Ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to welcome you here to the Department on the occasion of
this fifteenth edition of «Paris Photo», which takes for the first time
its quarters at the Grand Palais.

30 countries, nearly 120 galleries, including 48 new galleries, including
Fraenkel of San Francisco, Pace/MacGill of New York, Thomas
Zander of Cologne or Marian Goodman of Paris, about fifteen
publishing houses that share the same requirement for a broadcast of
quality of photography: «Paris-Photo» asserts itself, by the diversity and
quality of the proposed works, as an international
first order. From historical photography to the most creative
contemporary, all forms of expression that this medium allows
find their place in conditions of comfort and welcome
improved, both for galleries and for authors and especially the public.

I returned a few days ago from Mali, where I was able to take all the
measure of the importance of the Bamako Meetings for the stage
African photography, thanks to the work done this year by Samuel
Sidibé, Michket Krifa and Laura Sérani. So I am particularly
This year, in Paris Photo, we are pleased to welcome the
photography of sub-Saharan Africa. David Goldblatt, Seydou Keïta,
Malick Sidibé, Samuel Fosso and Santu Mofokeng are among the great
names that have made the world discover all the richness and originality of a
creative continent. It was fair to also show the creativity of a new
generation of photographers who continue to make us see, through their
a continent where no doubt a part of our
common destiny, with these questions, its miseries, its joys, its
extraordinary dynamism.

Finally, I note that the organizers of «Paris-Photo» wanted to invite
three very large foreign public institutions to present their
recent acquisitions: the International Center of Photography in New York,
the "Tate" in London and the Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne - of which I greet
the presence of its director, Sam Stourdzé -, as well as a remarkable
private collection, that of Artur Walther, centered on photography
african.

You know how much I care about the vitality of the
art in our country. This vitality could not be what it is without the
the dynamism of large public or private collections.
developing, enriching themselves, they make a major contribution to
the history of art being made.

With the award of a book prize, the organization through the foundation
LUMA - I also greet the presence of Maja Hoffmann [if she is
present] - a platform for reflection around photography, with the
SFR competition for young talent, the many events
public and private, with major sales organized this fall, the
Paris fall rendezvous Photo is every year a moment
essential, for professionals, for all lovers of the world if
of photography, with the success we know. I want to salute
its organizers, at the forefront of which its
Julien Frydman, present galleries, but also
sponsors and partners who have been able to provide the means to
to lead this development.

As soon as I arrived on rue de Valois, I wished that photography could
receive all the recognition the department deserves
aesthetic expression and contemporary creation. The
mission of photography has been in place for over a year. Its action
The European Parliament’s Committee on Social Affairs, Employment and the Working Environment, Social Affairs and Employment, Employment and Social Affairs, Employment, Social Affairs and the Working Environment.

The time is not yet ripe for the first assessments. However, I would like to welcome
some projects in the field of creation that have succeeded in
year, thanks in particular to the mobilization of the Centre’s teams
National Plastic Arts:

The documentary photography assistance fund is in place, and the first
call for proposals was launched in September. It has a
75000 . Applications must be filed by € 14 November, and they
will be reviewed by the Panel on December 13 and 14. A
second call for projects will be launched in the first half of the year
2012.

A three-year plan for the public photographic commission has been launched,
for an amount of €300,000. A first call for projects was launched, and the
group of experts meets on 16 November. The
CNAP’s public order will be able to rule on 24 and
25 November.

Purchases led by the CNAP continued. In 2011, the
Commission for the acquisition of photographs and videos
has a budget of €600,000. It has acquired the
60 works including 47 photographs.

I am particularly pleased that we were able to mobilize the
CNAP’s photography commission, which was able to propose
acquisition of some 20 works. These will enrich the
public collections, alongside the Bouqueret collection
National Museum of Modern Art as well as the date operated by Marc
Riboud, which already has a presentation in the museum rooms.

Since the withdrawal of the Sully hotel, the state no longer has a place in Paris
specific photographic exposure clearly identified and
suitably equipped, capable of hosting exhibitions
to offer a look at young contemporary creation. I have
wished that the hotel of Nevers, located rue de Richelieu near
of the National Library, can perform this function. These
buildings are poorly known, consisting of a vestige of the library of
the former palace of the Cardinal of Mazarin, and the home of Abbé Barthélémy.

