Daniel Buren exhibits new work at Sérignan museum anniversary

The Musée régional d’art contemporain de Sérignan is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a major exhibition titled Stop the Machine, bringing together works by 264 artists in the Hérault region. Located in a commune of fewer than 8,000 residents, the cultural institution has marked the milestone by welcoming back French artist Daniel Buren, whose site-specific interventions have defined the building’s architectural identity since its opening in 2006, france3-regions.franceinfo.fr reported.

When the museum first opened two decades ago, Buren covered its extensive glass surfaces, windows, and doors across two levels with colored vertical stripes. That initial installation established a permanent visual dialogue with the building’s architecture. For the current anniversary exhibition, which runs through March 2027, the museum has reunited a vast roster of creators to showcase the histories that shaped the venue.

Celebrating Two Decades of Contemporary Art in Sérignan

The return of Buren highlights a deliberate institutional lineage focused on long-term artistic fidelity. Museum director Clément Nouet noted that bringing back one of France’s most prominent living artists demonstrates the enduring connection between major creators and the regional space.

Daniel Buren is one of the greatest living French artists. So inviting him back to Sérignan shows the lineage of the museum, it shows the loyalty of artists to this place.

Clément Nouet

Nouet also pointed to the unusual scale of the museum relative to its host municipality. Operating a major cultural facility capable of hosting international art inside a town of under 8,000 people remains an extraordinary achievement for the region, according to the museum director.

Unveiling De l’horizontale à la verticale

Alongside the anniversary showcase, Buren has created a brand-new installation specifically for the milestone, titled De l’horizontale à la verticale. The work utilizes the exact four colors the artist deployed during his initial intervention twenty years ago, yet applies them in an entirely unprecedented manner.

I used the four colors that I used 20 years ago. But by coloring these beams, it is a work that looks like nothing I have done before.

Daniel Buren

The new installation coats the interior structural beams in color, optically disrupting their organization and making the rigid architecture appear to dissolve and rebuild before the viewer’s eyes. Buren described the visual effect as transforming the structural elements into something resembling a children’s construction toy.

In addition to the new beams installation, the artist revisited existing works on site, including his segmented hut structure. Buren noted that recent lighting adjustments inside the museum significantly improved the visibility and impact of the pre-existing installation compared to previous years.

Exhibition Schedule Through March 2027

The Stop the Machine exhibition and all associated anniversary installations remain open to the public at the Musée régional d’art contemporain de Sérignan through March 2027. The institution has not yet announced its subsequent exhibition schedule or whether any permanent acquisitions will stem from the 20th-anniversary commissions.