KvdB: The Palais de Tokyo is truly a unique space. Did you have a specific model in mind when you created it?

JS: It was a mix of elements that existed already and some we thought up entirely. For example, no other institution has our opening hours [midday to midnight]. How can you broaden art's audience when galleries are only open during most people's working hours? Imagine if cinema, opera or concert halls were only open between 10am and 6pm. We asked ourselves why, in a scene that considers itself creative, everyone operates in the same way.

KvdB: Are you happy with how the project has evolved?

JS: We didn't think it would take off like this. Despite all our technical difficulties, the structural problems of the building itself, a small team and a limited budget, the Palais de Tokyo has succeeded in demonstrating that it's possible to transform an institution into a simple, supple and reactive tool.

KvdB: Is there a particular relationship between the Palais de Tokyo and the city of Paris?

JS: It was specifically conceived to complement what was already on offer in Paris. Paris was missing a space where emerging creation could find its own niche and where the public could come without the pressure of having specialized knowledge. The Palais de Tokyo was envisaged as a humbler, lighter and less restrictive space, at a time when a new generation of artists, magazines and artistic collectives was appearing.

KvdB: What do you think will be its future after you leave [next year]?

JS: We always saw it as an ephemeral intervention, a springboard for temporary artistic projects, a reactive place reinvented every three years by new artistic direction. When we first arrived, we proposed filling the entire building—we only occupy about a third now—in order to create an interdisciplinary program of fashion, cinema, visual arts and music. But it wasn't a priority at the time and unfortunately we couldn't make it happen. However, at the moment, the Minister of Culture is picking up on the idea. What's still to be resolved is the specific formula, and the artistic direction.

KvdB: It's difficult to imagine that the space will maintain the same identity.

JS: Along with the architects, we wanted a flexible and open space precisely so that the next team would be able to reinvent the parameters. This space should take on the identity of its new occupants.

KvdB: Given that it's been such a successful experiment, do you think you'll regret leaving its helm?

JS: Right from the start we worked from the idea that the project would be limited in time. It's important to regularly reinvent oneself. I like setting up projects, making them work and then moving on to something else.

KvdB: Along with Nicolas Bourriaud, you're curating the next Biennale de Lyon, in 2005. Can you tell us anything about it?

JS: The only thing we can really say for the moment is that it will be based around a central dimension of any artwork: time. It will also have a limited number of artists, but each exhibiting a considerable number of works. It will be intergenerational, international and generous.

KvdB: Tell us about your electro-pop band, Liquid Architecture. How do you see this project in terms of your work as a critic and curator?

JS: It's an extension in some ways. For over ten years, in all my exhibitions, I've included performances by musicians or DJs that forged links with the other issues I was grappling with. I've always been interested in artists who developed, at the core of their artistic production, a musical component that is performed on stage. Today, Liquid Architecture [a duo with Audrey Mascina] is a platform for collaborations between the music that we produce and contemporary artists who create our public image [in press photos, video clips and stage sets, for example]. Our first single, Not for Hire, was released last spring on Discograph and we're in the process of finalizing our first album, as well as preparing a series of concerts.