Marc and Josée Gensollen

Marc and Josée Gensollen are Founding Patrons of CIMAM since 2005. There is nothing more satisfying than being able to thank those who allow our organization to continue growing and fulfilling its mission. And it's even better when you can say thank you in person. Marc and Josée have participated in CIMAM's Annual Conferences and post-tours over the years, faithfully from Sydney to Barcelona, via Singapore or Doha. Marc and Josée Gensollen share an admirable and fervent passion for contemporary art and thinking. We invite CIMAM members to read these enlightening words by Marc and Joseé Gensollen about their relationship with contemporary art, their fulfillment through collecting, and their support to CIMAM. We are sincerely honored to count on their commitment, enthusiasm with CIMAM throughout all these years.

November 2020

The story of Josée and myself dates back fifty years to 1970. It revolves around our training as psychiatric doctors and around art in the making. Our wish to live in an environment in which questions are raised, that reflects on the great human issues, and that challenges the society to which we belong, prompted us to gather together a number of works from after 1967, and from years of great questioning. The form that conceptual art has taken in its rigor, in its concern to shun any indulgence, and in its integrity played out in our favor as it matched our values. We were naturally drawn not to speculative options, but rather to radical, demanding art.

Our collection was subsequently enriched with sociological and political works in any medium so long as they dealt with universal issues.

When at the end of 2004 CIMAM requested our support to join private collectors such as Count Panza di Biumo, Anton and Annick Herbert, and Erika Hoffman, we rose to the challenge.

Our support for CIMAM brings us into contact with the institution and with the reflective work of world-renowned professionals.

The annual conference provides us with an opportunity for encounters that would be very unlikely under ordinary circumstances and to discover, on a worldwide level, the perspectives and the preferences of contemporary art professionals. We are particularly sensitive to the struggles of art professionals to maintain their independence of thought and of choice and to resist different political or financial influences.

Although we do not have any particular mission, our commitment to contemporary art comes from a desire to make it comprehensible and to encourage its discovery by people who may hold it in disregard or whose defensiveness might cause them to reject it. This is our main purpose at La Fabrique, where we personally welcome a curious audience that is eager to learn more about living art.

Art has always been about knowledge, culture, understanding, openness and tolerance, all of which are needed greatly in our world today.

Marc and Josée Gensollen