After a number of years with formal and informal meetings leading to a large number of collaborations between France and Italy, and among France, Spain and Portugal, we decided to structure such exchanges within the framework of an association devoted to the promotion of contemporary art in Southern Europe.
The foundations of the association were laid during a meeting hold in Avignon in July 2004.

IRIS is based on the geographical and cultural proximity of its partners, but it will have to originate its activity on their being “strangers to each other”: being against uniqueness - of language, discourse, and thought - it aims at conceiving the otherness not as a hindrance but as a driving force of possible approaches and crossings.

As a consequence, the relationship binding all IRIS partners and that embodies the benchmark of their activity, cannot be but dialectical, constantly reconsidered with respect to different local situations, to political and cultural environments, as well as to every partner’s missions and life experiences.

Defined stemming from the experience borne by the partners of the abovementioned four countries, this relationship is not however meant to be exclusive: reflecting on the sense of limits and overcoming them, aiming at strengthening new axis for the artistic development in South-Western Europe, implies a priori, in general collaborations or in a concerted policy, to reject such limitations towards other neighboring countries.

Within the same line of thought, the scope of IRIS’ activity does not have to be limited just to a set geographical area. The promotion of the leading products supported by the association outside the Southern—European area and the dissemination of external projects within this area become an integral feature of its activity.

In practice, the association is aimed at supporting cooperation and exchanges among the different artistic projects of its partners, at generating and advocating new dynamics and new projects for the support and the production of independent artists, at favoring mutual knowledge of the artistic environment and of the projects in the different represented countries, and finally, at disseminating information within and outside the IRIS scope of action.

The support to artistic projects is the core of our association activity, protecting the willingness to try not to duplicate commitments, but to differentiate and intensify them.

Special attention is devoted to the quality of the relationships established with project leaders, and to the sharing attitude that can stem from this relationship.
Such elements should have to become the foundation for a lively economy, adapted to every single project and able to evolve with it.

Concerns related to dissemination, especially inter-generation dissemination, are also dealt by IRIS, aiming at being able to share our experiences in the most precise way, and at being able to face the sudden expansion of the contemporary scene (in technical, economic and human terms). All the expressions aimed at strengthening the sharing of knowledge and of skills will benefit from the full attention of our association (workshops, internships, etc).

Being essentially practice-oriented, the association also develops its critical side, organizing moments of reflection and exchange.

IRIS is a space of sharing and exchange, a place for the free circulation of ideas, of projects and of the people creating them, but most of all it is a territory in which otherness may remain the spur of desire, of curiosity and of creation.