A major new contemporary art centre is set to open in Paris this autumn, with internationally acclaimed curator Cecilia Alemani leading its inaugural exhibition, bringing together historic works from the Renault art collection alongside 17 newly commissioned artworks.
Opening on 17th October 2026, Large is a new 50,000+ sq ft contemporary arts centre on the Île Seguin in Boulogne-Billancourt, transforming a site synonymous with French industrial history into a new destination for contemporary art. Directed by Paula Aisemberg, the centre occupies the Point des Arts, opening the area to the public for the first time after more than a century of industrial use.
Supported by Groupe Emerige and designed by RCR Arquitectes, winners of the 2017 Pritzker Prize, in collaboration with CALQ, Large positions itself as a hybrid institution dedicated to the contemporary French art scene while encouraging dialogue between art, architecture and the city. Of its 50,000+ sq ft footprint, half will be devoted to exhibitions.
The opening exhibition, Imaginary Engine: From Masterpieces of the Collection Renault to Artists of Today, explores the legacy of the Île Seguin as the historic home of the Renault factories, examining the relationship between humans, machines and the automobile.
Presented in partnership with the Fonds Renault pour l’Art et la Culture, the exhibition brings together works from Renault’s historic collection by artists including Victor Vasarely, Jean Dubuffet, Jean Tinguely and Robert Doisneau with newly commissioned works by a new generation of artists.
Alemani has commissioned 17 new works for the exhibition by artists including Théo Mercier, Sara Sadik, Bianca Bondi, Clément Cogitore, Bertrand Lavier, Mohamed El Khatib, Oliver Beer, Bertille Bak, Thu Van Tran and Giulia Andreani.
Structured across five thematic chapters—The Factory of My Thoughts, Social Bodies, Motor Forces, Objects of Desire and The Human Machine—the exhibition reflects on both the industrial ambitions of the twentieth century and the technological and social transformations shaping contemporary life.
Rather than simply opening another exhibition venue, Large has been conceived as a space for creation, production and public engagement. The architecture places equal emphasis on art and experience, moving visitors between intimate spaces and a vast 1,000m² gallery flooded with natural light filtered through aluminium mashrabiya screens.
“Ten years ago, Large began with an ambition: breathing new life into the Île Seguin by creating a space where art, architecture and the public could encounter one another freely,”
said Laurent Dumas, Chairman of Emerige Group.
“Imagined as an open and living space, this new cultural site invites us all to prendre le large [‘set sail’], change our perspectives and share emotions through contemporary art. Today, I am proud to see Large become a reality and to celebrate the encounter between works of art, artists and the public.”
The new institution forms part of the wider La Pointe des Arts development, a new cultural district bringing together the art centre, an eight-screen Pathé cinema, hotel, offices, shops and restaurants on the Île Seguin.
With Cecilia Alemani shaping its opening exhibition and a programme dedicated to both established and emerging French artists, Large arrives as one of the most significant new contemporary art spaces to open in France in recent years.
Large opens on 17th October 2026 with Imaginary Engine: From Masterpieces of the Collection Renault to Artists of Today, on view until 7th March 2027.
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