Les Abattoirs, Musée – Frac Occitanie Toulouse first opened in 2000 in a 19th-century heritage site in a former municipal slaughterhouse that now houses exhibitions of modern art and creations by contemporary artists.
This exceptional institution – Les Abattoirs – arose from the merger of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of the City of Toulouse and the French Regional Collection of Contemporary Art (Frac). It brings together on a single site permanent collections, a library, a public gallery, workshops, an auditorium, a bookshop and restaurant, and disseminates the institution’s collections and artists’ productions throughout Occitanie, in direct liaison with the region’s key players.
Les Abattoirs has been granted the title ‘Musée de France’, designated by the French State.
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With a collection of modern and contemporary art for all types of audiences and all locations, Les Abattoirs disseminates and co-produces exhibitions in the eight départements (administrative divisions) of western Occitanie, as well as along the course of the Canal du Midi as part of the ‘Horizons d’eaux’ initiative, in partnership with the Frac Occitanie Montpellier and the Festival Convivencia.
Les Abattoirs continues to seep into new areas and extends into ever more diverse and at times unlikely venues, including heritage sites, museums, art centres, cultural and socio-cultural centres, town halls, places of worship, media resource centres, higher education, prisons, care homes, festivals, airports, shops and barges.
Since early 2019 Les Abattoirs has also been an accredited mediator for the Nouveaux Commanditaires (New Patrons) action of the Fondation de France. This multifaceted project for the production of artworks allows any citizen to take public responsibility as stakeholders in a cultural undertaking. As a mediator, the institution’s role is to oversee the four works already executed and to provide information on the protocol. In 2019, two projects were completed with the municipality of L’Union (Toulouse Métropole) and the Lycée Jean Monnet high school in Vic-en Bigorre (Hautes-Pyrénées).
Annabelle Ténèze, an alumna of the École Nationale des Chartes and of the Institut National du Patrimoine (INP), has been chief heritage curator and director of Les Abattoirs, Musée – Frac Occitanie Toulouse since 2016. Previously, Annabelle Ténèze was curator of the graphic arts cabinet at the Musée National Picasso-Paris (2006–12). She was then appointed director of the Musée Départemental d’Art Contemporain of Rochechouart until 2016.
Since joining Les Abattoirs, she has been involved in the exhibitions ‘Celebrating New Realism’ (in partnership with the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris), ‘Suspended Animation’ (in partnership with the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.), ‘Medellín, a Colombian history from the 1950s to today’ (in partnership with the Museo de Antioquia Medellín), ‘Picasso and the Exodus. A Spanish History of Art in Resistance’ (in partnership with the Musée National Picasso-Paris), as well as several solo exhibitions (including Joël Andrianomearisoa, Eduardo Chillida, David Claerbout, Hessie, Jacqueline de Jong, Judit Reigl, Peter Saul, Carolee Schneemann and Gisèle Vienne).
Les Abattoirs, Musée - Frac Occitanie Toulouse
76 allées Charles-de-Fitte
31300 Toulouse, France
lesabattoirs@lesabattoirs.org
T. +33 (0)5 34 51 10 60