A book / magazine to prolong in texts and images a season of exhibitions in 35 French art centers: a guide to apprehend the current art scene and the specificities of its places of exhibition.
In the wake of the “Out in the Sun/Summer in the Art Centres” event in 2007, the review “Plein Soleil/ Un été des centres d'art” (“Out in the Sun/A Summer in the Art Centres”; “Été” also means “Being” in French) sets out to bring France's contemporary art centres and their associated artists into the
public eye.
Co-published by Analogues and d.c.a with the support of the Visual Arts Commission (DAP) at the Ministry of Culture and Communication, the 300-page publication is a magnificently illustrated overview of what France's art centres are doing. Covering 36 centres from among the 44 currently making up the network in France, the review focuses high points in the individual programmes they presented
last summer.
Opting for a direct approach to exhibitions and works, “Out in the Sun” is an excellent guide to the present art scene.
Of the over 200 artists included, some were showing in France for the first time; others, like
Claude Lévêque and
Felice Varini are iconic figures on the French art scene. Thus the review is a panorama aimed at highlighting the scope and diversity of the work being done by the art centre network as
a whole.
The exhibition views cover the whole gamut of projects, the variety of contexts and the richness of the works and ideas; in this way the publication points up their distinctive features and, more broadly, the areas of engagement of art today.
“Out in the Sun” is, in fact, part book, part magazine: an approach intended to combine the timelessness of a work of reference – coverage of each centre's concerns and work orientations – with an outline of a specific season's output.
