Although most museums organize guided tours, it is also possible to see art in a smaller group, on a tailor-made, sometimes quite original visits, accompanied by specialists and lecturers.
To provide you with an introduction to contemporary art, Marie-Andréa Zammit, art consultant and museum guide, takes you on a journey of discovery through galleries, museums and other creative spaces. GA Paris guides all have architecture degrees and offer three kinds of tours – themed tours, mini-tours and premium tours. Accompanied by specialists who are passionate about their subject, you will be shown major architectural projects in central Paris, the Clichy-Batignolles district where numerous architectural innovations are underway, the architectural changes around the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand, the skyscrapers in La Défense, etc.
The Interkultur team has created guided tours and itineraries on architecture in Paris in different areas of the capital: Les Secrets de la Défense, Haussmann and the City of Light, The Covered Passages, The Le Corbusier Route or Gustave Eiffel and the Industrial Revolution.
Street art being an integral part of contemporary architecture in Paris, many tours are offered taking in these works scattered across various districts of Paris. Fresh Street Art Paristakes both fans and the merely curious to discover huge murals as well as smaller works. They organize tours in different parts of the capital: in the 13th arrondissement’s open-air street art museum, around the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand, in the area between Belleville and Ménilmontant, in the historic Marais district, on Montmartre Hill, in Montreuil – a town nicknamed the little French Brooklyn – and in Butte-aux-Cailles.
Around 1,500 professional guides are members of the FNGIC – the national federation of guide-interpreters and guide-lecturers. Looking for a guide who specializes in contemporary art? The FNGIC can provide contemporary art lovers wishing to do a themed tour in Paris with a list of guides.
The Cité internationale universitaire de Paris is a place where architecture – especially contemporary architecture – predominates. L/OBLIQUE, the Cité Internationale’s heritage centre, organizes fascinating guided themed tours on Sunday afternoons to explore the campus, its gardens and houses.
Le Tram, the Paris Île-de-France contemporary art network, is a group of 30 contemporary art production and dissemination spaces in the Île-de-France region. It offers two ways to discover contemporary art. Either take the TaxiTram - a unique opportunity to explore art in the company of artists, exhibition curators and their teams in three art spaces on the Tram network - or discover a selection of contemporary art spaces and exhibitions on foot in a small group with RandoTram.
A mediator at a cultural venue provides a connection between the venue itself, the works on display (permanent collections or temporary exhibitions) and the people visiting the venue. Mediators share their knowledge, place the focus on the artworks and guide visitors.
Mediators are present in many venues in Paris and Île-de-France where contemporary art occupies a prominent place, such as the Fondation Louis Vuitton. Mediators are on hand in the rooms of this venue designed by Frank Gehry to offer short tours or to explain a particular artwork. Other institutions offering a cultural mediation service include the Espace Monte Cristo, the Palais de Tokyo, the Cartier foundation for contemporary art, Lafayette Anticipations, the Centre Tignous d’Art Contemporain, with its artistic laboratory in Montreuil, and the MAC VAL in Ivry-sur-Seine.
