The Grand Palais (literally: big palace) (Galleries National at the Grand Palais (official site)

Palais de la Decouverte (Discovery Palace) at the Grand Palais (official site))

A review of the Grand Palais (the big palace) as a temporary site for contemporary art.

The building is huge and houses the National Galeries as well as a Discovery Palace. The big glass dome was restored in 2004. (Read more at Wikipedia.)

In the first half of 2006, the Grand Palais was the site of the much publicised "La Force de l'Art" (The Power of Art), that was supposed to give an idea of the present status of contemporary art in France (including any artist in any way connected to the country).

Unfortunately, the show did not live up to expectations. Clearly, the huge space was not filled or taken advantage off in any way (-- the organizers could have learned a lot from the ZKM in Karlsruhe which is housed in a large industrial complex, to name one beautiful example --). The way the exhibition was organized, by letting independent experts choose their favorite artists, was a formula for chaos, and personal favorism. Of course, the huge hall had the occasional superb work of art (-- a neon-light sun, four dancing huge skeletons (a reference to Matisse, I take it), a video on a colourfestival in India, a sculpture of a man sitting on a ball --), but was too often filled with works that none of the curators of the excellent Parisian contemporary art museums would have accepted on their premises.

It is a pity that the organizers, that clearly had a lot of money at their disposal, did not profit from an international, or even local advisory commitee that could have avoided disaster. A good way to visit that particular exhibition was to constantly look up while walking around to enjoy the beautifully restored dome.

Copyright 2006, by Jan Troost