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CARRÉ NOIR - 82, bd des Batignolles - 75017 Paris - FRANCE / Tél. : +33 (0)1 53 42 35 35 / Fax : +33 (0)1 42 94 06 78 / Web : www.carrenoir.com

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PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT NEW YORK // EMMANUEL FREMIN GALLERY // MAY 8 > 24, 2014

Each year, hundreds of international visitors set out to discover the monuments, museums and festivals that are at the heart of the French cultural heritage. The richness and diversity of this heritage are major reasons for choosing to visit France.

Everyone recognizes the strong interdependant relationship between tourism and cultural; each supports the other, particu-larly when it comes to creating an attractive environment. In this context, it is essential to continually offer a fresh vision of this heri-tage, attractive both to repeat travelers and to first-time visitors.

To accomplish this, Atout France and the Institut Français have joined forces in order to offer a new, poetic and quirky look at French châteaux, museums and monuments. Calling on the ta-lents and fresh eyes of the photographer-artist Maia Flore, the two organizations have created the Imagine France exhibit, placing cultural sites and events center stage. This traveling exhibition will move around the world for three years with a first stop this year in Italy before moving to the United States, where Imagine France will be shown from May 8 to 24, 2014 at the Emmanuel Fremin Gallery in New York City.

In order to create this photographic series, Maia Flore crisscrossed France to visit 25 cultural sites. In each place, the artist staged a different story, creating little vignettes starring the museum or monument in which she includes herself. As each monument is steeped in a different cultural and historical context, Maia Flore takes on diverse roles and personalities depending on the monument, museum or event to bring them to life in a surpri-sing way.

Thanks to the artist’s talent, Imagine France is a unique exhibit that draws international spectators into a universe that is both familiar and unexpected. It is an invitation to discover, or to re-discover the formi-dable richness of French cultural heritage.

Imagine France – May 8 to 24, 2014Emmanuel Fremin Gallery from May 8-29, 2014547 W. 27th Street, Suite 510 - Tel: 212-279-8555

Atout France USA has created a dedicated site featuring the exhibition and including videos clips on the making of the exhibit: imaginefrance.rendezvousenfrance.com/en. For updates on social media, use the hash tag #ImageFranceNY.

Offer an original and out-of-the-ordinary look at French cultural heritage – this is the objective of the Imagine France exhibition that will travel the world for three years.

* The Atout France Tourismand Culture Cluster, bringing together 58 tourism and culture professionals, is at the head of this project.

IMAGINE FRANCE - PRESS PACK1

PRESSRELEASE

< The Conciergerie, Paris Maia Flore ©Maia Flore/Vu’/Atout France

France and its cultural treasures offer an incredible play-ground for an artist as imaginative and elegant as Maia

Flore. Her Sleep Elevation collection – images of beautiful young women suspended from clouds – made her an overnight star in the international art scene.

Maia Flore is part of a new generation but, even more interestingly, she belongs to the “new photography” digital generation, where images are constructed and captured in equal parts, where post-production (computer enhancement) contributes to the final result as much as the image in the shutter. As an artist who begins by scripting and storyboarding her photographs before slipping back behind the camera, this approach is one that fits Maia Flore like a glove.

To give a fresh perspective on a country steeped in history, Maia Flore transforms everyday scenes, being a bit of a magician herself. She completes this fantastic Tour de France in 66 days, leaping lithely from one end of the country to the other. Her lens reveals 25 living, grandiose, patrimonial sites: castles, museums, churches, grottoes, parks and woodlands... all of which become Maia Flore’s stage.

“Having the keys to the castle,” says Maia Flore playfully, “gives you ideas.” And she is, indeed, full of ideas. Through the beauty in visual play she creates in each of her photos, it is clear that Maia Flore doesn’t so much visit a place as “encounter” it. Each visual proposition is an experience, sometimes of the absurd, sometimes of playfulness or mystery, sometimes of light, nature, or adventure. In the end, a sense of freedom gives each of us – whether spectator or visitor – a burning desire to jump in and join this enchanted world.

Martine Ravache

SEEN BY...MARTINE RAVACHE

ART CRITIC

3< The Charvin Cupola, Pic du Midi Maia Flore ©Maia Flore/Vu’/Atout France IMAGINE FRANCE - PRESS PACK

BIOGRAPHYMAIA FLORE

Maia Flore was born in 1988 in France. In 2011 she signed with Agence VU’.

Her approach is based on finding the intersection between reality and imagination. She creates a universe from scratch through narratives that are moving and haunting, sometimes bizarre, even surreal.

In Sweden she began her first series Sleep Elevations, a suspended journey indulging in childhood memories.

In the summer of 2012, during her first residence in Finland, Maia Flore explored new methods of representation and narration. She continued her research at the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, California, resulting in two series (Situations and Morning Sculptures) that would continue to explore the range of sentiments in which the photographer places her characters as well as her audience.

Maia’s first exhibition was in the February 2011 festival, Circulation(s) of Young European Photography, in Paris. Her photographs were then presented in the 2011 edition of the Rencontres d’Arles, in various European and international festivals and collective exhibitions. More recently, the Morning Sculptures series was exhibited at Somerset House in London during the Sony World Photo Awards. In 2013, she participated in the PHPA contest. Her nomination allowed her to explore the relationship between images and text.

