Exhibition production
The exponential development of public and economic challenges in art as well as the very ambitious objectives of artistic events have led to the "professionalization" of organizing exhibitions. They must now be conceived with an expert and multi-faceted vision, as a multi-form and specific entrepreneurial construction.
The criteria for organizing contemporary art exhibitions has changed considerably due to generally high media coverage, strong international artistic competition and budget cuts to cultural institutions. The constant valuation of contemporary artwork has increased insurance budgets, reaching the highest levels when insuring key works by the market’s well known artists. To a lesser but still significant extent, budgets for transporting the works have also increased because of their worldwide destinations as well as the large size of certain pieces.
Many projects however are facing cuts in public budgets for culture and difficult economic environments, particularly in Europe, resulting in financial equations that are very complicated to resolve. With the rise of many international artistic events and the increasing mobility of art lovers, an exhibition project also has to find its own drawing power to ensure extensive media coverage and to find its maximum audience. It is now vital to give a distinctive and, if possible, unique identity to each project. This leads to a more urgent demand for new works that will ensure the exhibition’s originality.
To guarantee the success of an exhibition, this search for originality must obviously be combined with a search for quality works. However, many recently opened institutions, in Asia or Latin America for example, have difficulty making themselves known within the major international art circuits and have trouble getting artists or lenders for their exhibition projects. These new participants on the art scene are not fully aware of the specific procedures involved with this type of organization and incur major financial and administrative risks. Noirmontartproduction proposes the specialized professional support that is necessary for them to acquire the means for an adequate preparation.
The organization of any exhibition must now be seen with an expert and multi-faceted professional vision, as a multi-form and specific entrepreneurial construction
Whether in a museum or public space, contemporary art exhibitions are therefore seen as true productions. Noirmontartproduction proposes to be the intermediary between all participants, ensuring the overall coordination of the entire project. Depending on the type of exhibition and the wishes of its organizers, Noirmontartproduction offers several possible solutions.
Solo exhibitions
Noirmontartproduction can enable the museum or the sponsoring institution to initiate the production of one or more works by an artist, by managing all aspects of it under a tripartite agreement with the artist’s representing gallery. In addition to the obvious benefits, in particular financial, that outsourcing the production provides for the institution and the gallery, Noirmontartproduction’s intermediation also guarantees the project’s artistic objectivity and a certain neutrality when faced with any commercial misrepresentation that could damage the exhibition.
Exceptional solo exhibitions
These shows can involve the creation of gigantic ephemeral works or artistic events or happenings where the works are created for the sole purpose of the presentation, like with Monumenta at the Grand Palais in Paris. Noirmontartproduction proposes to take over the entire organization of these projects, including the search for sponsors, similarly to a production of an ephemeral work. This creation is subject to many constraints, especially administrative in the context of broad public accessibility. Noirmontartproduction can provide support for the project in all aspects of its organization: legal procedures, catalogue publication, communication and public relations … The gigantic size and spectacular nature of such projects implies working in constant, close proximity to the artist during the preparation phase in order to adapt to technical and various other constraints. Jérôme de Noirmont is familiar with collaborating with artists on similar projects after 20 years of gallery management. He is well aware of the extreme sensitivity of artists on these projects which represent a major challenge in their career and he proposes the possibility to act as curator.
Noirmontartproduction acts as a laboratory, a factory of ideas and initiatives
Group exhibitions
Noirmontartproduction can also manage the production side of the exhibition by establishing tripartite agreements with the sponsoring institution and the galleries that represent the artists involved. It can also ensure the overall coordination of the exhibition with the museum or institution.
Touring exhibitions
To balance cost reduction with maximum visibility, Noirmontartproduction also proposes help in organizing touring exhibitions with its partners by putting together multi-city international tours. Each institution and each location must be carefully selected according to the nature and importance of the exhibition or the artist while, of course, optimizing the overall logistics. The Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont was particularly well known for having developed many large touring exhibitions for the artists it represented. As the representative of Keith Haring’s Estate in France, Jérôme de Noirmont organized the exhibition Keith Haring – Made in France in 1999 for the Musée Maillol in Paris before launching a European tour in 2000/2001 with the same concept in Helsinki, Rotterdam, Rome and Pisa. To develop the visibility of French artists Pierre et Gilles as well as Bettina Rheims, the Galerie organized several traveling retrospectives of their work in different countries: Pierre et Gilles were the subject of a US tour (New York, San Francisco) in 2000/2001, an Asian tour (Seoul, Singapore) in 2004/2005 and a Russian tour (Moscow, St Petersburg) in 2007. Photographs by Bettina Rheims travelled throughout Europe from 2004 to 2006 in an eight-city retrospective tour traveling to Helsinki, Oslo, Vienna, Dusseldorf, Brussels, Rotterdam, Moscow and Lyon. The American-born couple McDermott & McGough also had a European retrospective of all their photographic work from 2008 to 2011 in Dublin, Paris and Moscow. Thanks to this expertise and its ties to museums, foundations and institutions in France and abroad, Noirmontartproduction can today give large-scale importance to an exhibition.