The Pernod Ricard Corporate Foundation’s new location will be open to the public from 19 May 2021

This new space crowns the Group’s commitment to artists. It will enable the Foundation, created more than 20 years ago, to continue supporting the contemporary art scene and make it as widely accessible as possible – Art is not complete until it is shared.

Located at 1 Cours Paul Ricard, in Saint Lazare, right in the heart of Paris, this new multidisciplinary venue, whose layout was entrusted to the firm NeM / Niney et Marca Architectes, features a main exhibition space spanning 300m². A 112-seat auditorium and a modular foyer will host conferences, performances and temporary installations. The Pantruchoise team (Franck Baranger, Pauline Labrousse, Nicolas Chatellain and Edouard Bobin) will manage “Café Mirette”, named in honour of Paul Ricard’s wife. The entrance to the Foundation, the café will house a library and a bookshop accessible to all, which will provide locals and visitors alike with a warm and friendly place to meet. The Foundation, accessible to all free of charge, will operate as a platform supporting artists, with the same ambition it has had since its creation: to raise the profile of the young contemporary scene in France and throughout the world. To achieve this, it will make even greater use of the resources provided by a global Group that has 86 subsidiaries. In these new spaces, the Pernod Ricard Corporate Foundation will roll out a “pioneering and audacious” programme according to its Director Colette Barbier. Retaining its human scale, it will continue to nurture this very special relationship it has developed with artists by increasing the opportunities for encounters and interaction. Since opening in 1998, the Foundation has featured more than 1,000 artists, invited by 250 curators as part of 150 exhibitions. Not having its own collection, its identity is shaped by those who bring it to life on a daily basis – artists, curators, authors, intellectuals, and the general public.

For its opening on 19 May, the Foundation will give free reign to artist Bertrand Dezoteux, guest curator of the group exhibition Le Juste Prix until 12 June, in which the real and the virtual collide. Then, between 21 June and 31 July, it will host a personal exhibition by the artist Isabelle Cornaro (recipient of the Pernod Ricard Award in 2010) based on her film making. To add to the artistic experience, the Foundation is also developing a new and interactive virtual gallery to mark the occasion.

Alexandre Ricard, Chairman & CEO of Pernod Ricard and President of the Foundation, said “The opening of the Pernod Ricard Corporate Foundation’s new location marks another stage in our Group’s history, a symbol of our enduring commitment to creation. We are delighted to be able to provide Paris with a new artistic venue in the heart of the vibrant Saint Lazare district, which will contribute to the dynamism of the capital’s culture life and to the “artistic conviviality” that we wish to share as widely as possible.”

Claudine Colin Communication

Chiara Di Leva / Thomas Lozinski +33 (0) 1 42 72 60 01
chiara@claudinecolin.com - thomas@claudinecolin.com