“We can’t apply with a bullock cart! We need a Rolls.” It was with this matamore-like language that Christian Estrosi, the center-right mayor of Nice, announced in February 2022 the redevelopment of the city’s Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MAMAC), the keystone of his bid for Nice to be designated the European Capital of Culture in 2028. The project to reconfigure the Promenade du Paillon, the 12-hectare green space where the museum was built in 1990, was entrusted to Portuguese architect Joao Luis Carrilho da Graça, in association with landscape architect Alexandre Chemetoff.
Three years later, all is not well. Nice failed to win the precious European Capital of Culture label, clinched instead by the city of Bourges in central France. And the municipality has just parted company with Carrilho da Graça. “The project handed in by the architect proved to be too far removed from the program that had been set,” reads an evasive press release published on February 26. A new architectural tender is to be launched.
Contacted by Le Monde, Carrilho da Graça expressed surprise at the reason given for terminating his contract. Contesting this “unilateral decision,” the Portuguese architect lodged an appeal and a claim for compensation with the Nice administrative court on February 28.
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