Who are we?
Founded by the Galeries Lafayette Group and inaugurated in 2018, Lafayette Anticipations is a public-interest institution dedicated to contemporary artistic creation.
Free and open to all, its programme includes cutting-edge exhibitions exploring different ways of seeing and inhabiting the world; the Échelle Humaine performance festival; the Closer Music festival, celebrating emerging musicians; as well as talks, screenings, activities for younger audiences and innovative tour formats that take place throughout the year and shape the life of the place.
Located in the heart of Paris, the Fondation occupies a singular building. Designed by architect Rem Koolhaas its movable floors create an ever-changing space which embodies Lafayette Anticipations’ daring, forward-looking and inclusive understanding of contemporary art.
Lafayette Anticipations is a space of meeting and exchange in the heart of the Marais. Through exhibitions, festivals, tours and workshops, it creates opportunities for shared reflection on our time and its challenges. Free and open to all, the Fondation encourages dialogue rooted in a spirit of intellectual and artistic hospitality.
Beyond its public programme, the Fondation also supports artists at pivotal moments in their practice through two residency programmes. Steered by a committee of experts, the Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin oversees a growing collection of over 400 works, acquired primarily from emerging artists.
A word from Guillaume Houzé
Drawing on the heritage of Galeries Lafayette, which has always associated designers with its plans, Lafayette Anticipations was born of the conviction that the pulse of a society is taken from the wrists of its artists.
We had this singular vision when we established the Fondation in 2012 as a mission of general interest, and it has become particularly clear four years later.
We had imagined a place dedicated to the most current thinking, capable of involving - as close as possible to the march of the world and the issues of the day - artists, designers, authors, choreographers... so that each and every one of us can help us to glimpse the worlds to come.
While history, which was said to be over, is once again getting out of control, the creators, true to their role as lighthouses, come to 9 rue du Plâtre to invent, debate, propose and above all re-enchant the immediate horizon of possibilities that they hold.
Here we provide them with tools to enable them to multiply their capacity for action, to bring out new forms and ideas. We have created this space with Rem Koolhaas and his agency OMA, around a production workshop, a mobile exhibition tower and an open passageway, designed to make the unknown an ally.
Whether you come alone or with your family, for ten minutes, an hour or a day, our Fondation is designed so that everyone could dream, discuss and be surprised.
