Palais de Tokyo

Palais de Tokyo, a place for contemporary creativity, was founded following the will to change the traditional institutional “white cube” into a living place. Making art and life, the eternal adagio, actually meet. Making a place for contemporary creation become also a laboratory for emerging cultures, a place for resources and exchanges between artists, but also a place for contacts for the public. An institution that is open onto the outside world, while its interiors reflect the philosophy and energy of its inhabitants.
Developing an open exhibition space, flexible and without obstacles to the crossing of artistic disciplines. Creating a conversation place, a platform for conferences and debates where everything may be tried out and discussed. A place where everything becomes feasible: from simple and immediate ideas to ambitious plans.
Involving the public in new adventures and listening to its inquiries.
A place devoted to creativity open not only during office hours but also during leisure time. During the day, at night. Midday/midnight, opening times that will make contemporary art become a part of everyday life. So that going to the Palais de Tokyo becomes like going to the cinema or to a concert. The place for contemporary creativity invents a place for permanent life, a place where one can at the same time discover contemporary art, browse in the bookshop or dine at the restaurant.

Inspired by the lively and changing atmosphere of Place Djemaa El-Fna in Marrakech, it is a space in perpetual motion, its mobility responding first and foremost to the desires of artists. An evolving work site where nothing is definitive, neither the place nor the exhibitions. A mouldable and flexible structure adjusting to the everyone’s lifestyle. A place you can take possession of for an hour, a day, or forever. A lively organism, the Palais de Tokyo discloses its strength and weakness, its beauty and wounds. A place that is true to life, in the image of today’s and yesterday’s art. A transit area, a thoroughfare. Exhibitions are prepared and dismantled openly, with work areas kept constantly in view, not in the aim of turning work into a performance, but in the aim of bringing the public nearer to the art of its time.