Le 104: Paris's New Multidisciplinary Arts Center Opens in 2008

Le 104, a 37,000 m² multidisciplinary arts center in Paris's 19th arrondissement, will open to the public in autumn 2008. Directed by dramaturges Frédéric Fisbach and Robert Cantarella, the center occupies the former municipal funeral home at 11 bis rue Curial. With 26,000 m² of ground space across three levels, it includes 17 workshops, three performance spaces (200, 400, and 500 seats), a 6,000 m² covered passage, parking, storage, commercial spaces, and apartments for artist residencies. The directors aim to make the creative process visible, rejecting the primacy of the market. They have already commissioned six artists for the 1% program: Anri Sala, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Paul Cox, Coloco, Christian Prigent, and Gérard Pesson. Early resident artists include Tania Bruguera, Nicolas Simarik, Laurent and Cyril Berger, and Rimini Protokoll. The annual operating budget is €12 million, with €8 million from the City of Paris and €4 million from self-generated revenue. The center will host about 30 artistic projects per year, with residencies lasting from one month to one year. Fisbach and Cantarella applied after seeing an ad, despite being told the city sought administrators, not artists.