Moteur Imaginaire opens Le Large, the new art centre on the Île Seguin
The Île Seguin's new art centre opens on 17 October: Tinguely, Dubuffet and a repainted Formula 1 car, right where the Renault factory once ran.
in short 17 October 2026 – 7 March 2027 · Large, Cultures Contemporaines, Pointe des Arts, île Seguin, 92100 Boulogne-Billancourt · €15, €10 reduced, free for under-26s
published on · by the fugace team · lire en français
Photo · Fonds Renault pour l'Art et la Culture, © ADAGP, Paris, 2026
On 17 October, the Île Seguin, the island in the Seine at Boulogne-Billancourt, finally reopens to the public at its upstream tip. Le Large is a 5,000 m² art centre by RCR Arquitectes, winners of the 2017 Pritzker Prize and architects of the Musée Soulages in Rodez. Copper and anodised aluminium façades, a 1,000 m² hall with no pillars rising to 14 metres, and a 500 m² terrace facing the Seine and the Meudon hillsides.
For the opening, Cecilia Alemani, who directed the 2022 Venice Biennale, makes the walls of the old Renault factory talk. Moteur Imaginaire gathers 120 works by 55 artists, including 50 pieces from the Renault collection: Tinguely, Dubuffet, Vasarely, Arman, and Doisneau's photographs of Billancourt in 1934. Some haven't been out in forty years.
Facing them, 17 new commissions. A Renault Formula 1 car covered in broad brushstrokes by Bertrand Lavier, a Renault 12 left to crystallise in salt and water by Bianca Bondi, a coffin carved as an 1899 Renault Type B by Ghanaian artist Paa Joe. The route runs through five chapters, from the assembly line to the border between human and algorithm.
Tickets cost €15, €10 reduced, and it's free if you're under 26. The opening weekend, 17–18 October, is free with registration on Le Large's website. Tram T2 to Brimborion leaves you a five-minute walk away. You have until 7 March 2027.
