The Cipac is an association composed of organisations representative of the professionals involved in the field of contemporary art. Its objective is to foster the development of and support for the life of contemporary art in France. In this perspective, the association constitutes a permanent platform for reflection, exchange and proposal-making around issues that are considered essential by those involved in contemporary art, organising regular congresses and commissioning studies.
A regular meeting point for those involved professionally in the world of contemporary art – artists, dealers, collectors, patrons of the arts – the Cipac also includes officials from various levels of government and institutions in its activities. The on-going nature of the Cipac’s initiatives, in the framework of the workgroups held prior to and following the congresses themselves, highlights the Cipac as a watchdog organisation attentive to the goings-on in the contemporary-art milieu, with the aim of putting forth concrete proposals in our lines of work.
The congresses themselves are the emerging tips of the Cipac’s activity. They are moments of exchange and focus debate on the realities of an entire sector of activity. Bringing together directors of art centres, museums, public collections and art schools, dealers, librarians and managers of art-lending libraries, publishers and art critics, teachers, mediators, technical managers, art-restoration specialists, auctioneers, collectors, artists, elected officials and other representatives of various levels of government, the Cipac congresses seek to afford increased visibility – both politically, economically, socially and culturally – to the various issues affecting the field of contemporary creation. As work sessions, they reach out primarily to professionals and to decision-makers, though they remain more broadly open to all those concerned by the issues of contemporary creation.
In October 1996, the first inter-professional contemporary-art congress was held in Tours, focusing on a broadly shared and highly topical question : “Art, a public affair.” Encouraged by successfully bringing together more than a thousand people, a second congress was organised in November 1998, seeking to investigate another fundamental theme : “Art, a necessary education.” The third congress, organised in Nantes in November 2001, attracted some 1500 actors from the contemporary-art world, around the theme : “Art, artists and professions.” In 2003, the fourth congress intended to broaden the scope of the debate to the European level – an unavoidable horizon today if new artistic, institutional, market-oriented or political perspectives of creation are to be established.
Today, sixteen professional organisations are members of the Cipac, representing several hundred artistic structures, and several thousand people working in the field of contemporary art.
Association of French Librarians – ABF / Association for the development and research of art lending libraries – ADRA / French association of stewards and managers of artworks - AFROA / International association of art critics, French section - AICA France / National association of visual-arts advisors - ANDEA / National association of public art collection directors - ANDF / Association of contemporary art curators - APPEA / the French association for curators - CEA / French Art Dealers Association - CPGA / National co-ordination of art-school instructors – CNEEA / Trades union for engraving, drawing and painting – CSEDT / National association of art centres – DCA / French federation of curators and restoration workers – FFCR / Association of curators and scientific personnel of the Museums of the City of Paris / National association of public relations workers in contemporary art “Un moment voulu” / Platform