Museum

The contemporary art museum, located in the Cité Internationale, close to the banks of the Rhone and the Tête d'Or Park, is in the centre of pleasant surroundings.

Collection and creation's policy

In 1984 the Contemporary Art Museum, then located in a wing of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon (Lyon Museum of Fine Arts) (Musée Saint Pierre Art Contemporain - Saint Pierre Museum of Contemporary Art), took particular interest in the production of works of art.

A production is a work created within the museum and for the museum, in direct collaboration with a living artist, and acquired for the museum collection. It can be original in its design or the manifestation of an old idea never created before. These productions are an opportunity for artists to experiment with matter, form, ideas and unusual dimensions and to create works in harmony with the place itself.

The primary aim of this production became clear during the Georges Adilon exhibition at the Musée Saint Pierre Art Contemporain (Saint Pierre Museum of Contemporary Art) (Octobre des Arts, 1984). The work produced was of gigantic proportions (16.56 x 52 metres) and only a sixth of the work was shown at the Musée Saint Pierre Art Contemporain.

Museography

The museum's production policy for works of art required the architect to design a completely modular interior space capable of meeting the multiple demands of artists as well as adapting to the diverse exhibition layouts designed by the curators.

Whether for a Roller Coaster by the artist Cai Guo-Qiang, a "Crying Wall" by Ann Hamilton, or a Salt Water Pool by Mathieu Briand, the museum transforms itself for each artistic project and therefore offers a completely different visit every time.

The collection is therefore only exhibited on a rotation basis, in the same way as exhibitions. The museum closes for short durations between each exhibition (6 weeks on average), in order to set up the new visit.