FIAC: International Contemporary Art Fair Paris 2011

The International Contemporary Art Fair in Paris, known as the FIAC, invades the Grand Palais and other emblematic places of the French capital from the 20th to the 23rd of October 2011. Design, film, sculptures, installations, over 2800 international artists and 150 art galleries await in open air or in super arty places!

 

The Tuileries Garden, the Jardin des Plantes, the auditorium of the Louvre and the Grand Palais are the favourite stages of this artistic event. Founded in 1974, the Paris International Contemporary Art Fair will exhibit visual arts from the 20th and 21st century and all the fields of artistic expression from today and the emerging ones, such as painting, digital arts and video arts, in a historical monument next to the Champs Elysées: the Grand Palais. This building was built in 1900 for the World Fair in Paris, and it characterizes itself for having the biggest glass ceiling in Europe, an industrial internal structure made of steel and a classic style stone façade. In total, over 70,000 sq metres which are walked on every year by over 90,000 visitors during the days of the FIAC.

The artists´ films, the performances, the film, the music, the dance, the theatre and other artistic practices will find a place by day or by night in the FIAC´s programme, to fascinate the French and foreign crowd. As well as this fair, Paris offers you other artistic choices from which we recommend an exhibition of the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch at the Centre Pompidou, a photography exhibition by Diane Arbus at the Jeu de Palme or, for the sculpture lovers, a retrospective of Alberto Giacometti at the Paris Pinacothèque. On Thursday the 20th of October, the day of the opening of the event, many Parisian galleries will be open until 10pm for the vernissage of the new exhibitions.

The FIAC also organizes a meeting among the younger ones and the older ones: artists such as Daniel Buren, Maurizio Cattelan or Pierre Huyghe invite the children to a mobile museum located in the Tuileries Garden to take part in a sensorial and imaginary trip in contemporary art. For the sixth consecutive year, this garden located two steps away from the Louvre Museum will hold various installations, sound works, sculptures and performances: an interactive open-air exhibition in the most oneiric of spaces.

The themes of nature, biodiversity and the environment will animate the Jardin des PLantes, located in the Natural History Museum. The works will take over this botanic enclosure, made up of eleven gardens with the most surprising sculptures and installations ´in situ´. The Man, Nature, and creation gathered in a privileged space. Don´t miss it!

For more information: http://www.fiac.com/

If you´re under 25 years old, the entry ticket to the International Contemporary Art Fair will cost you 16 euros, and if you´re older, at least double that. Renting apartments in Paris your budget will balance itself instantly. Although it might be a bit chilly, enjoy the French capital with art, wellbeing and comfort.

 

Translated by: aleixgwilliam