In France, since the nineteen sixties, the number of sites devoted to the creation, exhibition or marketing of contemporary art has significantly risen. The initiatives of the state have been decisive as a part of the cultural policies set up when André Malraux became Minister of Culture but above all since the nineteen eighties with Jack Lang. Since 1982, the laws of decentralization have favoured the initiatives of the regions with a measure of autonomy. These circumstances have been favourable to the birth of Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain which play a key role in its distribution throughout the country. The new artistic approaches of the visual artists have also contributed to the emergence of new sites. Therefore, the artists play a crucial role in the geography of contemporary art whose main purpose is to study the inscription ( development ) of that form of art in space. Once the distribution on a national scale was analysed , a typological study of the sites of contemporary art has made it possible to know more precisely the way they fit within the space. The example provided by the Pays de la Loire has then been developed in a specific part which insists more particularly on the way the Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain fits with the national and regional space.
The distribution of sites is governed by two conflicting factors : on the one hand , the concentration of cultural duties in cities, mainly in Paris ; on the other hand, the decentralization of the cultural supply resulting from a policy of cultural development in the country. The aim was to make contemporary art more accessible to people but the goal has been only partially achieved. Although the logic of supply has favoured the closeness to works, it has not been enough to open art to a wide audience. The limitations of geography have become evident in that case. It can account for a phenomenon whose inscription in space is particularly strong but it has failed to provide an answer to a problem linked above all to educational policies. The cultural supply is a necessary factor but it is not enough to open up the access to culture.

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