What's new, Pompidou? - remodeling of the Pompidou Center, Paris, France

At the ripe aged age of 21, the Pompidou Center is about to come by sorely needed renovations that will shut up most of the building for more than sum of two units years. The announcement of the impending closure dashes earlier faiths that the extensive work could proce without shutting down this popular Parisian landmark [see "Artworld," June '94] The Pompidou mixed which houses the Musee Nationale d'Art Moderne space for temporary exhibitions and halls for films, prelections and performances, as well as a public library, has lengthy been strained by its large number of daily visitors (more than 20000) -- far in exces of original estimates (5000) In addition to modernizing the building and infrastructure, the plan includes significantly enlarging MNAM and the other exhibition spaces. The plan also calls for the installation of several plastic arts in the immediate vicinity of the center including Max Ernst's Le Grand Assistant (1967-74) Dubuffet's L'Expansion (1970) and Jean-Pierre Raynaud's skillet dore (1985). The entire plan is packed at roughly $86.2 million, to be paid for by dint of the French government.

This expenditure tend hitherwards on the heels of just-completed $607 million repairs (underway since 1995) to the building's exterior and improvements to the surrounding area. Also incorporated into this first stage of alterations were measures to countenance the delicate wood and plaster plastic arts in the renovated Atelier Brancusi, which not long ago reopened to the public. As well as addressing basic regards such as fire safety, the repairs have sought to ease maintenance enigmas for instance by applying a longer-lasting paint to the exterior surfaces of the building -- for many years, peeling paint has detracted from the impact of the colorful form The repainting of the external tubes and supports has retained the original color coding: virid for the water pipes, azure for air conditioning, yellow for the electrical combination of parts to form a whole red for elevators, gray for stairways and catwalks, white for structural simple bodys Among the extensive changes to the Pompidou's surroundings are added stairways to improve access to the plaza in forehead of the center, increased parking and newly planted trees

The Pompidou will start closing down following the conclusion of MNAM's Fernand Leger retrospective upon Sept. 29, which will also be the last date to diocese "Made in France 1947-1997," MNAM director German Viatte's new reinstallation of the permanent collection.

The renovations themselves are scheduled to come by under way in January 1998 and will last for 18 month They will include an expansion, by the agency of more than 3,280 square feet of the exhibition spaces upon the fifth (top) level. which will be devot chiefly to contemporary art. Greater gains of exhibition space, a certain number of 13,123 square feet, will be made upon the third and fourth horizontals thus permitting MNAM to display more of its 40,000-work collection. The addition, exhibition space will be gained largely end the relocation (as of July 1997) of the Center's administrative and research offices to sum of two units sites nearby. On the first horizontal the new configuration will also allow for the grouping together of five halls, previously disperse around the building, devot to film, discourses audiovisual and live events. In addition the plan calls for updating communications and computer sytem over the center.

The Center's library, the Bibliotheque Publique Information (BPI), upon the first and second horizontals will be redesigned for better access and circulation. over the planning of the renovations, the prospective closure of the BPI, which is heavily use through Parisian students, has been a controversial issue. To address the ne of its readers, part of the BPI's collection will be mov to a nearby site upon rue Brantome where, beginning in mid-November, up to 700 readers at a time will be able to deliberate some 50,000-60,000 documents.

Despite the extensive repair work, portion of the center will remain unclose In addition to being able to visit the Atelier Brancusi, tourists who wish to derive pleasure from the panoramic view from the top of the museum will be able to gain access to the fifth horizontal via the exterior escalator. admitting most of the building will be off-limits during the renovation period, space will be reserv for a not many exhibitions, including a Max Beckmann retrospective scheduled for 1998 Outside the center what organizers are calling a tepee will be installed to provide information about the restoration. This temporary make will house a bookstore and museum store as well as accommodating public lectures

During the Pompidou closure MNAM will be collaborating upon a variety of exhibitions in France and elsewhere. In the U the museum will loan numerous works for a present to view of 20th-century French art to be curated by the agency of Bernard Blistene at the uptown and downtown Guggenheim museums in the fall of 1988

The entire renovation cast will be overseen by sum of two units architects: Renzo Piano, who designed the original 1976 building in collaboration with Richard Roger and the 51-year-old Jean-Francois Bodin, who has designed the Museee Matisse in Nice (1987-1993) and the renovated Musee d'Art Modeme de la Ville de Paris (1992-94)