Villa du Parc - Contemporary Art center

A contemporary art center since 1986, the Villa du Parc is located in the heart of the Parc Montessuit in Annemasse, 5 km from Geneva. The 300 m² exhibition space comprises 2 floors, a passageway, a terrace and a veranda. The park, a hectare planted with trees in the heart of the town, is also used for specific artistic interventions. La Villa du Parc also invites artists to work outside its walls, in the public space of the Annemasse conurbation.

In 2020, the French Ministry of Culture awarded La Villa du Parc the "Centre d'Art Contemporain d'Intérêt National" label.

History

This bourgeois villa was built in 1865 for Claude-Philippe Dusonchet. The villa, comprising twelve rooms with vaulted cellars, a veranda, the roof of which serves as a balcony on the upper floor, successively housed the Justice de Paix (Justice of the Peace), the Commissariat de Police (Police Station), the Tribunal (Court of First Instance) and a staff apartment on the upper floor. In 1982, as part of their cultural policy, Annemasse mayor Robert Borrel (1977-2008) and his council decided to convert the villa into a permanent exhibition space. This led to the creation of the "Villa du Parc" Association, to manage and coordinate the "Centre d'exposition et d'échanges permanents". With the moral and financial support of the town council, the French government and the Conseil Général, as well as the patronage of industrialists, the Villa du Parc opened its doors on June 21, 1986, with its first "Art and Industry" exhibition (June 21-August 15, 1986).