Prix Meurice for Contemporary Art 2010/2011

Colette Barbier

Director of the Ricard Center of Business

With a background in communication, Colette Barbier joined Ricard in 1989 and was rapidly given direction of the company's gallery space near Place de la Concorde which, in the space of a few short years, she imbued with a resolutely experimental spirit. In 1999, Colette Barbier set up the Prix Ricard. A tireless promoter of corporate patronage in contemporary art, in 2003 she set up Mécènes du Sud.
In 2006 she was appointed at the head of the Ricard Corporate Foundation at 12, Rue Boissy d'Anglas in Paris, in a space developed by architects Jakob+MacFarlane.
The venue hosts eight exhibitions a year, programmes lectures and regularly gives young curators carte blanche to stage group shows. The Foundation is instrumental in bringing a whole generation of artists to the fore.