Jean de Loisy, currently director of the Palais de Tokyo, has been appointed as the new head of Paris’s École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Le Monde reports. He will take up his new role on 5 January 2019.
De Loisy takes up the reins of an institution in turmoil, which brought his two predecessors’ tenures (Nicolas Bourriaud, 2011–2015, and Jean-Marc Bustamante, 2015–2018) to a premature halt. Bustamante came under fire this July over a perceived failure to address a number of complaints of sexual harassment and racism placed by students and maintenance staff, leading to his resignation. De Loisy’s appointment isn’t without controversy either. When rumours of his nominations started circulating in November, members of the artworld penned an open letter published in Mediapart opposing his possible appointment and calling for a gender and generational renewal at the head of the fine art school.
Prior to joining the Palais de Tokyo in 2011, de Loisy served as an inspector in the Creative Sector of the French ministry of culture and a curator at the Foundation Cartier and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Earlier this year, he was announced as the curator of the next Lyon Biennale, opening in September 2019.
13 December 2018
