Nathalie Crinière to Design Exhibition for Nouvel's Louvre Abu Dhabi

Agence France-Museums, in partnership with Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), announced that the firm of Nathalie Crinière has been selected to create the exhibition design for the Louvre Abu Dhabi, one of the five major institutions being planned for Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island Cultural District. Nathalie Crinière was awarded the project through a competition among six invited design firms.

In addition to conceiving the design of the permanent collection galleries and integrating it with the architectural design by Jean Nouvel, Nathalie Crinière will develop a graphic identity for the Louvre Abu Dhabi and design the lighting, curatorial and directional signage, and multimedia elements.

The exhibition design competition was organized by Agence France-Museums, which is implementing the agreement between the governments of France and Abu Dhabi that has established the Louvre Abu Dhabi, and TDIC, the developer of Saadiyat Island into a signature cultural, leisure and residential destination.

The competition jury panel was chaired by His Excellency Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of TDIC, and included Henri Loyrette, Director of the Musée du Louvre; Bruno Maquart, General Director of Agence France-Museums; Jean Nouvel, architect; and Lee Tabler, Chief Executive Officer of TDIC.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi is being developed through a 30-year accord between the governments of France and Abu Dhabi. Housed in an extraordinary building, the Louvre Abu Dhabi scheduled to open in 2012/2013, it will present important archeological artifacts and major works of fine arts and decorative arts from cultures around the world and from all historic periods.

“In partnership with the French Government and Agence France-Museums, we are moving steadily forward in realizing the Louvre Abu Dhabi,” said H.E. Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan.  “We look forward to continuing this momentum and breaking ground for the museum in the first half of 2009.”

The 24,000 square meter (260,000 square foot) museum will include 6,000 square meters (65,000 square feet) of galleries devoted to permanent installations and 2,000 square meters (22,000 square feet) reserved for temporary exhibitions. The exhibitions in the permanent galleries will be drawn from the collections of the Louvre and other eminent French public museums and cultural institutions, including Centre Pompidou, Château de Versailles, Musée d’Orsay, Musée Rodin and Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Over time, the Louvre Abu Dhabi will also develop its own distinctive permanent collection.

Nathalie Crinière has conceived of a design that will bring these works to life, while merging seamlessly with an architecture that Jean Nouvel has described as an “island on the island”: a micro-city of small buildings, ponds and landscaping, covered with a lacy dome “which lets a diffuse, magical light come through in the best tradition of great Arabian architecture.” Among Nathalie Crinière’s recent projects are the designs for the exhibitions “Marie Antoinette” shown at the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais in Paris and “L’age d’or des sciences arabes” at Musee national d’art modern et contemporain d’Alger in Algeria.

The other firms invited to participate in the competition by Agence France-Museums included Adrien Gardère, Antoine Stinco, Reza Azard Société Projectiles, Adeline Rispal and Didier Blin.

Images: Ateliers Jean Nouvel