After more than a century of industrial activity, the Île Seguin, in Boulogne-Billancourt in the Hauts-de-Seine (92), finally opens to the public with Large, cultures contemporaines. The new art center, backed by the Groupe Emerige, raises its curtain on 17 October 2026 with its inaugural show, Moteur Imaginaire, des chefs-d'œuvre de la Collection Renault aux artistes d'aujourd'hui, to be enjoyed until 7 March 2027. The program features 120 works, 55 artists, and a deeper dive into the factory’s memory.
The name of the place already signals its ambition. Choosing the Large means leaving solid ground, shifting the angle of view. In nautical terms, the open sea begins at six nautical miles: the exact distance between Notre-Dame’s forecourt and the island’s tip, following the course of the Seine. The wink is charming, and it lands.
For its opening, the Large entrusts its programming to Cecilia Alemani, an Italian curator based in New York. She is responsible for the artistic direction of the 59th Venice Biennale and its exhibition The Milk of Dreams, which drew more than 800,000 visitors in 2022. Since 2011, she has also led the High Line's public art program in New York.
Imaginary Engine is the artist’s first-ever exhibition conceived in France.
An outsider’s perspective on the French scene lends the project international resonance, which isn’t a given for a venue whose mission is precisely to defend artists working on the ground.
The through line centers on a single question: what relationship do we have with the machines we build? The car serves as an entry point, at once a symbol of freedom, of innovation, of desire and of resource depletion. Designed with the Renault Fund for Art and Culture, the exhibition brings 50 pieces from the manufacturer's historic collection into dialogue with contemporary works.
The show brings together the big-name artists invited as far back as the 1960s to work at the very heart of the factory, within the Research, Art and Industry program: Jean Dubuffet, Victor Vasarely, Jean Tinguely, Arman, and even Robert Doisneau, whose photographs of the Billancourt plant date to 1934. Some of these works had not been exhibited for more than forty years.
The journey unfolds in five chapters:
Seventeen artists were commissioned for the occasion. Among the projects that intrigue us the most: Bertrand Lavier’s Renault Formula 1 covered in broad brushstrokes, Bianca Bondi’s Renault 12 shell left to crystallize with salt and water, or the coffin carved in the shape of a 1899 Renault Type B by the Ghanaian artist Paa Joe. Bertille Bak, for her part, collaborated with former factory workers on the wig tradition, those small objects quietly crafted with workshop materials.
The building alone is worth the detour. It marks the first Grand Paris project by the Catalans, RCR Arquitectes, winners of the 2017 Pritzker Prize and designers of the Soulages Museum in Rodez, here teamed with the Paris-based CALQ agency. Spanning 5,000 square meters, including 2,500 square meters of exhibition space, the layout plays with compression and expansion: a 370-square-meter atrium with a 7-meter ceiling, a monumental escalator, then a main hall of 1,000 square meters with no columns, rising up to 14 meters.
The light never comes straight on. It threads through anodised aluminium mashrabiyas, and the calamine-steel floor gives the place an unexpectedly matte patina. A 500-square-meter terrace surrounds the building, with views of the Seine and the Meudon hills.
The Large opens its doors on Saturday, October 17, 2026, with a grand inaugural weekend on October 17 and 18. The Moteur Imaginaire exhibition will then be open from Wednesday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., with a Friday night opening until 9 p.m., through March 7, 2027. Tickets cost €15 for full price and €10 for reduced price; entry is free for everyone under 26, for people with disabilities and their companions, job seekers, RSA beneficiaries, self-employed artists, and Île-de-France teachers. All the information is available on the official Large website.
Access is straightforward: Seguin Island is reachable on foot or by bike from the T2 tram (Brimborion stop, about five minutes) or from the metro stations on lines 9 and 15, roughly a ten-minute walk away. Bus 42 runs directly to the island, and several Velib' stations are nearby. Car traffic is limited on the island, with parking available along the waterfront on both sides—Boulogne and Meudon.
On site, the venue comes alive beyond the halls: a bookstore-run by the teams at GrandPalaisRMN on the ground floor, the Extra Large coffee shop with its panoramic terrace on the fourth floor, and Le Petit Atelier, a space imagined by designer Constance Guisset for children aged 6 to 10, freely accessible as long as a parent holds a ticket.
Moteur Imaginaire seems tailor-made for the curious who don’t always dare to push open the door to a contemporary art center. The subject—the factory and the car—offers a concrete and familiar entry point, and the presence of historical works is as reassuring as it is illuminating for the newer creations.
Families will find real value here thanks to the Petit Atelier and free entry for those under 26, and architecture enthusiasts will have another reason to make the trip. A tip: plan generously and pair the visit with a stroll through the Gauthier Mougin departmental park, nearby, where about thirty sculptures punctuate the walk.
Dates and Opening Time
From October 17, 2026 to March 7, 2027
Location
Large: the Île Seguin contemporary art center
355 Quai Georges Gorse
92100 Boulogne Billancourt
Route planner
Prices
Moins de 26 ans: Free
Tarif réduit: €10
Plein tarif: €15
Recommended age
For all
