To mark the opening of its new reserve collections in Romainville, in 2021, the Frac Île-de-France proposes a three-part exhibition project based on the theme of childhood called Children Power. It will take place in three venues, Le Plateau in Paris, the Château de Rentilly and at Les Réserves in Romainville. This project highlights the central role that young audiences play regarding artistic activities Implemented by the Frac.
At Le château, an exhibition about childhood
Diane Arbus, Roger Ballen, Daniel Barraco, Joël Bartoloméo, Christian Boltanski, Melanie Bonajo, Carlos Bosch, Pierre Boulat, Carina Brandes, Olaf Breuning, Jean-Paul Brohez, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Daniel Challe, Henri Coldebœuf, Elaine Constantine, Julien Crépieux, Gabriel Cualladó, Tacita Dean, Rineke Dijkstra, Daan van Golden, Robert Doisneau, Véronique Ellena, Ruud van Empel, Jacques Faujour, Charles Fréger, Aurélien Froment, Julia Fullerton-Batten, Ali Hanoon, Bertrand Hosti, Sarah Jones, Richard Kalvar, Mikhail Karikis, Christian Kempf, William Klein, Oleg Kulik, Suzanne Lafont, Ines van Lansweerde, Helen Levitt, Martine Locatelli, Ken Lum, Robert Mapplethorpe, Maria Marshall, Sabine Meier, Laurent Montaron, Chloe Piene, Barbara Probst, Laurence Reynaert, Marc Riboud, Jens Rötzsch, Edith Roux, Anri Sala, Margaret Salmon, August Sander, Françoise Saur, Collier Schorr, Asaf Shoshan, Malick Sidibé, Larry Sultan, Pekka Turunen, Shoji Ueda, Janina Wick, Piet Zwart (…)
Exhibition curator: Xavier Franceschi
At Le Château, this part of the project focuses on childhood as a subject, assembling photographic and video works from public collections (FRAC, CNAP, etc.) to show the wide range of ways in which artists have portrayed childhood since the last century.
Children Power, with this strong and asserted presence of the figure of the child, fully Immerses us in the world of childhood while in parallel questioning its representation.
With a strong focus on big names in the history of photography, including August Sander, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Helen Levitt, William Klein and Robert Doisneau, who testify to their era and the position of children in society, the proposed itinerary shows us how photographers continue, to this day, to examine this ‘age when anything is possible’, reflecting the philosopher and art historian Walter Benjamin questioning the power of images in Childhood (1934).
Whether in a fun way, playing with the codes of the genre, or deconstructing the myths linked to this pivotal period In life, the works take us on a multi-faceted journey through childhood as viewed by contemporary artists.