Pierre Desfons

University graduate in law and French literature, top of his class at the Institute of Cinematographic Studies (formerly known as Femis), Pierre Desfons has always balanced being a draughtsman with being a director.

Entering cinema as an assistant director, he then took on television, working with Jean-Christophe Averty, and co-writing several Dadaist sketches, where babies go right into the blender and King Ubu slices up his subjects.

Pierre Desfons directed about a hundred shows and documentaries for television, most notably in the domain of art and architecture. For example: two masterful adaptations of the cult exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou: « Paris Berlin » et « Paris New-York », (Grand Prix du Film d’Architecture for the section « A lunch at the Bauhaus »), as well as “The Last Chess Games of Marchel Duchamp” in collaboration with Hubert Damisch, Jean-François Lyotard et Jean Clair, a film that was awarded the Premier Prix du Film d’Art ; and “Life and Death of the Image”, inspired by Regis Debray’s work and recalling the long history of the image in Western Civilization.

Regarding his artistic production, Pierre Desfons has remained faithful to the poetical and transgressive spirit he immersed himself in during years spent frequenting the “College of Pataphysics, Society for Scholarly and Useless Research”, which included in its ranks people like Jacques Prévert, Raymond Queneau, Boris Vian and Umberto Eco.

His work has been exhibited, both in France and abroad, at galleries, art centres, and festivals, including a-part in les Alpilles.