Presentation

A non-profit association founded in 2003, Bétonsalon – Centre for Art and Research has been ensconced in the Université de Paris Cité, in the 13th arrondissement, since 2007. It wasted no time in gaining a reputation for research focused on exhibitions and cultural liaison, and was one of France’s pioneer art centres in adopting decolonial and feminist stances and linking its artistic practices to cultural and political contexts. From 2016 to 2020 the association also had a second site, the Villa Vassilieff, designed as a working and living environment favouring maturation of ideas, encounters and knowledge-sharing. Bétonsalon co-founder Mélanie Bouteloup directed the art centre from its beginnings in 2003 until 2020, and a large number of people have contributed to its history, as members of its teams and through a vast network of collaborators in France and around the world. Appointed as director of Bétonsalon in 2021, Émilie Renard is setting out to draw on its accumulated collective imagination as a resource for building its identity.

Bétonsalon – Centre for Art and Research is an official City of Paris cultural establishment, with Ministry of Culture certification as a Contemporary Art Centre of National Importance, and is supported by the Île-de-France Region.