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Credits

The Tower, framed by the surrounding landscaped park.
© Victor & Simon / Grégoire d'Ablon

LUMA Arles

LUMA Arles brings together culture and the environment, architecture and design. Through permanent works and exhibitions, as well as talks and public programs, it is a singular, experimental place—constantly evolving in line with the vision of its founder, Maja Hoffmann.

Timeline of the LUMA Arles project

  • 2004: The LUMA Foundation is established in Zurich, Switzerland

  • 2007: The first meeting on the Parc des Ateliers project is held, with architect Frank Gehry

  • 2008: An agreement is signed between the LUMA Foundation, the City of Arles, the Région, and Les Rencontres d’Arles to develop a cultural project at the Parc des Ateliers

  • 2013: LUMA Arles is created by the LUMA Foundation to lead and fund the Parc des Ateliers project

  • 2014–2021: Renovation of the 19th-century industrial buildings by Selldorf Architects

  • 2014–2021: Construction of The Tower, conceived by Maja Hoffmann with architect Frank Gehry

  • 2017–2021: Design and creation of the landscaped park by landscape architect Bas Smets

  • 2021: Full opening of the Parc des Ateliers following the completion of The Tower and the landscaped park

LUMA Arles, an interdisciplinary creative campus

Exploring contemporary creation and its contexts


Launched in 2013 by Maja Hoffmann, LUMA Arles is an interdisciplinary creative campus devoted to contemporary creation, knowledge-sharing, and the exploration of cultural, social, and environmental contexts.

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A multidisciplinary program


Each year, LUMA Arles presents exhibitions by both established and emerging artists, alongside site-specific works, new commissions, and selections from artist, photography, and exhibition archives.

Beyond exhibitions, LUMA Arles develops a public program that includes live performances, concerts, and film screenings, offering multiple ways to engage with contemporary creation.

Talks and discussion series bring together philosophers, sociologists, theorists, writers, and other specialists to reflect on art, culture, the environment, human rights, and wider social questions.

Since its founding, LUMA Arles has commissioned and presented the work of more than 300 artists and innovators, both at the Parc des Ateliers and across multiple sites throughout the city of Arles.

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View of the David Armstrong exhibition, 2025.
Each year, LUMA Arles presents temporary exhibitions bringing together emerging artists and international figures.
Photo: © Victor & Simon / Grégoire d'Ablon

“An essential part of our project is to conceive LUMA Arles as a response to the challenges facing the art world today, and to contribute to the circulation of ideas and their dialogue with contemporary issues.
We want this cultural complex and its program to be embedded in the artistic, intellectual, ecological, social, and economic fabric of Arles and its region.
In this way, we are gradually creating an environment that encourages encounters and exchanges between artists, thinkers, and audiences, for the benefit of all.”

Maja Hoffmann, Founder and President of the LUMA Foundation, and Founder of LUMA Arles

A singular architectural and landscape site


Set within the Parc des Ateliers, a former seven-hectare industrial site, LUMA Arles spans eight 19th-century industrial buildings, The Tower designed by Frank Gehry, and a landscaped park envisioned by landscape architect Bas Smets.

Comprising buildings with distinct identities and varied volumes, and incorporating spaces that meet international museum standards, the site offers expansive, flexible exhibition areas designed to accommodate a wide range of artistic forms and contemporary modes of presentation.

At the Parc des Ateliers, architecture is a central part of the experience, shaping how artists work and how audiences engage with the site.

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Aerial view of the Parc des Ateliers.
Photo: © Adrian Deweerdt

LUMA Arles, a hub for creation and innovation

LUMA Arles also supports artistic research, experimentation, and production through Atelier LUMA, the artist residency program, and Offprint.

Founded in 2016, Atelier LUMA and the residency program bring together artists, researchers, and experts from a variety of fields.

As LUMA Arles’s design research lab, Atelier LUMA explores the possibilities of local, often overlooked materials, working at the intersection of art, science, and sustainable development.

The artist residencies offer invited participants a year-round framework for research and project development. Artists, thinkers, researchers, writers, and curators are supported in pursuing work connected to their practice and to contemporary issues, with opportunities to share their research with the public through talks, presentations, discussions, or exhibitions.

Offprint, founded in 2010 and led by LUMA Arles since 2015, is a platform dedicated to independent publishing, with activities centered around two annual fairs in London and Paris.

 

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Atelier LUMA, the design laboratory of LUMA Arles, explores the resources of the Camargue to develop sustainable materials and innovative solutions.
Developed through four years of research by Atelier LUMA, these salt panels for The Tower at LUMA Arles draw on an emblematic local resource. Through processes of crystallization, pressing, and architectural experimentation, salt moves beyond its traditional uses to become a material for design, opening up a new dialogue between design, science, and local know-how.
Photo: © Adrian Deweerdt

LUMA Arles, an institution rooted in its local context

With a commitment to supporting and contributing to the region, LUMA Arles is also involved in local initiatives, working in partnership with community centers, neighborhood organizations, and medical and social care centers.

Each year, LUMA Arles also develops an education program for young audiences, delivered at the Parc des Ateliers, in schools across Arles, and in nearby community and leisure centers.

These programs aim to introduce a wide range of audiences to art, while fostering social inclusion and access to culture for all.

