5th Les Ateliers de Rennes, 2016

As the only contemporary art biennial to develop a theme that explores the relations between art and economics / art and business, Les Ateliers de Rennes engages with today’s crucial issues – work, value, the thought of the future – which artists approach in many different ways.

François Piron

Born in 1972, François Piron is an independent exhibitions curator, art critic and editor. A graduate from the University of Haute Bretagne (Rennes 2), he is responsible for the postgraduate programme of the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Lyon, and cofounder of the independent art space castillo/corrales in Paris. He led the Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers from 2000 to 2005.

He has realized, among others, the following exhibitions Intouchable, l’idéal transparence, Villa Arson, Nice, 2006; Société Anonyme, Le Plateau and Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, 2007-2008; Where the Lions are, Para/Site Art Centre, Hong Kong, 2008; Habiter poétiquement le monde, LAM, Villeneuve d’Ascq, 2010 ; Locus Solus, Impressions de Raymond Roussel, Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid and Fondation Serralves, Porto, 2011-2012 ; Nouvelles Impressions de Raymond Roussel, Palais de Tokyo, 2013 ; The President of the Republic of Dreams, Galerie Buchholz, Berlin, 2013 ; Miroirs noirs, Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris, 2013 ; In These Great Times, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, 2014.

He has collaborated on numerous collective publications, including the catalogue of the 10th Biennale of Lyon 2009, the Spanish pavilion of the 2011 Venice Biennale and the Dutch pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2013. He recently contributed to the publications Thomas Hirschhorn, Critical Laboratory, MIT Press, 2013, and Michel Leiris et Cie, Gallimard-Centre Pompidou, 2015. He is preparing a monograph dedicated to the writings of Guy de Cointet, which is to appear by the end of 2015.

Image: François Piron. Photo Courtesy Ateliers de Rennes.