Its current state hardly allows a visit, which is why I
proposes that we watch together a small film that will make you better
know this set. The work of restoration of the enclosure and the cover
will be committed in the coming months. This is an area of more than
600 m2 which could be dedicated at the end of 2013
photography. I plan to entrust the management of it to the Jeu de Paume, which
had ensured the programming of the hotel’s photographic exhibitions
of Sully, and for which the organization of exhibitions remains one of its
core missions.

I also wanted to take advantage of this reception on the occasion of Paris
Photo» to pay tribute with you to Marta Gili. She knew during
of the last four years confirm brilliantly the rank occupied by the Game
Palm among the major international exhibition venues.

Dear Marta Gili,
After your studies in philosophy and psychology at the University of
Barcelona, you enter the world of photography by your first
employment at the Institute of Photographic Studies. You organize in particular,
as part of your studies, a symposium on Perception, Inconscient and
Photographic image». The junction was made for the one that went
develop such a singular look at the image, its ramifications
on the power of aesthetic forms.

In 1983 you joined the organizers of «La Primavera Fotográfica».
For five years, you will take part in this beautiful adventure of the
Catalan biennial, where you also founded the department in 1985
of the Joan Miró Foundation. It is this experience and the
of the conviction you express in your work as a critic who
the "Caixa" Foundation: in 1991 it entrusted you with the reins of
its Photography and Visual Arts department, which you will direct
for 15 years. A successful bet: as artist Jordi Colomer recalls,
after a period of institutional weakness in Spain, Marta is the
first person to normalize the Hispanic art scene with
world-class exhibitions.”

The many events you organize for the Caixa, carrying
on a very wide spectrum, from historical exhibitions to photography and
the contemporary video, earn you the prestigious cultural award «Ciutat de
Barcelona» in 1996. Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Albert Renger-
Patzsch, Christer Strömholm… Many remarkable exhibitions,
dedicated to the greatest, who are still remembered, without
to talk about your work dedicated to contemporary creation, from all
continents, like Tracey Moffatt or Gillian Wearing.

About ten years ago, you were in charge for two years
Spring of September in Toulouse. In the world of arts
become the most French of the Catalan people. In 2006, the
Board of Directors of the Jeu de Paume chooses you as director
to follow your friend Régis Durand, thus dedicating your
attachment to France, fully reciprocal for many years
– I think of all the juries, all the commissions for which your
participation was requested, in Arles, or for the National Art Fund
from 1994 to 1997, not to mention your ubiquity in the most
of the world of photography, in Spain
for the Museum of Contemporary Art of Castile and León,
but also in Vienna for «Camera Austria», in Gothenburg for the
Hasselblad, Oslo, Frankfurt, London, New York… Your
exhibition offices, your authoritative publications, your
collaborations with magazines or art editions like Phaïdon,
make a major contribution to the history of train photography
to be made.

What seduced the administrators of the Jeu de Paume is precisely
your versatility and openness to all modes of development of
photography as expression in itself, from the approaches
strictly documentary to more plastic approaches, works
thematic perspectives. Since then, we have
have all been able to appreciate the very high quality and rigour of your work,
with the magnificent exhibitions that you have proposed to us, like
the one you dedicated to Sophie Ristelhueber, who also received
the Deutsche Börse Prize in 2010, on the site of the Jardin des Tuileries
thanks to you and your team a massive increase in its
attendance, but also at the Monnaie for Willy Ronis, or
Château de Tours.

It is also with great impatience that we all expect
discover the programming that you will propose to us for the hotel of
Nevers.

At the heart of all your work is this unique concern for attention, that of
visitor – spectator, that attention that leaves us, I repeat your words,
in anticipation, but also in anticipation of possible associations
and suggestions to come», those that make the image arts exist
also, to use Nietzsche’s word, to prevent us from
die of the truth».

Dear Marta Gili, on behalf of the French Republic, we make you
Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters.