The Fonds Bustamante has opened its doors in Arles. Established on the initiative of Jean-Marc Bustamante, this new venue for creation, reflection and transmission will be devoted to contemporary art in all its forms. Exhibitions, original projects and encounters will bring works, artists and audiences into dialogue through an open approach grounded in affinities, resonances and exchanges between works.
This historic site, acquired by Myriam de Picciotto and developed under the impetus of both her and Jean-Marc Bustamante, hosts the Fonds Bustamante, created and supported by the artist, with an inaugural exhibition, «En Miroirs».
Photography Mark Lyon
The Fonds Bustamante was born of Jean-Marc Bustamante's wish to imagine a space where works can be looked at, thought about and freely brought into relation.
Nourished by an artistic practice, a teaching career and a long-standing commitment to the art world, the project continues a reflection on forms, images and space.
The exhibitions are conceived as spaces of encounter, where works from different periods, origins or generations come together, carried by the affinities and invisible bonds that are woven between them.
Nourished by an artistic practice, a teaching career and a long-standing commitment to the art world, the project continues a reflection on forms, images and space.
The exhibitions are conceived as spaces of encounter, where works from different periods, origins or generations come together, carried by the affinities and invisible bonds that are woven between them.
Born in Toulouse in 1952, Jean-Marc Bustamante is one of the major figures of European contemporary art. Since the late 1970s, his work has moved across photography, sculpture, painting, drawing and installation, developing a sustained reflection on space, the image, the gaze and presence.
He took part in documenta VIII, IX and X in Kassel (1987, 1992, 1997) and represented France at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003, as well as at the São Paulo Biennial in 1994.
Alongside his artistic practice, he has taught at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, the Kunstakademie in Munich and the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris, of which he became director in 2015.
Alongside his artistic practice, he has taught at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, the Kunstakademie in Munich and the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris, of which he became director in 2015.
My path as an artist, teacher and institutional director has led me, out of a commitment to independence, to create a place where experiences intersect, where works unfold in all their diversity, and where artists remain at the heart of the project. Jean-Marc Bustamante
Jean-Marc Bustamante
Artist
Adriana Bustamante
Artistic Coordination Manager, Hermès Drawing and Graphic Design Studio
Penelope Curtis
Art historian, former Director of the Tate Britain
Hervé Digne
President of Manifesto, Poush and Post Media
Corinne Hershkovitch
Art Lawyer
Katia Baudin
Director of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld
Éric de Chassey
Director of the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris
Jean-Pierre Criqui
Curator of contemporary art at the Centre Pompidou
Alexis Fabry
Director and Co-Founder of Toluca Éditions
Olivier Gabet
Director of the Department of Decorative Arts at the Musée du Louvre
Thierry Leviez
Director of Pavillon Bosio, Monaco's École supérieure d'arts plastiques
Camille Morineau
Co-Founder and Director of Aware (Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions)
Alicia Vaïsse
Director
Mélanie Bellue
General Coordinator
Clarisse Quillet
Head of Public Reception and Mediation
Anyssia Bidout
Logistics Manager
For more than forty years, Jean-Marc Bustamante has developed a body of work that interrogates the relationships between image, space, object and gaze. Refusing the traditional boundaries between disciplines, he explores photography, sculpture, painting, drawing and installation in turn, and often simultaneously, in a sustained inquiry into the conditions of perception and presence of works. This attention to the viewer's experience, to the materiality of forms and to the way works inhabit space is one of the founding principles of the Fonds Bustamante and informs its programme.
More than a transformation, the intervention seeks to reveal what was already there, to restore a fitting presence, without demonstrative effect, in a form of restrained poetry. Charles Zana
Located in the former Église Sainte-Croix, in the heart of the Roquette district, the Fonds Bustamante occupies a building whose history mirrors the successive transformations of the city. Parish church, place of worship, ballroom, artistic friche, then exhibition space and hotel, Sainte-Croix has known many lives before becoming, today, a space devoted to contemporary art.
The restoration, conceived by Charles Zana and carried out by Éric Perez (Myamo), accompanies this history without effacing it. It reveals the building's successive strata, bringing heritage, contemporary architecture, and artistic creation into dialogue.
9 July – 30 October 2026
EN MIROIRS
JEAN-MARC BUSTAMANTE
BAZILEBUSTAMANTe
Gerhard Merz
René Daniëls
Cristina Iglesias
Jan Vercruysse
Reinhard Mucha
Mariella Simoni
Thomas Schütte
Günther Förg
Franz West
Rodney Graham
Rémy Zaugg
Nicolas Schneider
Anne-Marie Schneider
Clément Rodzielski
Tatiana Trouvé
Michael Buthe
Alice Anderson
Shervin/e Sheikh Rezaei
Federico González
The inaugural exhibition, titled «En Miroirs», brings together artists who have accompanied Jean-Marc Bustamante's path or whose works share particular affinities with his own. Painters, photographers, sculptors and artists from different generations compose a sensitive narrative of encounters, admirations and complicities. Through these presences emerges a cartography of the relationships that have nourished his work: a lived history of art, made of echoes, shared gazes and correspondences.
