Entitled Infinite Freedom, A World for a Feminist Democracy and dedicated to the exclusive invitation of around fifty women artists and architects, the 2022 Biennale of FRAC Centre-Val de Loire is primarily intended as a festival geared towards a new imaginary founded on equality, in which various social, militant, and artistic readings cohabitate, with a view to instilling a new kind of common sense.
In the wake of the constant battles for freedom throughout history, that which seems the most urgent and among the most threatened, remains that of the feminist struggle. In 2017 and 2019, the Biennales organised by the FRAC Centre-Val de Loire paved the way to exhibiting women artists and architects. In this sense, the recent exhibitions and acquisitions have been reinforcing the idea whereby the creation of a memory of women artists is a civil, social, and political responsibility that the FRAC Centre-Val de Loire is committed to, as a public institution. The concept of “feminist democracy” that we borrow from author Marie-Cécile Naves gives rise to several questions that lie at the heart of the Biennale: which cities and urbanism programmes are devised by and for women? How can their productions emerge from their invisibility? What interpretation of the history of the arts can be seen through the lens of feminisms?
FRAC Centre-Val de Loire, in its capacity as a regional institution for the dissemination and advocacy of contemporary art, maintains its position within the territorial fabric. Maintaining a fruitful partnership with the city since 2018, Vierzon’s candidacy was very naturally retained to host the event. Armed with its industrial and agricultural character, at the intersection of five rivers, we have used this context to set the scene of the Biennale. The majority of the artworks devised by the artists and architects emerge from a conversation with the city: its history, present, inhabitants and dreams for the future. This is how the Biennale has become an event driving the urban, architectural, and artistic dynamic, as much as it is also a moment for building harmonious community relations.
Several landscapes will be drawn throughout Vierzon. The first powerful act of this event will be that of its occupation of public space. The works by the artists and architects, designed in resonance with the city, will sketch out new urban practices through their integration within the landscapes of everyday life. In parallel, the exhibition The World Built by Women will bring together three French collections (Centre Pompidou, Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine, and Frac Centre-Val de Loire) and will explore the plurality of the productions created by women architects, from social housing to memorial sites. Throughout the Biennale, Tiers Féminisme, at once a forum for debates and cultural programming, will invite Vierzon women artist and architects to interact together, to think about an ideal society and accompany the transformations of public policies and civilian actions.
Ana María Arévalo Gosen, Louisa Babari, Sophie Berthelier & Véronique Descharrières, Agence d’architecture Bientôt, Tatiana Bilbao, Flora Bouteille & Victor Villafagne, Iwona Buczkowska, Pascale Cassagnau et Michel Drach, Clémentine Chalançon, Katharina Cibulka, Collectif Offence, Dorian Degoutte, Rokhaya Diallo, Alice Diop, Penda Diouf, Férielle Doulain, Juliet Drouar, feminist architecture collaborative, Renée Gailhoustet, Habibitch, Zaha Hadid, Clarisse Hahn, Angela Hareiter, Anne Houel, Mai Hua, Saba Innab, Flora Jamar, Mouna Jemal Siala, Hanna Kokolo, Cécile Le Talec, Mireia Luzárraga & Alejandro Muiño (Takk), Grace Ly, Brigitte Mahlknecht, María Mallo Zurdo, Ovidie, Flavie Pinatel, Anna Ponchon, Anila Rubiku, Leïla Saadna, Mairea Seguí Buenaventura, Pascale de Senarclens, Giovanna Silva, Ségolène Thuillart, Laure Tixier, Lindsey Tramuta, Elvira Voynarovska, Madelon Vriesendorp & Teri Wehn-Damisch.
Schools : l'École Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Bourges : Agathe Flamant, Juliette Duval, Yuan Hong, Alice Le Quellec, Xilong Cao et Yu Zhiming. L'École Polytechnique de Valence en Espagne : professeure Mónica García Martínez, et guest professeure María Jesús Muñoz Pardo et ses étudiants.
Collective : Antre-Peaux
