Le Consortium

Le Consortium is a contemporary art center in Dijon, France, recognized as the first French art center conventioned by the Ministry of Culture's delegation for visual arts in 1982. Founded in 1977 by Xavier Douroux and Franck Gautherot from the association Le Coin du Miroir, it has evolved from a small alternative space into an internationally significant institution. The center is distinguished by its early commitment to provocative and experimental artists, its substantial collection of contemporary works, and its expansive public art and international development programs. In 2016, The New York Times described it as the under-the-radar museum that quietly predicts the next big thing in art.

Le Consortium originated in the mid-1970s alternative culture movement, when independent structures emerged as counterweights to established institutions. In 1977, Xavier Douroux and Franck Gautherot founded the association Le Coin du Miroir (The Corner Mirror), which became the governing body of Le Consortium. The center's first exhibitions occupied approximately 30 square meters on the first floor of an alternative bookshop. In 1982, Le Consortium received the Art Center label and moved to a 600 square meter former appliance store in downtown Dijon at 16 rue Quentin. The following year, three associations, Le Coin du Miroir, A la Limite, and Deja Vu, merged into a single entity. In 1991, the center expanded dramatically by moving to a 4,000 square meter former liqueur factory on the outskirts of Dijon. Eric Troncy joined as co-director in 1996, and in 2000, Kim Seung-duk became co-curator and director of international development, signaling growing Asian engagement. The center launched a London office on Hoxton Street in 2009, directed by Sophie Claudel. A major milestone came in 2011 with the opening of a new building designed by Shigeru Ban and Jean de Gastines, inaugurated by French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand on September 14, 2011. In 1992, Le Consortium founded the independent publishing house Les Presses du Reel. Since 2014, the center has maintained a continuous advisory collaboration with the Asian Culture Center in Gwangju, South Korea.

The collection encompasses more than 250 to 350 works by international artists, depending on the reporting date, with a particular focus on acquiring pieces early in artists' careers. This holdings strategy has allowed the collection to develop significant depth in emerging contemporary practice. The collection's importance was recognized with a major exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris in 1998. Works are regularly loaned to institutions worldwide, and the collection serves as an educational tool that rotates through exhibition spaces in dialogue with temporary shows. The collection spans painting, sculpture, installations, and multiples, reflecting the center's broad engagement with contemporary artistic media.

Le Consortium's exhibition history reveals its role in introducing and championing significant contemporary artists. The center hosted first exhibitions in France and Europe for artists who later achieved major recognition, including Jorge Pardo, Maurizio Cattelan, Sylvie Fleury, Mark Leckey, Rachel Harrison, and Charline von Heyl. Other notable exhibitions have featured Chris Burden, Remy Zaugg, and Yayoi Kusama. The 2008 Mark Leckey exhibition Industrial Light and Magic was instrumental in Leckey receiving the Turner Prize that same year. In 2001, Pierre Huyghe received the Special Prize of the Jury at the Venice Biennale for his exhibition in the French Pavilion, which Le Consortium had curated. The center also co-owns Anna Sanders Films, a production company created by artists Pierre Huyghe, Philippe Parreno, Charles de Meaux, and Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster. Beyond its walls, Le Consortium has developed significant public art projects, most notably Les Tulipes de Shangri-La, a 7.50-meter-high monumental flower sculpture by Yayoi Kusama created for Lille 2004, European Capital of Culture. This was Kusama's first monumental sculpture outside Japan. Since 1991, the center has mediated the Fondation de France's Nouveaux Commanditaires program in Burgundy, facilitating nearly eighty public commissions by artists including Patrick Berger, Christian Boltanski, Bertrand Lavier, Didier Marcel, Yan Pei Ming, Oscar Tuazon, Christopher Wool, and Remy Zaugg for diverse settings including universities, hospitals, public spaces, churches, and the Shigeru Ban-designed visitor center for the Canal de Bourgogne in Pouilly-en-Auxois. From 2011 to 2014, Le Consortium advised on the Msheireb Downtown Doha project in Qatar, where twenty sculptures and additional artworks were installed.

Le Consortium's current home is a former liqueur factory, originally built in 1943 for L'Heritier-Guyot. The existing industrial architecture followed the International Style with post-Bauhaus tendencies, characterized by smooth concrete construction without ornamentation, where rationality and functionality determined aesthetic form. This building was designed by German architect Hostettler in collaboration with Joly-Delvalat, professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dijon. Beginning in 1991, the center gradually occupied this factory space on the outskirts of Dijon. A major renovation and extension was undertaken by architects Shigeru Ban and Jean de Gastines, resulting in a 4,000 square meter complex with approximately 2,000 square meters dedicated to exhibition space. The expanded facility opened to the public in June 2011. The German Wikipedia notes the museum presents works from its collection and temporary exhibitions across roughly 2,000 square meters. The center also maintains Le Mur Saint-Bon, an exhibition space founded in 2016 at 8 rue Saint-Bon in Paris, where international artists associated with Le Consortium present 70-day projects on a single wall.

Le Consortium is located in Dijon, France, near the city center but on its periphery, in the former liqueur factory complex. The institution operates as an association under France's 1901 law, a non-profit organization. Its official website is https://leconsortium.fr/. The center organizes approximately eight solo and group exhibitions of international artists annually. In addition to its exhibition program, Le Consortium pursues objectives including production and exhibition of contemporary works, enrichment of public heritage, promotion and diffusion of art, training in contemporary art and thought, and experimentation in cultural engineering and administration of artistic activities related to performing arts. The center's publishing arm, Les Presses du Reel, continues to produce publications on contemporary art. The 2011 building inauguration by Minister of Culture Frederic Mitterrand underscored the institution's national significance within France's cultural infrastructure.