LA PISCINE IS TWENTY YEARS OLD!
6 November 2021 — 6 February 2022
To mark the institution’s twentieth birthday, the team at La Piscine decided to sift through the memories and fire the imaginations of Jean-Etienne and Jacqueline Grislain, loyal partners of the museum and the brains behind our opening image back in 2001. The aim of this ‘order’ is to stage a retrospective of two decades of activities through a selection of acquisitions, events and encounters. Through this project, spread across several spaces at the museum, we are seeking to share our memories and imbue them with the La Piscine spirit. This is also our commitment to continuing the adventure!
The founding principle of the ‘community museum’ will also lie at the heart of the selections chosen to bear witness to everything we have already shared. One of the strengths of this humanist foundation that inspires us all at La Piscine is the brilliance of our ‘Mona Lisa’, La Petite Châtelaine by Camille Claudel, purchased thanks to a fund-raising campaign in 1996, which expresses the permanent rationale behind our commitment to younger visitors, our passion for modern sculpture and the public’s fundamental contribution to this enrichment of our collection – a real shared treasure! Specially moved next to the main pool, this icon will be accompanied by tributes from contemporary artists and participants in our practical artistic workshops. This founding sequence will introduce an informative and quirky installation covering exhibitions at La Piscine between 20 October 2001 and 20 October 2021. Alongside the changing rooms on the ground floor of the pool, an illustrated time-line will summarise these twenty years, highlighting the programme of events and key acquisitions. Opposite, in the display cabinets, an installation will divide the enhancements of the collections during this period into sectors. Classed by size, these works and objects will showcase and illustrate the rich diversity of the collections of a museum unlike any other, the unexpected riches which, through their very modesty, sometimes call to mind certain stories that we would love to share with you.
In the Roubaix History Room, one of the revelations of the 2018 expansion, we will shed light on the prominent role music has always played in the popular culture of Roubaix. The moving sounds of the Jazz-band Blomme, with and a collection of local Roubaix accordions, is also a chance to open the museum up to different artistic practices, which will be evoked here as an echo of the numerous concerts performed under the vault of the large pool since the magical performance by the Dervishes of Damascus on 20 October 2001. The rare sound of festive magic.
In the historical contextualisation room, at the end of the 2018 sculpture gallery route, a vast documentary installation will focus on La Piscine’s roots in the local community, from the acclaimed design by the architect of the museum’s transformation, Jean-Paul Philippon, to the exceptional press review generated by the museum and its programme of events over the last twenty years. This is a way of highlighting the importance of a cultural public service as a source of pride in every local area, for every community and for the individual life stories of individuals marked by the La Piscine experience and focusing on the impact genuine and sincere project can have on people’s lives and the appeal of a human, cultural, tourism and economic environment. This rationale will be addressed during a discussion day that will attempt to answer a somewhat provocative question: La Piscine in Roubaix: A French Guggenheim?
This exhibition is supported by the Hauts-de-France Region and the Métropole Européenne de Lille. It has benefited from exceptional patronage from CIC Nord Ouest, a loyal partner of the La Piscine museum. The design was made possible thanks to generous support from the Flanders Colours range of paints distributed by Tollens.
A WEEKEND OF FESTIVITIES
Sat 13 and Sun 14 Nov. 2021
Reinforcing the tradition of celebrating its birthday, La Piscine organises a huge weekend of festivities on 13 and 14 November. Dance, play readings, mapping and other surprises will help you (re)discover the museum and its exhibitions/events.
On this occasion, the museum can be visited free of charge during the entire weekend and will remain open, on an exceptional basis, until 11 p.m. on Saturday.
Concerts, conferences, external exhibitions… View the timetable for ‘20 years of La Piscine’ at www.roubaix-lapiscine.com
