In 1985, the Paris Audiovisuel association, founded by Henry Chapier, Marcel Landowski, and Francis Balagna, are granted use of the Espace Photo facilities, near the current Forum des images location at Place Carrée.
The initial 400 square meter gallery ran under the artistic direction of Jean-Luc Monterosso, and already contained the seed of the future Maison Européenne de la Photographie, through programming whose mandate was to promote the work of French or foreign artists now famous for the most part, but at the time simply considered to be pioneers of the contemporary photo movement which – in keeping with our charter – broke with the past of the still image, represented, namely, by Robert Frank or William Klein.
The Espace Photo hosted the shows of a number of these artists, such as Duane Michaels, Helmut Newton, Alice Springs, and Ralph Gibson…
At the turn of the 1990s, the Paris Audiovisuel association took on a double responsibility: promoting an artistic and cultural policy to Parisians, while nurturing the ambition of having the Mois de la Photo spearhead the movement to make the City of Light the uncontested photography capital of the world.
The Espace Photo, now far too cramped to handle the development of a project of this magnitude, is relocated, with the help of the city, to the old Hôtel de Cantobre, whose restoration and addition of a modern wing, awarded to architect Yves Lion, led to the inauguration of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in 1996. From then on, the association would be called Paris Audiovisuel – Maison Européenne de la Photographie, while maintaining a status that allowed complete freedom of action.
It’s important to mention the inalienable nature of the collections that have been gathered since 1980, as well as the categorical ban on any commercial transaction touching the exhibited works…
For the new MEP site, Upian was responsible for:
- the graphic and ergonomic redesign;
- the functional design, graphic design, as well as the front and back end development (WordPress);
- the delivery of a turnkey website, from conception to launch;
- the creation of an entirely responsive and dynamic site built on WordPress; since it is completely modular, it also allows for the management of the Mois de la Photo site;
a multilingual site; - the creation of an internal online media platform: the “Kaléidoscope”.