AR(t)CHIPEL Festival

AR(t)CHIPEL Festival: When the Centre Pompidou comes to Centre-Val de Loire

The AR(t)CHIPEL festival is a unique contemporary art event in France, born in 2023 from an exceptional partnership between the Centre Pompidou and the Centre-Val de Loire Region. Under the artistic direction of Anne-Laure Chamboissier, art historian and curator, this itinerant festival offers an immersion into contemporary creation every autumn across the region's six departments.

A Festival Rooted in Pithiviers

In Pithiviers, the AR(t)CHIPEL festival takes over the Chapel of the former Hôtel-Dieu, a magnificent 18th-century building converted into a contemporary art space since 2016. Located at 3 rue de Senives, this chapel hosts exhibitions and installations specially designed for the festival. In 2025, artist Roland Schär presented Murmurations, an original installation combining hand-shaped ceramics and old pharmacy objects, weaving a link between the lightness of frescoes and the weight of the place's memory.

Five Pillars for a Multidisciplinary Festival

The festival is structured around five founding axes:

• Centre Pompidou's works off-site: around forty works from the collections of the Musée national d'art moderne are presented in unique locations – castles, chapels, provincial museums, and heritage sites.
• Opening of artists' studios: painters, sculptors, ceramicists, and photographers open their workspaces to the public for free, offering privileged access to the creative process.
• Access to private collections: collectors exceptionally open their doors to share their passion for contemporary art.
• Circulation of artists: from one edition to the next, presented artists move between departments, creating a vibrant network of creation.
• Transmission to youth: educational workshops, meetings with artists, and specific tours allow high school students and young audiences to discover contemporary art.

A Calendar by Department

Each weekend of the festival highlights a different department for studio openings: the Cher kicks things off at the end of September, followed by Indre, Loir-et-Cher, Indre-et-Loire, Eure-et-Loir, and finally the Loiret for the closing weekend at the beginning of November, during the All Saints' Day weekend. Exhibitions in heritage sites remain accessible throughout the festival.

Internationally Renowned Artists

Throughout its editions, the festival has showcased works by Constantin Brancusi, Man Ray, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, André Masson, Roman Opalka, and Shirazeh Houshiary, alongside emerging contemporary artists and local creators. This dialogue between modern art and current creation forms the very identity of the festival.

Free and Accessible to All

True to its mission of cultural democratization, the AR(t)CHIPEL festival is free and requires no reservation for the vast majority of its events. Artist studios, exhibitions, guided tours, and meetings are open to all audiences, including families and schoolchildren. Supported by the association Nouvelles Renaissance(s) and funded by the Centre-Val de Loire Region, the festival brings together over a hundred artists and fifty venues across the region each year.