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Since 2015, more than 13,500 young audiences from Arles have taken part in LUMA Arles’s education program.
Photo: © Adrian Deweerdt

Learn more about LUMA Arles’s initiatives

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Atelier LUMA

The design research program of LUMA Arles
Learn more
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Artist Residencies

Learn more
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Offprint

A platform that supports qualitative independent and experimental publishers

Learn more
200729-LUMA-ATELIERLUMA-SALINDEGIRAUD-ADRIANDEWEERDT - Large

Atelier LUMA

The design research program of LUMA Arles
Learn more
2018-03-30_LUMA_CHARLES-TEYSSOU---PIERRE-ALEXENDRE-MATEOS-9424

Artist Residencies

Learn more
231110-LUMA-OFFPRINTPARIS-ADRIANDEWEERDT-21

Offprint

A platform that supports qualitative independent and experimental publishers

Learn more

LUMA Arles and the LUMA Foundation

LUMA Foundation and LUMA Arles are two distinct yet closely linked entities, both founded by Maja Hoffmann with the shared objective of supporting and advancing contemporary art.

Established in 2004 in Zurich, Switzerland, the LUMA Foundation is dedicated to supporting artists and projects in the fields of visual arts, photography, documentary film, publishing, and multimedia.

The LUMA Foundation produces, supports, and funds artistic projects that address issues related to the environment, human rights, education, and culture.

In 2013, this commitment was extended through the creation of LUMA Arles, a project initiated to develop the Parc des Ateliers.

 

FAQ: LUMA Arles

Is LUMA Arles a museum?

LUMA Arles is not a museum in the traditional sense. Museums generally have a permanent collection, a long-term mission of preservation and interpretation, and operate within a clearly defined legal framework. LUMA Arles functions more as a cultural center or a contemporary art center:

  • it does not rely on a permanent collection on continuous display,
  • it places emphasis on contemporary creation, production, research, temporary exhibitions, residencies, and public programs,
  • it is experimental, multidisciplinary, and less formally structured than a traditional museum.

LUMA Arles is therefore a hybrid place, closer to a center for cultural creation and dissemination than to a museum in the strict sense.

Why is LUMA Arles located in Arles?

Maja Hoffmann spent her childhood and adolescence in Arles, where she arrived at just 15 days old. Her parents chose to settle in the heart of the Camargue, driven by her father Luc Hoffmann’s deep commitment to the natural environment of the Rhône delta, where he founded the Tour du Valat biological research station.

Maja Hoffmann chose Arles both for this personal and emotional connection and because the city’s history and character make it a fertile ground for developing a new model—a new generation of cultural center. A patron of Les Rencontres de la Photographie and the Festival des Suds for over twenty years, she was already closely involved in the local cultural scene before launching the LUMA Arles project.

Does LUMA Arles receive public funding?

The LUMA Arles project does not receive public funding. Its legal status in France does not allow it to accept public subsidies.

The construction of The Tower, the renovation of the former industrial buildings, as well as the artistic program and all direct employment are fully financed through LUMA Arles’s private funds.

Public funding from the State and local authorities is allocated exclusively to public infrastructure, including roads and utilities, the public areas of the park, and the relocation of the SNCF electrical substation.

Is LUMA Arles a foundation?

The LUMA Foundation and LUMA Arles are two distinct but closely connected structures, each with a different role, while sharing the same objectives. The LUMA Foundation can be considered the parent organization of LUMA Arles.

Founded in 2004 in Zurich by Maja Hoffmann, the LUMA Foundation operates as a platform supporting contemporary art, photography, publishing, and documentary film, with a strong focus on environmental projects.

To lead and manage the Parc des Ateliers project, the LUMA Foundation created LUMA Arles in 2013 as an endowment organization under French law, operating on a nonprofit basis. This legal structure is different from French corporate foundations established directly by private companies, which benefit from specific tax incentives to support cultural or humanitarian activities.

As an organization governed by French law, LUMA Arles operates within the applicable fiscal framework and pays the taxes and charges associated with its activities, in accordance with its nonprofit endowment status.

Voir plus

LUMA Arles, un programme artistique supervisé par un Core Group  

 
Le programme artistique de LUMA Arles est supervisé par un Core Group, composé de figures majeures de l’art contemporain.  

De 2010 à 2018, ce groupe a été dirigé par Maja Hoffmann, en collaboration avec des personnalités telles que le commissaire d'exposition Tom Eccles, l'artiste Liam Gillick, le curateur Hans-Ulrich Obrist, l’artiste Philippe Parreno et la curatrice et directrice de musée Beatrix Ruf. Ces conseillers ont apporté leur expertise dans la construction de l’identité de LUMA Arles. 
 

En 2019, le Core Group s’est élargi pour inclure de nouvelles personnalités, comme la cinéaste Sophia Al Maria, l’artiste Ian Cheng et le philosophe Paul B. Preciado. Ces nouveaux membres ont renforcé la vision interdisciplinaire de LUMA Arles, en apportant des perspectives novatrices sur l’art, la culture et la société. Aujourd’hui, ces conseillers internationaux sont soutenus par Vassilis Oikonomopoulos, le directeur artistique de LUMA Arles, qui a pour mission de concevoir et de mettre en œuvre des expositions et événements innovants et transdisciplinaires.