Le Cairn, foyer d'art contemporain
10 Montée du Parc Saint-Benoît, 04000 Digne-les-Bains, France
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Founded in 2000, Cairn emerges from an unprecedented encounter between the wild and mineral nature of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and artists who came to discover its history and its environment. The first initiative in contemporary art in the department, the art center pursues an extraordinary cultural program, based exclusively on long-term visual artist residencies. It gives rise to two exhibitions a year and many events outside the walls in the territory. The artists invited by Cairn seek in the Provencal Alps and the Dignois country an echo of their fields of interest, rediscovered under the prism of an unsuspected heritage. Positioning art at the crossroads with other disciplines present in the department (sports, science, agriculture, tourism, archeology…), Cairn opens debates, participates in a global reflection on the future of the country of Dignois and, more generally, of development and culture in rural areas. It has an artist’s residence and an exhibition space of 130m2. Cairn is part of Ambulo, the artistic and museum center of Digne-les-Bains with the Gassendi Museum and the Alexandra David-Neel House. In this context, his contemporary artistic action finds convergence with the programming of the two structures of the pole, labeled center of contemporary art of national interest.
