The Frac Lorraine, also known as 49 Nord 6 Est, is a public collection of

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic co ...

of the

Grand Est Grand Est (; gsw-FR, Grossa Oschta; Moselle Franconian/ lb, Grouss Osten; Rhine Franconian: ''Groß Oschte''; german: Großer Osten ; en, "Great East") is an administrative region in Northeastern France. It superseded three former administra ...

region in France. It is located in

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...

History

Regional collections of contemporary art (Fracs) were created in 1982 by the French

Minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizatio ...

to disseminate contemporary art within each region of France. Set up within the political context of

decentralization Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group. Conce ...

, Fracs were established on the principle that financing would be shared between the state and the regional councils. Fracs have three complementary missions: to collect the contemporary art of local, as well as, international artists, to take art out into a broad public, and to educate people about arts. The Frac Lorraine was founded in 1984 as a nomad contemporary art fund. Since 2004, it seats in the Saint-Livier Hôtel, an

hôtel particulier An ''hôtel particulier'' () is a grand townhouse, comparable to the British townhouse or mansion. Whereas an ordinary ''maison'' (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a s ...

of the 12th century in the historical centre of

. Since then, the Frac Lorraine has been nicknamed ''49 Nord 6 Est'' (), because of the geodesic of the Hôtel.

Cultural policy

The Frac Lorraine has an ongoing exhibition schedule, welcoming guest contemporary artists, as well as, those from other disciplines, and engaged in publishing activities and educational initiatives. The Frac Lorraine has developed over the years a network of partners, such as the fine arts museums of

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...

, the regional art centers and municipal spaces, historic monuments and parks, and the

University of Lorraine The University of Lorraine (), often abbreviated in UL, is a grand établissement created on 1 January 2012, by the merger of Henri Poincaré University, Nancy 2 University, Paul Verlaine University – Metz and the National Polytechnic Institu ...

. For example, the Frac Lorraine has organized in 2012 an exhibition entitled ''Frac Forever'' in joint initiative with the Centre Pompidou-Metz. The Frac Lorraine has a documentation center on

and frequently organizes conferences.

Contemporary art collection

The Frac Lorraine collection encompasses over 800 art works from more than 300 regional, national, and international artists, including

Lida Abdul Lida Abdul is a video artist and performance artist from Afghanistan. She was born as Lida Abdullah in Kabul in 1979, fled the country as a child during the Soviet Invasion, and went on to live in India and Germany then the United States. Her mos ...

Marina Abramović Marina Abramović ( sr-Cyrl, Марина Абрамовић, ; born November 30, 1946) is a Serbian conceptual and performance artist. Her work explores body art, endurance art, feminist art, the relationship between the performer and audi ...

, Daniel Buren, Luis Camnitzer,

Esther Ferrer Esther Ferrer (born 1937 in San Sebastián, Spain) is a Spanish performance artist. Ferrer received Spain's National Award for Plastic Arts (1999), the Marie-Claire Prize for Contemporary Art in France, and the Velázquez Plastic Arts Prize. Hi ...

, Dora García,

Luigi Ghirri is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's ma ...

Joan Jonas Joan Jonas (born July 13, 1936) is an American visual artist and a pioneer of video and performance art, and one of the most important artists to emerge in the late 1960s and early 1970s.Nicholas Nixon Nicholas Nixon (born October 27, 1947) is an American photographer, known for his work in portraiture and documentary photography, and for using the 8×10 inch view camera. Biography Nixon was born in 1947 in Detroit, Michigan. Influenced by ...

Cornelia Parker Cornelia Ann Parker (born 14 July 1956) is an English visual artist, best known for her sculpture and installation art.Hito Steyerl Hito Steyerl (born 1 January 1966) is a German filmmaker, moving image artist, writer, and innovator of the essay documentary.

Hiroshi Sugimoto is a Japanese photographer and architect. He leads the Tokyo-based architectural firm New Material Research Laboratory. Early life and education Hiroshi Sugimoto was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. He reportedly took his earliest photographs ...

Niele Toroni Niele Toroni (born 15 March 1937 in Muralto) is a Swiss painter. He lives and works in Paris. Work In 1966 Toroni started a practice he calls "Travail-Peinture". Toroni's method, brushstrokes made with imprints of a no. 50 paintbrush repeated a ...

, and

Wolf Vostell Wolf Vostell (14 October 1932 – 3 April 1998) was a German painter and sculptor, considered one of the early adopters of video art and installation art and pioneer of Happenings and Fluxus. Techniques such as blurring and Dé-coll/age are c ...

References

{{Portal bar, Visual arts FRAC collections Contemporary art galleries in France Buildings and structures in Metz Architecture in Metz Museums in Moselle (department) Tourist attractions in Metz