Franck Riester, Minister of Culture, on the proposal of the selection committee and after the opinion of the Board of Directors of the establishment, decided to appoint Sylvain Lizon to the management of Villa Arson in Nice. He will take up his duties on 7 January 2019.
The selection committee constituted for the recruitment was composed of two representatives of the Ministry of Culture, a representative of the city of Nice, Gaïa Donzet, President of the Board of Directors of Villa Arson, designer Stéphanie Marin, the artist Baptiste César and the president of the Université Côte d'Azur, Jean-Marc Gambaudo.
Villa Arson is the only national institution dedicated to contemporary art to bring together an art centre, an art college, an artists' residence and a specialized library. This unique situation guided the minister’s choice in appointing the director of Villa Arson.
Director of the Ecole nationale supérieure d'Arts de Paris-Cergy since 2010 and of the École supérieure d'art de Clermont from 2005 to 2010, Sylvain Lizon has carried out essential reforms to the influence of the school that today give it a prominent place in the teaching of art in France and international recognition. With experience in the National Fund for Contemporary Art, museums in the Hauts-de-France region, but also as director of the Pontault-Combault Photographic Centre and president of the Tram network, Sylvain Lizon will propose for Villa Arson a vision focused on diversity, on Europe, on research in order to reinforce the values of excellence and openness of the establishment.
Sylvain Lizon wishes for Villa Arson an artistic creation in touch with the real, in all its social, political, environmental or economic dimensions, and allow creators to become actors of a world in transformation. Sylvain Lizon has the ambition to build this project in dialogue with the teams of Villa Arson and in close collaboration with the University Côte d'Azur, cultural institutions and local authorities.