Pompidou Center Goes to Mexico

Paris’ Pompidou Center might open a temporary space in Mexico, as part of a diplomatic effort to restore the cultural relationship between France and the Central American country. France’s culture minister Aurélie Filippetti confirmed that negotiations were underway during an official visit to Mexico led by President Hollande, the Art Newspaper reports.

The relationship between France and Mexico soured in 2011, when the then-president Nicolas Sarkozy dedicated the Year of Mexico to Florence Cassez, a French woman who was jailed in the country. Mexico pulled out of the 350 events organized for the occasion and the country-wide celebration had to be cancelled.  France is now “eager to start a new era,” said Filippetti. The Year of Mexico has been rescheduled to 2016, and will include a large exhibition of Mexican art from the 1960 to the present day at the Grand Palais.