60 Species of Photographic Spaces

What does it mean to collect and exhibit? What are the motivations underlying a collection and how does its appreciation evolve over time? Finally, how can we give the public the opportunity to perceive the way a collection is built and designed? These are some of the questions that arose when we decided to appropriate the new space dedicated to the collections of Photo Elysée. 60 Species of Photographic Spaces – Exploring the Collections reflects our desire to reinterpret one of the classic museographic formats, namely the presentation of collections, in a dynamic, stimulating and contemporary way.

Our collections, with their wide range of photographic techniques and diverse genres that represent photography from its very beginnings to the present day, have been built according to a generalist approach to photography for almost four decades. They are emblematic of our various acquisition policies adopted over time, but are also capable of dialoguing with the diversity of contemporary studies devoted to the image through disciplines such as art history, anthropology, gender studies, history, sociology and cultural studies.

The exhibition reveals a particular vision of photography linked to the specific institutional history of Photo Elysée. Analyzing and selecting works are subjective actions, often individual, motivated by the desire for knowledge and a better understanding of the world. It therefore presents only one possible aspect of the exploration of the collections. It is, above all, the fruit of teamwork, notably through texts written by people from different horizons associated with the museum. Most especially, it bears witness to a diversified and dynamic photography, found in many social use contexts, notably artistic.

Throughout its history, photographic technologies and the resulting social practices have repeatedly and effortlessly crossed disciplinary boundaries in the arts, sciences, politics and society.