Inaugurated on 28 July 1964 by André Malraux, the Maeght Foundation owns one of the largest collections of paintings, sculptures and graphic works of the twentieth century in Europe (Bonnard, Braque, Calder, Chagall, Chillida, Giacometti, Léger, Miró, Ubac…) and contemporary artists (Adami, Calzolari, Caro, Del Re, Dietman, Kelly, Mitchell, Monory, Oh Sufan, Takis, Tàpies...). The Maeght Foundation is dedicated to art from our era and it organizes thematic exhibitions such as retrospectives (Giacometti in 2010, Chillida in 2011, Gasiorowski in 2012), or exhibitions of today’s creators (Erik Dietman in 2011, Fabrice Hyber in 2012, Gloria Friedmann and Djamel Tatah in 2013, Jörg Immendorff and Gérard Garouste in 2015). CAFA ART INFO met with Olivier Kaeppelin, who served as the Director of Maeght Foundation, when he paid a visit to Beijing to attend 2016 International Formation of Art Management in late April, we took this opportunity to have an interview with him.

Olivier Kaeppelin: The first kind of cooperation is an existing one yet with limited dimension, such as some museums or collections in China putting forward some proposals for exhibiting representative works by Miro, Alberto Giacometti and other renowned artists, this is a form of cooperation, currently it exists but it provides limited opportunities; the second one is the exhibition would be jointly organized by the foundation and cooperative party in China, with the exhibition being held in China. 3 Men in a Boat was planned to be exhibited in China but it failed to be realized for various reasons, I wish it could be held in China; third part, which is the one I’m very interested in is that, I had introduced 25 years ago Chinese artist Zhang Peili to exhibit in France. Now the Chinese art is well known over the world but and I’m still very interested in Chinese art which is very rich, if there’s a channel or means to realize it, I would like to introduce the Chinese contemporary art to the audience living in France. I would be also very interested in organizing a better knowledge of the French artists in China.

Olivier Kaeppelin: I never treat art just in the perspective of a single art media such as sculpture, painting or anything else, any kind of art form is a surprise for me. I would like to look at its features with an exploring eye and I hope it will bring me a preference for art media; I expect to accomplish a change after I appreciate this art; as for the various presentations of this, such as Sui Jianguo, Zhang Peili, Yan Pei Ming and Chen Zhen for instance...I could not say I have a preference. It is quite difficult to tell the direction of future Chinese art, as the contemporary Chinese art I have experienced is very diversified and rich; they develop from different perspectives like the tentacles of an octopus, each goes well in its direction.

Olivier Kaeppelin: As a curator, I am very interested in the concept of artists, I need to know about their thinking; My identity as a writer and curator are from different perspectives and standpoints. Although three artists in “3 men in a boat” are from different countries, they have developed their own communicating organism and they have formed their microcosm. Thus I emphasize with my friend Christian Scheffel the thoughts of these artists rather than the curatorial thought. I value their thinking and expressions very much, Moreover, the tradition of the foundation lies in that artists are the most important. I hope, for instance, there are more opportunities to cooperate with Chinese artists in the future, since many established international artists have found their cooperative channel, I hope artworks by young artists or “less known” artists, will be showcased in the form of a group exhibition.

Olivier Kaeppelin: This time I took this trip and gave lectures here, and also I paid a visit to some studios and I found some artworks linking the East with the West. Although the schedule is pretty tight, I wish I could see more and more works and I felt happy communicating with art collectors, art lovers and art professionals.

Olivier Kaeppelin: I expect to find the newest exhibitions and reports related to CAFA. When I did preparations for “3 Men in a Boat”, I found valuable materials on Sui Jianguo’s work and the interview with Henk Visch. I hope I could read more about Chinese contemporary art on CAFA ART INFO. Although Maeght Foundation contributes to the exhibitions of established artists, I would like to share the information and would endeavor to curate other exhibition for young artists.

Interviewed and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO