In the spring of 2012, the 3rd edition of the contemporary art triennial exhibition will move from the nave of the Grand Palais into the open galleries of the Palais de Tokyo and other neighbouring institutions along la Colline de Musées. Through the concept of “Intense Proximity”, La Triennale will investigate what it means to be active as an artist working today, in the context of a globalized and diverse French art scene.

Inspired by the great work of early to mid 20th century French ethnography figures such as Claude Levi-Strauss, Marcel Mauss, Michel Leiris, and Marcel Griaule, La Triennale sets off on a journey to explore the nodes where art and ethnography converge in a renewal of fascination and
estrangement. Fundamentally, the goal of the project is to shift from the idea of national space, as a constituted physical location, to a frontier space that constantly assumes new morphologies and new models of categorization (local, national, trans-national, geo-political, denational, pure, contaminated, etc.).

Contemporary art has become a global phenomenon fostered by an ever growing network of relations overcoming distances. La Triennale will therefore approach the art of today through this wealth of connections. Its title, “Intense Proximity”, points to those frictions, those heterogeneous tensions which set every human activity into motion. It also questions how an individual’s origins, intellectual education or life path have an impact on his/her situation in the larger context of a society in which the fault lines are increasingly uncharted.

Artistic Director Okwui Enwezor proposes a broad, stimulating panorama of contemporary art. Aiming to explore potential areas of dialogue between various artistic disciplines and cultural scenes, he will work in close collaboration with a team of four associate curators, all passionately involved in the contemporary art scene on which they have their own personal take : Mélanie Bouteloup, Abdellah Karroum, Émilie Renard and Claire Staebler.

The exhibition will be going from April, 20 until August, 26.

Photography by André Morin
Via La Triennale, Superfuture