Alongside her personal work, she also works on assignments, in the press and cultural sector, both private and public sector.Her photographs are frequently published in the French press (Libération, Images, Réponses Photos, Nova, Zoom, L’oeil, etc.) and the American press (The New Yorker, Kinfolk).

5< Park and Château de Beauregard Maia Flore ©Maia Flore/Vu’/Atout France IMAGINE FRANCE - PRESS PACK

THE ITINERARY OF A FANTASTICAL

VOYAGE

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1. The Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, Paris 2. L’Espace Dalí, Paris 3. The Conciergerie, Paris 4. The gardens of the Château de Versailles 5. The Château de Thoiry 6. Gare Saint-Sauveur, Lille 7. L’église Saint-Joseph, Le Havre 8. The Royal Château de Blois 9. The Château du Clos Lucé 10. The Park and château de Beauregard 11. The Royal Château d’Amboise 12. a/LTA, L’Arbre à basket, permanent installation as part of the Voyage à Nantes 2012 13. L’église Notre-Dame La Grande, Poitiers 14. The Water Mirror, Bordeaux 15. The Pic du Midi 16. The Cité of Carcassonne 17. The Musée Fabre de MontpellierAgglomération 18. The site du Pont du Gard 19. The Papal Palace, Avignon 20. MuCEM, Marseille 21. The underground world of Ardèche 22. The Thermes du Mont Dore, Auvergne 23. The Citadelle deBesançon 24. The Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg, Alsace 25. The Musée Lalique, Wingen-sur-Moder

< The Château Royal de Blois Maia Flore ©Maia Flore/Vu’/Atout France 7

Maia Flore traveled throughout France from July to September, casting a fresh eye on 25 cultural sites.

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ROMEInstitut Français

Centre Saint-Louis de France8 > 26 April 2014

NAPLESInstitut Français6 > 24 May 2014

MILANInstitut Français

May 27 > June 8 2014

NEW-YORKEmmanuel Fremin Gallery

8 > 24 May 2014

9< The Thermes du Mont Dore Maia Flore ©Maia Flore/Vu’/Atout France

Gardens of the Château de Versailles Maia Flore

©Maia Flore/Vu’/Atout France

Other countries will host the exhibition in 2014

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TRAVELINGEXHIBIT

The Imagine France exhibition continues online. Everyone is invited to travel the fantastical voyage of Maia Flore on the site rendezvousenfrance.com/imaginefrance.com

You will find both the exhibition photos and some exclusive online images, 5 artistic videos and 5 making-of videos on this site.

For updates on social media, use the hash tag #ImageFranceNY.

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< a/LTA, L’Arbre à basket, permanent installa-tion as part of the Voyage à Nantes 2012

Maia Flore ©Maia Flore/Vu’/Atout France - Arbre à basket, Agence ALTA/Le

Voyage à Nantes 2012

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INTERACTIVEEXHIBIT

ORGANIZERS

Atout France, the France Tourism Development Agency, works to develop the tourism industry, the primary French economic sector. The agency continuously monitors and analyses the international tourism market,providing key insights into the supply and demand that allow it to define strategies to develop French tourism. Atout France uses its expertise in engineering and development to make French businesses more competitive and French destinations more attractive.The agency supports 1100 professionals in their tou-rism marketing and promotions in France and abroad.Atout France is in charge of initiatives to improve the quality of the touristic offer: the classification of tourist accommodations, registration of travel operators, monitoring and promotion of the label «Vineyards and Discoveries.» The agency furthers its missions abroad through a network of 35 offices in 32 countries. This organization allows it to know the inter-national markets and clientele to target and to further promote the efforts of its partners. www.atout-france.fr - www.rendezvousenfrance.com

The French Institute is an actor for the Ministry of Foreign affairs, promoting French cultural activities abroad. It contributes to the image of France abroad in an enhanced dialogue with foreign cultures, and responds to the needs of France through a process of listening, partnership and openness. It works to promote the arts, as much for artists living and working in France as for those on the African continent and in the Caribbean region. Through support for international touring exhibitions and concerts and coordination with foreign partners, the Institute ensures the continued development of various artistic metiers. It supports the presence of French artists in international festivals and promotes the identification of artistic scenes by foreign professionals. By working closely with the French cultural network abroad, which consists of the French Institutes and Alliances Françaises, the French Institute works to meet the needs of the diplomatic missions, while promoting initiatives that enable greater sharing of projects and economies of scale. Locally, these actions are implemented under the authority of the Ambassadors.

CYAN MAGENTA JAUNE NOIR

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CARRÉ NOIR - 82, bd des Batignolles - 75017 Paris - FRANCE / Tél. : +33 (0)1 53 42 35 35 / Fax : +33 (0)1 42 94 06 78 / Web : www.carrenoir.com

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JFB

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< The Château du Clos Lucé Maia Flore ©Maia Flore/Vu’/Atout France 13 IMAGINE FRANCE - PRESS PACK

Marion FOURESTIERmarion.fourestier@atout-france.fr

Tel. 212 745 0963

Tiana GAMEZ tiana.gamez@atout-france.fr

Tel. 212 745 0959

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