A new contemporary art centre called Large opens this month on Île Seguin, the 28-acre island just west of Paris that was home to Renault’s first factory. Designed by Catalan studio RCR Arquitectes, winners of the 2017 Pritzker Prize, it is the centrepiece of the Pointe des Arts complex being developed by Laurent Dumas, chief executive of property group Emerige.
The island has had a troubled history since the Renault plant closed in 1992 and its buildings were cleared by 2005. François Pinault abandoned plans for a Tadao Ando museum there and took his collection to Venice, and a Jean Nouvel cultural scheme backed by Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier also collapsed. Shigeru Ban’s La Seine Musicale concert hall, completed in 2017, has been the exception. RCR’s angular group of buildings, its first project in greater Paris, also includes an IMAX cinema and a hotel.
The cinema is clad in rust-coloured corten steel, while the museum is wrapped in copper-pink scales of anodised aluminium that reflect the river light. Some scales are microperforated, so the facade looks solid from outside but works as a filtering screen from within. Co-founder Carme Pigem said the design draws attention to the island setting, with openings and walkways framing views of both banks. Inside the 5,000 sq m building, a cylinder carrying the lifts runs through all six floors, and an escalator rises to a pillar-free 1,000 sq m gallery that reaches 14 metres in places. A planted terrace wraps around the building and links to a café by Constance Guisset.
The opening show, Imaginary Engine, curated by Cecilia Alemani of New York’s High Line, explores the automobile through 120 works from the 1930s onwards. Nearly half come from the Renault collection, with artists including Jean Dubuffet, Arman, Victor Vasarely, Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely. Seventeen new commissions include a fantasy coffin by Ghanaian sculptor Paa Joe and a Formula One car covered in paint by Bertrand Lavier. The show also recalls that Renault once hired Robert Doisneau, then an unknown 22-year-old photographer, to document the factory.
Dumas wants Large to champion French contemporary art and plans two seasons of temporary exhibitions a year. Forty per cent of the building is free to enter, and the exhibition is free for visitors aged 26 and under. RCR has also designed a new pedestrian bridge to the island. Imaginary Engine runs from 17 October 2026 to 7 March 2027.
