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In a film that won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2017, The Square, director Ruben Ostlund presents a contemporary art museum director struggling with his contradictions. Confronted with his good intentions and the unintended consequences of his real-life rhetoric, he ends up going off track. This character and his misadventures are largely inspired by Nicolas Bourriaud, a famous art critic and curator who had just been dismissed from his position as head of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris with great fanfare. Would the “creative leader” be a false good solution to perpetuate and transform the institution of Fine Arts? Commenting on this film by insisting on the growing difficulties of “creative leaders”, instituted as mediators and justices of the peace between art and its public, Guillet de Monthoux (2019) defers to Rancière (2000) who advocates the triple ideal of artists without masters, works without commissioners and spectators emancipated from the tutelage of museums and critics. However, institutional frameworks have never been so present in defining the criteria of legitimacy, even though the worlds of art think of themselves as different. Thus we observe that debates are raging about “creative leaders” and their specific mission.
In this article, we return to the episode of Nicolas Bourriaud’s disgrace. After being appointed head of the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris, he was publicly dismissed from the position, even though he was seeking to have it renewed, judging it to be legitimate on the basis of his track-record…

Abstract

English

Nicolas Bourriaud orchestrated his departure ceremony from the Paris School of Fine Arts after his dismissal ad nutum by the Minister of Culture. He staged a parody of it in front of his office at the Académie des Beaux-Arts, a scene we attended. We return to this episode to better understand the circumstances that preceded this final outburst and what followed within the institution and the art world. In order to better understand what is at stake, we identify a role, that of the “creative leader” designed to fulfil the mission of the directors of cultural and artistic institutions today. It is clear that the expectations of the many stakeholders, in addition to those of the public authorities, complicate the task of the chosen leader. Should the creative leader focus on development projects or on the search for additional funding to shore up the school’s walls? Should one favor the urgency of change or the long timeframe of structures that would transform themselves quietly in the great bath of a global environment? It seems that all of this must be done, yes, and at the same time. But there is no shortage of contradictions when it comes to considering these present changes in relation to the past and the future. In this text, we seek to understand the process of legitimization and de-legitimization of the “creative leader” and what this implies for the art world and artists, particularly in the present context.

  • creative leadership
  • legitimacy
  • legitimation process
  • discourse
  • mission
  • art world
  • education, artists
Français

La disgrâce de Nicolas Bourriaud. La figure du « leader créatif » et les critères de légitimité dans le monde de l’art

Nicolas Bourriaud orchestra sa cérémonie de départ de l’école des Beaux-Arts de Paris après son renvoi ad nutum par la Ministre de la Culture. Il en fit un spectacle parodique devant son bureau à l’Académie des Beaux-Arts, scène à laquelle nous assistâmes. Nous revenons sur cet épisode afin de mieux comprendre les circonstances qui précédèrent cet ultime éclat et ce qui s’ensuivit au sein de l’institution et du monde de l’art. Afin de mieux saisir les enjeux, nous identifions un rôle, celui du « leader créatif » supposé remplir la mission de directions d’institutions culturelles et artistiques aujourd’hui. Force est de constater que les attentes des multiples parties prenantes, s’ajoutant à celles de la tutelle publique, ne laissent pas de compliquer la tâche de l’heureux élu. Faut-il alors, pour le leader créatif, privilégier les projets de développement ou bien la recherche de financements complémentaires pour colmater les murs de l’école ? Faut-il privilégier l’urgence du changement ou le temps long de structures qui se transformeraient à bas bruit dans le grand bain d’un environnement-monde ? Il semble qu’il faille faire tout cela, oui, et en même temps. Or, les contradictions ne manquent pas quand il s’agit d’envisager ces présents changements au regard du passé et de l’avenir. Nous cherchons donc, dans ce texte, à comprendre le processus de légitimation et de délégitimation du « leader créatif » et ce que cela implique pour le monde de l’art et les artistes notamment dans le cadre

  • leader créatif
  • légitimité
  • processus de légitimation
  • discours
  • mission
  • monde de l’art
  • éducation
  • artistes

Outline

  1. 1 - Introduction
  2. 2 - Legitimacy of the “creative leader”
    1. 2.1 - The “Creative Leader” and the Construction of his Legitimacy
    2. 2.2 - The Legitimation Process
    3. 2.3 - The Importance of Theorizing the Criteria of Legitimacy
    4. 2.4 - The Mediatization and Role of Symbols of the Past in the Art World Today
  4. 3 - Method and data
    1. 3.1 - Methodology
    2. 3.2 - Data
  6. 4 - Context of the disgrace controversy
    1. 4.1 - The Appointement
    2. 4.2 - The School: A Flagship of Academism
    3. 4.3 - The Mission
    4. 4.4 - Stakeholders in the world of Fine Arts
    5. 4.5 - The Dismissal and its Suites
  8. 5 - Description of a scene of speech on the occasion of a dismissal
    1. 5.1 - The Ministry’s Mission Letter and Nicolas Bourriaud’s Answers
    2. 5.2 - A history of public criticism delegitimizing the choices of the “creative leader
    3. 5.3 - A Crisis of Space and Time. The Burlesque Narrative and the Spectacle of Parody
  10. 6 - The creative leader without qualities and the question of legitimacy
    1. 6.1 - The Role of the Creative Leader Inherently Lacks Legitimacy
    2. 6.2 - The Legitimization Process of the “Creative Leader” depends above all on one Factor: the Stability of his Institutional Environment
    3. 6.3 - The Criteria of Legitimization in the World of Artistic and Cultural Institutions are Numerous and Heterogeneous, which provokes Controversy
    4. 6.4 - The ideal of art as “other” for the “creative leader
  12. 7 - Conclusion

Author

Elen Riot
Elen RIOT is a lecturer at the University of Reims Champagne Ardennes. She is an alumnus of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon and the Hautes Etudes Commerciales Paris (Grande Ecole). She defended her thesis at the doctoral school of HEC, CNAM, Polytechnique and Paris 1-La Sorbonne. This work was about art and digital. Since then, she has been interested in issues related to disruptive entrepreneurship and the creation of new activities, particularly in the world of art and culture. Many of her works focus on the question of representations in relation to the reality of practices. More recently, she has devoted her work to the aesthetics of the environment and the role of art in the context of societal transformations linked to climate change and the social movements that accompany it.
University of Reims Champagne Ardennes – Laboratoire REGARDS
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