PARIS.- Following the government guidelines, allowing small museums to resume their activities from 11 May, the Giacometti Institute reopened its doors on 15 May 2020 with the exhibition “Searching for Lost Works’, which was very popular with the public before it closed and which will be extended until 21 June. With this reopening, the team at the Giacometti Foundation wishes to reaffirm, in solidarity, the role of art in society and in our individual lives, especially in these difficult times.

At the end of the war, Giacometti created his most iconic sculptures, Walking Man. Its symbol is all the stronger today as it guides us towards the future. A future where we believe and hope that culture will play a large part in the process of reconstructing our social life.

Terms and conditions for welcoming visitors
The reopening of the Giacometti Institute takes place in the strictest respect for the health and safety of the public and the employees, compelled by today’s health crisis. Since its opening, the Giacometti Institute has promoted a new relationship between the public and art works by facilitating a personal experience: the limiting of the number of visitors to encourage a better relationship with the works, advice on navigating the exhibitions. Already familiar with flow management in a limited space, equipped with a system of online booking for visits, the Giacometti Institute will make good use of its experience to regulate visits in the optimal conditions of health and safety.

Visits will have to be booked exclusively online on the internet site of the Giacometti Foundation - www.fondation-giacometti.fr. - Non-paying visitors are also subject to mandatory online booking. A maximum of ten persons will be invited in every 20 minutes and spread through the gallery space. At the beginning, visits will be limited to 4 days a week (Thursday to Sunday), from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visitors will be asked to wear a mask and respect the health and safety conditions.

Until the end of the exhibition “Searching for lost works’’ the free admission scheme (low income, special needs, Icom, will be extended to young people under 18 and students.

A contemporary artist in residence
Douglas Gordon exhibition “The morning after’’, which should have taken place in April May 2020, has been postponed till 2021. In the meantime, the artist will take part, as ‘associated artist’, in the reconnecting with the public as well as the reflection undertaken at the Giacometti Foundation on the “aftermath” of the violent crisis we are going through. This original collaboration with Douglas Gordon inaugurates a new form of long-term residency and will appear in various interventions on the site and in the programme.

A virtual offer for public distancing:
During the confinement, the Giacometti Foundation has put in place a mixed programme of offers online and on social media: live conferences on video-conference, participative investigations, tutorials for children… Those offers, which have touched a broad and diverse audience, will be maintained and developed further.