«En Miroirs» revives, in its own way, the genre of the group portrait, dispersed this time across an entire site rather than on the surface of one and the same image. Jean-Pierre Criqui
Jean-Marc Bustamante
Lumière 1, 1987
Screen printing on Plexiglas
175 x 145 x 4.5 cm
Private Collection
Lumière 1, 1987
Screen printing on Plexiglas
175 x 145 x 4.5 cm
Private Collection
Günther Förg
Untitled (la maison sans escalier), 1988
Black & white photography
281 x 131,3 x 3 cm
Untitled (la maison sans escalier), 1988
Black & white photography
281 x 131,3 x 3 cm
Michael Buthe
Der Haus, 1987-1988
Collage and oil on canvas
175 × 204 × 4 cm
Der Haus, 1987-1988
Collage and oil on canvas
175 × 204 × 4 cm
Nicolas Schneider
Rio Grande 1, 2023
Aluminium frame, ink and watercolour on paper
20 × 29 cm
© Munhoven & Riff
Rio Grande 1, 2023
Aluminium frame, ink and watercolour on paper
20 × 29 cm
© Munhoven & Riff
Jan Vercruysse
ATOPIE, 1986
250 × 390 × 35 cm
© Mu.ZEE Ostend Collection
Private Collection
Photograph by Cedric Verhelst
ATOPIE, 1986
250 × 390 × 35 cm
© Mu.ZEE Ostend Collection
Private Collection
Photograph by Cedric Verhelst
Thomas Schütte
Tricolor, 2017
Glazed ceramic
(1/3) 92,5 × 64 × 3 cm
(2/3) 92,5 × 64 × 3 cm
(3/3) 92,5 × 64 × 3 cm
Tricolor, 2017
Glazed ceramic
(1/3) 92,5 × 64 × 3 cm
(2/3) 92,5 × 64 × 3 cm
(3/3) 92,5 × 64 × 3 cm
Nicolas Schneider
Rain Again 025, 2025
Patinated bronze, engraved signature, 1/1
15 x 10 x 0.5 cm
Resin plaster frame
33 x 22 x 4 cm
© Munhoven & Riff
Rain Again 025, 2025
Patinated bronze, engraved signature, 1/1
15 x 10 x 0.5 cm
Resin plaster frame
33 x 22 x 4 cm
© Munhoven & Riff
Rodney Graham
César Lighthouse Park, Vancouver #8, 1991
Colour print, plexiglas, wood
282 × 198 × 4 cm
César Lighthouse Park, Vancouver #8, 1991
Colour print, plexiglas, wood
282 × 198 × 4 cm
Jean-Marc Bustamante
Regrets, 1991
Painting on steel
16 × 125.7 × 30 cm
Regrets, 1991
Painting on steel
16 × 125.7 × 30 cm
Tatiana Trouvé
I tempi doppi, 2014
Coppered metal, paint, patinated bronze, light bulb, 146 x 162 x 102 cm
Photo credit: Laurent Edeline
Private Collection
I tempi doppi, 2014
Coppered metal, paint, patinated bronze, light bulb, 146 x 162 x 102 cm
Photo credit: Laurent Edeline
Private Collection
Transmission constitutes one of the foundations of the Bustamante Fonds. The Fonds wishes to contribute actively to the cultural life of Arles while fostering exchanges on an international scale. Masterclasses, workshops and encounters will be organised around themes developed within the exhibition as well as around the practices of the invited artists. These privileged moments will bring together artists, students, researchers, professionals and amateurs in a setting conducive to reflection, experimentation and the sharing of knowledge. In extending Jean-Marc Bustamante's pedagogical commitment, these programmes are intended to make the Fonds a place of dialogue and transmission open to all audiences.
In keeping with its programming, the Bustamante Fonds will offer a programme of lectures, round tables and encounters devoted to the questions raised by contemporary art, creation, architecture and photography. Developed in partnership with cultural institutions, universities and invited artists, these encounters open broader perspectives on the themes addressed in the exhibition. The Fonds also offers a programme of activities intended for all audiences: guided tours, workshops, holiday courses and educational itineraries. These occasions are intended to make the Fonds a space of exchange accessible to all, encouraging the circulation of ideas among specialists, students, artists and families.
During your visit, to ensure the best possible experience:
- Please refrain from bringing large items (suitcases, tripods, and the like) into the Fonds
- smoking is not permitted on the premises;
- the use of mobile phones is not permitted on the premises;
- visitors are not permitted to eat or drink within the gallery spaces;
As a precautionary measure, the galleries are maintained at low temperature conditions. Thank you for your understanding.
The Fonds Bustamante is:
- Open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 7pm
- Closed on Tuesdays
- dernière admission 30 min avant la fermeture
The exhibition " En Miroirs " is open from July 9 to October 30, 2026:
- Full price
- Reduced price
- Free
€9
€7
Beneficiaries
- Price
- Opening hours
- Languages
€5 + ticket price
Every day (except Tuesdays) at 11 am, 2 pm, 3 pm, and 4 pm
Saturdays at 11 am
The Fonds Bustamante is accessible to young audiences :
- « Ainsi fonds fonds fonds »
Tour, workshop, and snack
Ages 7 to 12, every Saturday, 3 pm to 5 pm
Price: €12
Ages 7 to 12, every Saturday, 3 pm to 5 pm
Price: €12
- schools and
social organizations
free, by reservation
A place for meeting and relaxation, Casa Jill offers a simple, fresh, and seasonal menu, crafted by Chef Elisabeth Speno, perfect before an exhibition, between two visits, or at the end of the day.
- Open from July to October 2026
- Wednesday to Monday, 11am to 9pm
- Closed on Tuesdays
Casa Jill café is:
