Turism and contemporary art : the Loire Valley rivals Paris

His story is already closely related to artists. From Rabelais to Leonardo da Vinci and Turner, architects, writers, painters, photographers, attracted by the Light River, found in the Loire Valley a source of inspiration to build our artistic and cultural heritage. Along the Loire, castles, museums, art centers are now turning to contemporary art and renew the image of the territory. Innovative, the contemporary creation opens a way towards the modernity through the new look which the artist carries on the world. Moving, it satisfies the need of curiosity and innovation of today's tourist. Creative, it reflects an image of youth, dynamism and confidence in the future.

The Turbulences, Frac-Centre (Orléans)

A place of discovery and conviviality, Les Turbulences - Frac Centre offers visitors a new artistic experience in the heart of an innovative architecture. The Turbulences develop an exhibition program and a transdisciplinary cultural program around the relationships between art, architecture and design. This program links its exhibitions with other artistic disciplines (theater, music, cinema, etc.) and is established in close liaison with its regional partners. The Turbulences also assert themselves as a production platform for young architectural creation through training actions with schools of art and architecture as well as international workshops. The reception of the public is at the heart of its concerns, through mediation activities and a rich and varied cultural program. Spaces of conviviality are spared for the visitors.

La Fondation du doute, Blois

Neither museum nor art center, the Foundation of Doubt is a singular place. Ben Vautier imagines it filled with the freedom of places in motion, animated by the flow he has been carrying with him for fifty years. The Fondation du doute is open to all forms, to all possibilities as long as they surprise us, they entertain us, they persuade us that art, as Robert Filliou so aptly puts it, "is what makes life more interesting than art". The vocation of the Fondation du Doute is to welcome artists, theoreticians and researchers to create a living residence where audiences meet. As for Fluxus, the Fondation du Doute must promote "concomitance", the importance of non-importance, the details of life, all possible, the idea, the humor, the "event", the theory , the manifesto, the action, and, as Ben imagines, a Total Art. The mechanics of doubt weighs the pros and cons, captures all voices, records and transmits, mixes and mixes, measures the limits of art, questions and questions borders.

Chateau de Chambord

The exhibition "Georges Pompidou and art, an adventure of the eye", organized last summer as part of the 40th anniversary of the Center Pompidou, paid tribute to this man of heritage and modernity with an exceptional exhibition gathering nearly 67 artists and the meeting of 90 unpublished works. Drawn from the collections of the Pompidou Center and dozens of private lenders, including that of Alain Pompidou himself, these extraordinary pieces were presented in a vast space of 700 m2 dedicated solely to the discovery of unpublished works. In 2018, Chambord exposes Jér?me Zonder. Essentially based on our relationship to history, the work of Jerome Zonder will be at home in Chambord, in this place of heritage superimposing the temporal layers. Seized by the artist as a real historical body, whose famous staircase would be the backbone, the castle will host in the exhibition overlays of temporalities, like so many sediments questioning the collective memory.

Domaine régional de Chaumont sur Loire

Since 1992, the International Garden Festival is a laboratory of contemporary creation in the field of gardens and landscaping in the world. At the same time a mine of ideas and a breeding ground for talent, the Festival is revitalizing the art of gardens and is of interest to the public and the profession by presenting new flowers, new materials, ideas and innovative approaches. In 2018, once again, the International Garden Festival of Chaumont-sur-Loire surprises with unprecedented experiences, serving the expression of thought, theme of this 27th edition of the contest, whose jury was chaired by the writer Jean Echenoz.

The CCC OD, Tours

In 2016, after 32 years of existence and more than 300 exhibitions, the Contemporary Creation Center becomes the Olivier Debré Contemporary Creation Center. In the heart of historic Tours, in a building of 4,500 m2 designed by the architectural agency Aires Mateus, the CCC OD houses three exhibition spaces, two auditoriums, a coffee shop and a bookstore. Each exhibition gives a personalized accompaniment of the public, children as adults, as well as events, conferences and meetings.

The Atelier Calder, Saché

Since 1989, Atelier Calder has been a place of residence and artistic creation. This former workshop of the American sculptor Alexander Calder pursues a policy of hospitality whose ambition is to allow the artists to realize specific projects, to continue a work of research or experimentation. For three months, artists receive technical and financial support that encourages the creation of artistic projects. Regularly, the Calder Workshop associates itself with places of diffusion (center of art, museums, historical monuments ...) in order to organize exhibitions following the residences allowing the public to discover the works produced in Saché. Place of exchange and opening, Atelier Calder promotes meetings between its residents and regional cultural actors (school of fine arts, art centers, FRAC, museums ..), school groups through actions mediation and with the public in the context of workshop visits.

The Chateau du Rivau, Lémeré

With the enchantment for red thread, conducive to invention and creation, the Chateau du Rivau invites artists of our time to a contemporary reinterpretation of a medieval castle. Their creatures glide with humor among the famous characters of the History of France and finish making this poetic castle the kingdom of fairy tales. An offbeat universe where majolics flirt with the art of hunting, where an oversized crown sits near a tapestry of the sixteenth century where each work of artists flirts with and dialogue with medieval art.

The Maison Max Ernst (Huismes)

"It's nice, soft and calm here," wrote Max Ernst to a friend in 1955. It was on this date, in Touraine, that the artists Max Ernst (1891-1976) and Dorothea Tanning (1910-2012) set themselves near Chinon in the pine farm in Huismes, which they poetically name The Lost Pin. Max Ernst, German painter, sculptor and poet, is a major figure in twentieth-century art, Dada and Surrealist movements. With his wife, the American artist Dorothea Tanning, he left the United States and joined Paris in 1952. Max Ernst received the Grand Prix of the Venice Biennale in 1954 and found a peaceful life in Touraine until 1968. From 1955 , the winemaker's farm is transformed: the farmhouse and the barn are home to the couple's home and their respective workshops. All spaces for painting, drawing and carving are occupied. Today, the painting workshop and the reserve of works welcome temporary exhibitions, conferences, concerts...

The Chateau de Montsoreau-Museum of contemporary art

Radical, committed, living the Chateau de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art is, since 2016, a place entirely dedicated to the contemporary creation in Val de Loire. Today, his permanent collection is the world largest collection of the Art & Language movement which invented Conceptual Art. Known for their provocatively provocative personality, these artists create works to rethink the visitor's place, making it active in the creation of the work. Paintings, installations, films - which have radically revolutionized the history of Art are presented in a scenographic journey. In 2018, the museum organizes two temporary exhibitions: ART & LANGUAGE: REALITY (DARK) FRAGMENTS (LIGHT) and 1968: SPARTE RêVE D'ATHèNES.

The Royal abbey of Fontevraud

Heritage site par excellence, the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud is also largely open to the creation of today. It hosts contemporary art installations as part of thematic cycles. In 2012, in partnership with Estuaire, Claude Lévêque created the lasting work "Death in summer". This "visual and sound nocturnal device that invites you to dream" can be visited in the large dormitory. In addition to Lévêque, Fran?ois Morellet also made an order specifically for her. In addition, the Pays de la Loire Regional Contemporary Art Fund (FRAC) regularly promotes its works in this unique setting.