Jean-Marc Bustamante Gives Arles a New Contemporary Art Space Opening of the Fonds Bustamente
By Elisa Carollo
Arles has established itself as an essential summer destination for art lovers touring the South of France. What makes it an unmissable stop is not only the annual Les Rencontres d’Arles, one of the world’s most important international photography festivals, but also the growing number of foundations and institutions that have opened in the city in recent years. While the Fondation Vincent van Gogh has long anchored Arles’s contemporary art scene, bringing international artists into dialogue with the French master, the arrival of Maja Hoffmann’s LUMA Foundation in 2013 expanded the city’s offerings to include more new media art, with ambitious exhibitions and installations unfolding inside Frank Gehry’s spaceship-like, fractured-metal Tower and throughout the surrounding park. In 2022, South Korean artist Lee Ufan also opened his own foundation in the Hôtel Vernon, a historic mansion in central Arles.
This summer, another foundation is further enriching Arles’s rapidly expanding art scene, as renowned French artist Jean-Marc Bustamante opens Fonds Bustamante in the 12th-century Église Sainte-Croix in the city center, newly adapted to serve as an exhibition space and cultural hub under the direction of architect and designer Charles Zana.
At the core of its programming are three principal aims. The first is to preserve Bustamante’s prolific body of work, library and archives by bringing them together under one roof and making them accessible to a wider public. Bustamante, however, did not want to create a mausoleum for his own oeuvre. Instead, he envisioned a space open to other artists, foregrounding creative practices across disciplines and media, highlighting untold stories and reassessing historical narratives. The foundation will also mark the culmination of his 30-year commitment to education, functioning as a year-round cultural and educational hub through a series of master classes, conferences and symposia bringing together artists, academics and the public.
“As an artist, I saw this as a good opportunity because I am an artist, but I also like organizing exhibitions,” Bustamante told Observer ahead of the opening. “Given today’s global situation, it is important for artists to find ways to support one another. There are so many artists coming from so many different countries, and it is important to create connections among them.”
