Two questions for Maja Hoffmann, Director of the Luma Foundation.
Why do you sponsor the Arles festival?
I have supported the Rencontres d’Arles for more than ten years, both out of a love of the town of Arles and the Camargue, where I grew up, and a desire to support and promote creativity. This support is both at an institutional level, helping the festival to increase its international reach for example, and centred on specific programmes, such as the Prix Découvertes, which the LUMA Foundation has been the exclusive partner of since 2002. This year, the foundation will mark its presence through an exhibition, coproduced with the Rencontres d’Arles, on Wolfgang Tillmans and enitled Neue Welt. It is taking place in the Grande Halle des Ateliers and includes work produced specially for this exhibition. It has been over ten years since a monograph of this magnitude on Tillmans was shown in France.
What is photography patronage for you?
I don’t take a discipline oriented approach to creativity. As the director of a private foundation, I support the projects that I choose, independently of the medium used by the artist. This more active approach requires real commitment and accompaniment for the artist throughout the creative process and into the production stage.
