Exhibitions in 2018

Dumb Type
Actions + Reflexions
January 20–May 14, 2018

Centre Pompidou-Metz launched in September 2017 a large-scale “Japanese Season,” dedicating all its exhibition spaces to Japanese contemporary art, architecture and visual culture, until March 2018. In addition to this exceptional overview, featuring more than 100 artists and 100 Japanese architects, a performance and concert programme runs until early March: Ryoji Ikeda, Saburo Teshigawara and Ryuichi Sakamoto are amongst the invited artists in 2018. The last part of this exceptional season is an exhibition of Dumb Type. Formed in 1984, Dumb Type was made up of Kyoto City Art College students from different fields, who combined to invent a new, fundamentally pluridisciplinary type of performing art. Dumb Type examines the mutation of identities and communication in a globalized world dominated by an excess of information and consumption. This exhibition is the first monographic exhibition of this magnitude in France dedicated to the collective.
 

The Adventure of Colour: Masterpieces from Centre Pompidou
February 24, 2018–July 22, 2019

This presentation of some 40 masterpieces from the Centre Pompidou’s collection proposes a thematic exploration of colour, sometimes perceived as a powerful vector of emotions and sensations, sometimes as a boundless support for reflections on the materiality and spirituality of painting. Punctuated by Matisse’s “Jazz” cut-outs, the journey reveals a number of physical and sensory experiences through the artistic explorations of Jean Dewasne, François Morellet, Bridget Riley or Sam Francis, the monochrome reflexions of Yves Klein or Robert Ryman, the energies of Pop Art and New Realism, and the reflexion on colour engaged by minimal and conceptual artists such as Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, John Baldessari or Joseph Kosuth.

As a special project linked to this exhibition, the Centre Pompidou-Metz will be hosting the immersive installation Dream House by composer LaMonte Young and visual artist and musician Marian Zazeela, from June 16 to September 10, 2018.
 

Modern Couples 1900-1950
April 28–August 20, 2018

As the notion of “couple” evolves with society’s changing approach about marriage, family, parenthood and gender, Centre Pompidou-Metz explores the creative processes that emerged from the relationships between artists. Modern Couples offers visitors an exceptionally rich corpus of works, correspondence, and photographic archives, revealing—beyond the couples’ intimate spheres—the changing behaviours and ideas of these modern age protagonists. It sheds light on the technical, social and scientific progress of that era, the evolution of women’s status and the development of psychoanalysis. From the late 19th century to the mid-20th century, the exhibition highlights the work of legendary couples, like Emilie Flöge and Gustav Klimt, Charles and Ray Eames, Pablo Picasso and Dora Maar, Man Ray and Lee Miller, Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, or Gabriele Münter and Wassily Kandinsky. It also draws attention to lesser known collaborations, and to individuals who remained in the shadow of their partner or were overlooked by history.
 

Painting the Night
October 13, 2018–April 15, 2019

Night-time has been a major source of inspiration throughout art history and continues to fascinate artists until today. Artists have indeed constantly redefined the night. To paint the night, or to paint during the night, is actually extremely meaningful. It is at night that one may, physically as well as symbolically, experience a form of “detachment from the world” much sought after by modernity. Dusk could be a perfect metaphor for the elusive boundary between figuration and abstraction. This exhibition assembles works by legendary avant-garde and contemporary artists (Winslow Homer, Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, Helen Frankenthaler, Anna-Eva Bergman, Gerhard Richter, Ed Ruscha, Martin Kippenberger, Peter Doig) as well as younger generations (Jennifer Douzenel, Spencer Finch, Daisuke Yokota, Olaf Nicolai), and will be conceived as a nocturnal experience.

Opening hours
November 1–March 31: Monday, Wednesday–Sunday 10am–6pm
April 1–October 31: Monday, Wednesday–Thursday 10am-6pm, Friday–Sunday 10am–7pm
 

Only 85 minutes via high-speed train from Paris.