Culture, France).
