Parties prenantes (Stakeholders): retroperspectives on the history of Bétonsalon

Bétonsalon is cel­e­brating its 20th anniver­sary in 2023: 20 years of exhi­bi­tions, pro­duc­tions of works, per­for­mances, sem­i­nars and col­lo­quiums, orig­inal texts and new trans­la­tions, dis­cus­sions, encoun­ters, work­shops, and unlisted ini­tia­tives that have been devel­oped and sup­ported by many people.
Even though the insti­tu­tion has changed inter­nally, what is our his­tory and iden­tity today? How can we, having arrived here rel­a­tively recently, rep­re­sent the his­tory of the insti­tu­tion and, in turn, tell it? How can we go through the his­tory of the art centre, and create a col­lec­tive memory that is open to reading and writing? How can we posi­tion Bétonsalon in the world of art insti­tu­tions in France and world­wide?

After 20 years, the time has come to look back at this insti­tu­tion, to ini­tiate a pro­cess of self-reflec­tion to draw up cur­rent per­spec­tives, informed by past expe­ri­ences and by these man­i­fold his­to­ries.
Working together, we will grad­u­ally delve into the his­tory of Bétonsalon and Villa Vassilieff in a spirit of research and exper­i­men­ta­tion, with a crit­ical and reflec­tive approach, we will create our method­ology by observing those explored here, col­lecting micro-his­to­ries and counter-his­to­ries, per­sonal or col­lec­tive state­ments, to enable us to re-estab­lish links and even extend cer­tain expe­ri­ences.

On the basis of a meeting for each exhi­bi­tion, every three months, we will pro­gres­sively and over sev­eral years, carry out a case-by-case inter­pre­ta­tion of Bétonsalon. Project by pro­ject, we will grad­u­ally open the paper and dig­ital archives, and we will search the doc­u­men­tary col­lec­tion for pub­li­ca­tions asso­ci­ated with each pro­ject. And because the memory of a place, like the his­tory of art, must be com­prised of the mem­o­ries of the people who have ani­mated it, we will call upon the people con­cerned who ini­ti­ated, ani­mated or simply passed through such and such a pro­ject, seeking to open up this explo­ration to all the "stake­holders" (Parties prenantes is the title of a 2009 exhi­bi­tion) according to their affini­ties: vol­un­teers from pre­vious teams, indi­vidual, col­lec­tive or asso­cia­tive players, artists, cura­tors, the public, part­ners, stu­dents, pro­fes­sionals, uni­ver­sity staff, res­i­dents, chil­dren, walkers, dog owners, shop­keepers... For us, it will be a time of self-reflec­tive research, in motion, with a view to re-con­sti­tuting the archives and a living memory.