To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the Diagonal network is organising a national event
with the Centre national des arts plastiques (Cnap) which will take place between
September 2019 and February 2020.
Members of the Diagonal network are presenting a specific artistic programme on
the theme of «engagement» based on works in the Cnap collection.
By taking this «committed» standpoint, the network can make a political and artistic
statement on photography in France.
This polysemous event of variable geometry inaugurates a national initiative to be
held every three years aimed at offering singular and plural views on photography.
L’ENGAGEMENT
A national event organised in partnership with the Centre national des
arts plastiques (Cnap) with the support of the ministry of Culture and the
ADAGP.
CENTRE PHOTOGRAPHIQUE,
ROUEN NORMANDIE
LE POINT DU JOUR CENTRE D’ART / ÉDITEUR,
CHERBOURG
DIAPHANE — PÔLE PHOTOGRAPHIQUE
EN HAUTS-DE-FRANCE,
CLERMONT-DE-L’OISE
CRP/ CENTRE RÉGIONAL DE LA
PHOTOGRAPHIE HAUTS-DE-FRANCE,
DOUCHY-LES-MINES
DESTIN SENSIBLE,
MONS-EN-BAROEUL
LA CAPSULE,
LE BOURGET
CENTRE PHOTOGRAPHIQUE
D’ÎLE-DE-FRANCE
PONTAULT-COMBAULT
MAISON DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE
ROBERT DOISNEAU,
GENTILLY
LE CRI
DES LUMIÈRES,
LUNÉVILLE
LA CHAMBRE,
STRASBOURG
STIMULTANIA, PÔLE DE PHOTOGRAPHIE,
STRASBOURG / GIVORS
HÔTEL FONTFREYDE,
CENTRE PHOTOGRAPHIQUE,
CLERMONT-FERRAND
CENTRE
PHOTOGRAPHIQUE
MARSEILLE VOIES OFF,
ARLES
GRAPH-CMI,
CARCASSONNE CENTRE D’ART IMAGE-IMATGE,
ORTHEZ
CACP - VILLA PÉROCHON,
NIORT
CARRÉ AMELOT,
LA ROCHELLE
GALERIE CONFUENCE,
NANTES
GALERIE LE LIEU,
LORIENT
CENTRE D’ART
GWINZEGAL,
GUINGAMP
L’IMAGERIE,
LANNION
CENTRE D’ART ET DE PHOTOGRAPHIE
DE LECTOURE
THE DIAGONAL NETWORK
23 members, spread accros the territory
10 French regions, 20 French departments
1
L’ENGAGEMENT
First, there is the commitment of those who produce the works - those who sometimes travel to
faraway fields of operations and those, maybe more discrete, who portray everyday life and tell
stories that don’t make the headlines. They are driven by a powerful mission that one day prompted
them to become photographers. There is commitment to a cause, a subject or an event that has to be
recorded, documented and actively shown to others. There is the commitment in a creative act that
lasts as long as the series or to which one decides to devote one’s whole life.
Naturally, there is the commitment of those in front of the camera - those conveying ideas, values,
messages of hope and cries of alarm. We discover all these people via the photographs and we are
shown that, in our human societies, isolated acts and powerfully unifying acts always take root in
order to resist, denounce and advance without ever giving up.
There is the commitment of all those involved in images - those who play a role well after the photos
are taken, those we don’t see, who don’t show themselves but show images to others. These people
have chosen to work in this field because they love the medium, believe in the causes and have a great
passion for artistic pursuits. These cultural players are vital forces in places of creation, production,
projection, monstration, publishing and conservation and are at the origin of all these substantive
projects that have a very fragile economy.
For all those involved in this «image chain» (subjects photographed, photographers, those
disseminating photos, publishers, etc.) no time is spared, the lack of money does not restrain
production and difficulties do not prevent ideas from being shared or dreams from being enjoyed.
L’Engagement combines meetings, debates, solo exhibitions (Sammy Baloji, Philippe Bazin and
Christiane Vollaire, Jürgen Nefzger, Wolfgang Tillmans) exhibitions based on a theme (confinement,
the family, immigration, politics, the survival of artists, etc.) that convey the pathways and the
sometimes militant assertions of all those people who embody the photographic images, either
behind the lens or in front of the camera. L’Engagement claims not only to make these images visible
but also to make them audible.
Such and such a statement may lead to a myriad of points of view. Such and such a subject may
deserve a large scale deployment. The Diagonal network, which celebrates its 10 years of existence
in 2019, and the Cnap are working together to ensure the necessary scale and depth for this event
that aims to be the first of its kind:
21 exhibitions to be held all over France, offering interchanging points of view, a network of questions,
confrontations between experts in the medium and more than 400 works exhibited.
L’Engagement is the first part of the national event organised by the Diagonal network and the
partners invited and it aims to take stock of photographic creation.
Michaël Houlette
Network secretary
Director of the Maison de la Photographie Robert Doisneau
