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Pompidou Centre lands in Metz
The Pompidou Centre in Paris is thinking of expanding with the opening of an outpost in the French town of Metz, a place with a population of 200 000 in the Lorena region. The new building - 10-12 000 square metres of floorspace and a budget of 35-40 million euro – which is to be built on the site of ex railway station near the main station, could be ready by 2007. The news has been reported by French newspaper Le Monde according to which credit for the project is attributed to Jean-Jacques Aillagon, who was head of the Pompidou Centre before becoming minister for culture.
The reason behind the expansion? Firstly “mathematical”, explains Bruno Racin, Aillagon’s successor: “ there are 50 000 pieces in the collection at the national museum of modern art and we can only show 1300 at a time”.
The choice of Metz is not random – the town presently has no museum dedicated to twentieth century art but however is located in a strategic position not far from Germany, Belgium and Luxemburg. To this is added the fact that France for some time has been operating a policy of decentralisation, to bring culture to places outside Paris.
An international design competition will be announced at the end of June. And if the experiment at Metz works out, the museum may think about expanding outside national territory with Venice and Berlin possibilities for forthcoming projects.
