The Art Newspaper

Two new spaces for contemporary art in regional France

Frac Bretagne scheduled to open this month

By Gareth Harris. Web only
Published online: 13 September 2012

The new Frac Bretagne in Rennes, designed by the architect Odile Decq (Photo: © Roland Halbe / région Bretagne)

The French Regional Contemporary Art Funds (Frac), initiated in 1982 by the then culture minister Jack Lang as part of his decentralisation initiative, are to raise their profile with a number of new buildings opening across the country in the next two years.

The first Frac organisation to benefit from the overhaul is Frac Bretagne, which is due to move on 15 September to a 5,000 sq. m building designed by the architect Odile Decq in Rennes, northern France. Works drawn from the 4,700-strong collection by artists including Richard Long and Pierre Soulages will be shown across three galleries.

The regional council of Brittany, the government and Rennes city council met the space's €18.3m cost. Frac Bretagne's annual acquisition budget is €230,000.

Catherine Elkar, the director of Frac Bretagne, says: “With a collection, you automatically think of a museum, but our aim is to keep acting as a disseminator.”

Meanwhile, a Frac building for the Nord-Pas de Calais region is due to open in June 2013 as part of the “nouvelle génération” of Frac revamps.

Inside Frac Bretagne (Photo: © Roland Halbe / région Bretagne)