Launched by Istanbul Modern in 2012, the Museums Talk series, a conversation platform between leading international museum professionals and museum audiences in Turkey, continues with the guest country France. Organized in collaboration with the Istanbul French Cultural Center, the event will host Le Bal co-director Diane Dufour as its third guest. In the conversation titled "Le Bal in the Making," which will be held on May 23 at 7 p.m., Dufour will share her experiences.

Le Bal in the Making

Founded in 2010 by Raymond Depardon and Diane Dufour, Le Bal is a platform for exhibitions, publications, ideas, young talent and educational programs. As a nonprofit organization, it offers an original selection that encompasses the contemporary image in all its forms, including photography, video, cinema and new media. In its programs and exhibitions, while questioning the role of the visual image in society, Le Bal features emerging talent as well as artists who have either been forgotten or rarely get the opportunity to take part in exhibitions.

As co-director of Le Bal, Dufour will focus her talk on some of the organization's most prominent exhibitions and publications, namely "Provoke," "Dave Heath" and "Clement Cogitore." While conveying the core principles of this lab dedicated to research on the image, Dufour will also share the challenges faced during the making of an independent art center that aims to address aesthetic and political topics. In addition, she provides information about the center's educational platform "La Fabrique du Regard" as well as "ERSILIA," the program's supporting digital platform.

Dufour is known for the exhibitions and programs she has organized at Le Bal as well as for books such as "Mark Cohen: Dark Knees," "Lewis Baltz: Common Objects" and "Dave Heath: Dialogues with Solitudes." For the last 10 years, she has also been co-directing, alongside Christine Vidal, "La Fabrique du Regard," a project to help develop visual literacy in people between the ages of eight and 18, which she will also speak about in her talk at the Istanbul Modern. In 2013, Dufour conceived the idea of "Curator's Day," a platform for the exchange of projects and ideas bringing together 30 museums from across Europe.