Art today can't help but take sport into account, as the backdrop to our contemporary societies. At the initiative of Frac Sud - Cité de l'art contemporain, and at the invitation of its director Muriel Enjalran, curator and art critic Jean Marc Huitorel has been invited to design an exhibition in three leading cultural institutions in the Southern Region and the City of Marseille. "Des exploits, des chefs-d'œuvre" examines the relationship between art and sport through more than 350 works by nearly 100 French and foreign artists at the 3 venues, where fascination, criticism and humor coexist.
In the run-up to the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, some of whose events will be held in Marseille, these questions about the link between art and sport are highly topical and should be addressed with all available tools. It's not a question of adding an extra soul or a decorative touch to the upcoming sporting competitions, but rather of seizing this opportunity to question their nature and occurrences through the use of a certain number of symbolic objects, each of which, in its own way, enables a reading of them. Beyond any demonstrative aim, the aim is to propose an event that is both a support for reflection, questioning certain expectations, and an object of delectation, an occasion for pleasure.
The Région Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Frac Sud's main partner, and the French Ministry of Culture, co-financier and guarantor of its label, have joined forces with the City of Marseille to propose this major artistic and cultural project, at the heart of the Cultural Olympiad. Awarded the Paris 2024 label, it is one of the flagship projects of the Cultural Olympiad in France, and the only one on this scale in the field of contemporary art.
-General curator :
Jean-Marc Huitorel, art critic and exhibition curator. Contributor to Artpress and Critique d'art. Author of numerous books and exhibitions, in particular on the links between art and sport.
-Associate general curator :
Muriel Enjalran, art critic and curator. Director of Frac Sud - Cité de l'art contemporain
There are a thousand ways of approaching the subject of the relationship between art and sport, on the understanding that, although both are capable of producing beauty, sport is not art and art is not sport. For "Des exploits, des chefs-d'œuvre", the generic title of the project, three entries are proposed, as flexible and porous as possible, corresponding to the three exhibition venues.
These three generous sections showcase works from French and foreign public collections, as well as brand-new productions. They bring together artists from different generations, with some works presented in France for the first time. At the Mucem, the works of the guest artists interact with exceptional sports objects from the museum's own collection, as well as from the Musée National du Sport in Nice.
