Creux de l'Enfer

Creux de l'Enfer is a contemporary art center situated in the Vallée des Usines in Thiers, within the Puy-de-Dôme department of France. Established in 1988 inside a former cutlery factory that had been abandoned in 1956, the institution operates on the German Kunsthallen model, dedicating its entire space to temporary exhibitions and events developed in close collaboration with invited artists. It holds the distinction of being the first contemporary art center in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region to receive the national interest label from the French Ministry of Culture in October 2019. The center offers a multidisciplinary quarterly program encompassing sculpture, photography, painting, and video installations.

The creation of the art center in 1988 was part of a cultural decentralization policy initiated under French Minister of Culture Jack Lang in 1985. Its opening occurred three years after the city of Thiers hosted a national symposium of monumental metal sculpture in 1985, which helped catalyze the transformation of the industrial site. The institution is conventioned by the Ministry of Culture as one of fifty official contemporary art centers in France. Leadership has been provided by three directors: Laurence Gateau from its opening until 1999, Frédéric Bouglé from 1999 to 2018, and Sophie Auger-Grappin since 2018. In 2021, the center expanded its operational capacity by incorporating the Usine du May, an upstream facility dedicated to territorial projects, partnerships, and artist workshops.

Functioning without a permanent collection, Creux de l'Enfer focuses entirely on a varied, multidisciplinary quarterly program of temporary exhibitions and events. The center prioritizes direct collaboration with invited artists to develop site-specific and contemporary projects. Its programming spans multiple mediums, including sculpture, photography, painting, and video installations. Since 2021, this scope has broadened to include territorial projects and partnerships facilitated by the additional Usine du May space.

While the center does not maintain a permanent collection, it has hosted significant temporary exhibitions by prominent international artists. Notable presentations include Mona Hatoum in 1999, Erró in 2003, Tadashi Kawamata in 2005, and Thomas Hirschhorn with the exhibition Concretion in 2006. Further highlights include Mounir Fatmi with Fuck Architects in 2008, Claude Closky with Illumination in 2008 and 2009, Georges Rousse in 2014, and Claire Tabouret with Neptune in 2017. A group exhibition titled Le Génie du lieu, featuring artists such as Jennifer Caubet, Elsa Werth, Sylvain Grout, Yann Mazéas, Hélène Bertin, Flora Moscovici, and Anne-Laure Sacriste, took place from late 2018 to early 2019.

The art center is housed in a former cutlery factory located in the minor bed of the Durolle River, between the Usine du May upstream and the Usine d'Entraygues downstream. The site's industrial history dates to a grinding wheel recorded there in 1476, situated at the foot of the rocher de l'enfer, a rock named after the martyrdom of Saint Genès. The current building was reconstructed in the first quarter of the twentieth century following a devastating fire. During World War II, the factory stored American machine gun parts and was later requisitioned by German forces, while also secretly hiding radio transmitters for the French Resistance. The name Creux de l'Enfer, meaning hell's hollow, derives from the perilous working conditions in the valley. A red devil painted on the facade in 1934 by Louis Guelpa and his brother, standing over two meters tall, still serves as the art center's logo. The factory closed in 1956 as the cutlery industry moved to spaces requiring electric power rather than water power, leaving the building abandoned for thirty years before its cultural conversion.

Creux de l'Enfer is located in Thiers, France, within the Puy-de-Dôme department. It is accessible via the Vallée des Usines and maintains an active presence through its official website. As a conventioned center of national interest, it plays a vital contemporary cultural role in the region, sustained by its institutional partnerships and its expanded footprint that includes the Usine du May for specialized territorial programming and workshops.