Curator Annabelle Ténèze on her exhibition for Paris+ par Art Basel

‘When people ask me how I define myself, I say that I'm a historian and an art historian – because history and art are intimately linked. I'm originally from the Limousin region, specifically Oradour-sur-Glane, a village that was wiped out by Nazi soldiers on June 10, 1944. Obviously, this creates a very special relationship with history. I'm also fortunate to have access to artists; sharing this opportunity, particularly with younger people, is fundamental to me.

‘From 2012 to 2016, I was director of the contemporary art museum at the Château de Rochechouart. The subject of equality is of great concern to me, and this was an opportunity to show a large number of women artists. Here, I presented exhibitions devoted to Carolee Schneemann, Laure Prouvost, as well as other figures who are very important to me, such as Kent Monkman and Eduardo Basualdo.

‘In Toulouse, where I've been running Les Abattoirs since 2016 [Tenèze will take over as director of the Louvre-Lens in autumn 2023], we've set up itinerant artistic projects such as ‘I Was Born a Foreigner’, which took the form of 25 exhibitions throughout the region, and ‘Water Horizons’ along the Canal du Midi, with work on a sailing barge. This summer, we’ve organized ‘Mountains and Artists’ along the GR10 long-distance hiking trail. Alongside our solo shows, we’ve staged thematic exhibitions rooted in societal issues: public art and feminism with Niki de Saint Phalle, psychiatry with François Tosquelles, exile with Pablo Picasso. We've even staged a dialogue between The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, which date back to the early 16th century, and contemporary works.

‘This fall, for Paris+ par Art Basel and in collaboration with the Musée du Louvre, I'm preparing a new exhibition at the Tuileries, following on from the one I curated last year. A call for projects has been launched, open to all galleries, not just those selected for the fair. From these submissions, I will make a selection in coordination with the Paris+ par Art Basel team and the Musée du Louvre. My choices are obviously determined by this very specific location. The garden has a strong political dimension, inherited from its history. And it is itself an open-air museum, featuring sculptures from the Modern to the contemporary period. There are works by Jean Dubuffet, Germaine Richier and Giuseppe Penone, for example. When I walk from one grove to the next, I realize that the gardeners have experimented here and there – they even bring in goats to graze on the grass!

‘Last year, many of the projects questioned the form of art in public space. This raised the question of who expresses themselves in the public space and, in turn, who doesn't. I'm very interested in these reflections. They follow on from what I've done previously, and from the public work I'm currently preparing with Laure Prouvost for the Massy-Palaiseau station. Among the various proposals I’ve received this year, several works question what it means to live and inhabit the world today, whether as an animal or a human being, on a planet that is dramatically changing. Water is present on several occasions, including in projects not intended for ponds.

‘At the Tuileries, there will be an installation by Claudia Comte and sculptures by Zanele Muholi. In the restored basins of the Exèdres, there will be a work by Joël Andrianomearisoa, an artist I invited to the Abattoirs as soon as I arrived, asking him to put art in the interstices of the museum. He intervened on the façade, to signify that art doesn't stop at night, but also in the elevators, and in the toilets too. He even slipped love letters into the books in the library! Jacqueline de Jong will also be present with her ‘Pommes de Jong’ readapted to suit the location.

‘In the Tuileries, there are always discoveries. The alliance between the Musée du Louvre and Paris+ par Art Basel is great in this respect. The public that passes through, and that I often see during the set-up times, is not solely made up of those familiar with contemporary art. It's a free exhibition, in a very central location. Last year, when we were installing Romeo Mivekannin's monumental painting based on Veronese's The Wedding at Cana (1562–1563), a large number of passers-by came up to us with questions. But right now, we're in the midst of our preparations...’

Curated by Annabelle Ténèze, ‘La cinquième saison’ (‘The fifth season’) will be presented in the jardin des Tuileries - Domaine National du Louvre during Paris+ par Art Basel 2023. Learn more here.

Anaël Pigeat is an art critic, editor-at-large of The Art Newspaper, journalist for Paris Match, and curator.

Published on July 12, 2023.

Caption for full-bleed images, from top to bottom: All photographs by Marion Berrin for Art Basel.