Launch of the Pernod Ricard fellowship

The Group is pleased to announce the launch of the Pernod Ricard Fellowship, an exchange programme designed to invite four artists each year from around the world to spend a residency in Paris.

These artists, who may also be curators or even researchers are selected by an international artistic committee made up of eight eminent representatives from cultural institutions. Committee members this year include Bernard Blistène, Director of the Centre Pompidou, Osvaldo Sanchez of inSite/Casa Gallina, Mexico, and Nikita Yingqian Cai, Chief Curator of the Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou, China to name but a few.

The four fellows appointed by the committee this year hail from Cuba, Mexico, China and South Korea. They will be invited to spend a three month residency in the Pernod Ricard studio created within a new Parisian cultural establishment ' the Villa Vassilieff. This unique experience will allow them to enhance their vision, and to develop their personal work or any other project.

During their three month long stay at the Villa, the chosen artists will enjoy bespoke support - special meetings with researchers and art professionals, access to a rich network of renowned institutions in France and abroad, such as the Centre Pompidou (a longstanding special partner of Pernod Ricard) and the Ricard Corporate Foundation, a stakeholder in the project. They will also benefit from numerous research programmes developed by the Villa Vassilieff in collaboration with museums, public and private archives, universities and art schools. Lastly, they will be invited to take part in the programme of events taking place within the new Villa Vassilieff.

The villa vassilieff 

Villa Vassilieff will open its doors in February 2016 in the heart of Montparnasse.  This art centre, designated a Cultural Institution of the City of Paris, will be unveiled in what was the workshop of the Russian painter and sculptress, Marie Vassilieff, which was transformed into an artistic academy in 1911, and then into a canteen offering meals to impoverished artists during the First World War. Until 2013, it housed the Montparnasse Museum. 

Since its creation 40 years ago, Pernod Ricard has become a recognised force both on the French contemporary art scene and internationally. It is a sponsor of numerous institutions, beginning with the Centre Pompidou, the Saatchi Gallery in London or the Guggenheim in Bilbao.

Each year, its commitment takes the form of an artistic campaign, with the latest being the work of the celebrated Chinese artist and performer Li Wei, whose artwork illustrates the new annual report. It will be exhibited during the next International Photography Fair in Paris, Paris Photo from 12 to 15 November.

The Artistic Committee of the Pernod Ricard Fellowship is composed of

ikita Yingqian Cai: Chief Curator of the Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou, China
Antonio Eligio Fernández: Artist and Independent Curator, Cuba
Sunjung Kim: Independent Curator, Seoul, South Korea
Osvaldo Sanchez: Director, inSite/Casa Gallina, Mexico
Bernard Blistène: Director, MANM CCI ' Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Victoria Noorthoorn: Director, MAMBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Bisi Silva: Director, CCA, Lagos, Nigeria
Colette Barbier: Director, Ricard Corporate Foundation, Paris, France
Mélanie Bouteloup: Director, Bétonsalon ' Centre for Art and Research and Villa
Vassilieff, Paris, France
and Virginie Bobin: Head of Programmes, Villa Vassilieff, Paris, France