CAPC Bordeaux Celebrates 40th Anniversary with Forward-Looking Program

The CAPC (Centre d'Arts Plastiques Contemporains) in Bordeaux marks its 40th anniversary as a museum, having transitioned from a contemporary art center founded in 1973 to a museum in 1984. To avoid nostalgia, the institution has structured its year into three seasons, blending retrospective and contemporary exhibitions. A long-term exhibition, "La Sentinelle" (until December 8), curated by Didier Arnaudet, presents 13 "partitions" with works by artists such as Nan Goldin, Ernst & Hilla Becher, Keith Haring, Richard Serra, and Daniel Buren, drawn from the CAPC collection. The first season featured a reactivation of Allan Kaprow's "Yard" (1963)—40 tons of tires in the nave—alongside shows by Raphaël Hefti and Philip Newcombe. Summer saw Markus Schinwald's installation in the nave, with adjacent rooms given to David Lieske and the duo Pauline Baudry & Renate Lorenz, whose work echoes feminist themes of Sylvia Sleigh. Autumn revives the historic Sigma festival (founded by Roger Lafosse) as an exhibition, showcasing archives of counterculture figures like the Living Theatre, Pink Floyd, and Jean-Jacques Lebel, with concerts by Pierre Henry, Iannis Xenakis, and Sun Ra. Contemporary spaces feature Andra Ursuta and Michael E. Smith. The program, led by Alexis Vaillant, aims to reestablish CAPC as a key European venue. The recent resignation of director Charlotte Laubard raises questions, with a successor expected in January.