Rennes (Ille-et-Villaine). It all started on October 30, 2025 with the publication, on the Instagram account #MeTooArtContemporain, of an anonymous testimony in which a former art student claims to have been sexually assaulted by one of his teachers in 2008, when he was 18 years old. The author of the post indicates that his attacker has become director of a Regional Contemporary Art Fund (Frac) in the meantime, without specifying which one. A few days later, the large bay windows of Frac Bretagne were covered with inscriptions such as “aggressor director” And “we see you”. Given the probability that the individual implicated on social networks is Étienne Bernard, director of this contemporary art institution since February 2019, and who taught art theory at the University of Paris-1 Panthéon-Sorbonne at the time of the alleged facts, the governance of the Frac hastily mandated an external firm expert in the prevention of sexist and sexual violence, the Égaé group, to set up an internal investigation and a system for collecting information. testimonies open to all. In the turmoil, Étienne Bernard decides to step down from his post on November 21, 2025.
“Serious facts”
The two reports submitted by the Égaé group on February 4 and April 3 show a “list of serious facts, attributed to Mr. Étienne Bernard, in a consistent manner, by numerous testimonies”, indicates Madeleine Louarn, the president of Frac Bretagne, in a press release dated May 6, 2026 – in the columns of the daily newspaper West Franceshe specifies that the investigation made it possible to establish “five levels of fault, ranging from management to aggression”. Conclusions which led the governance to decide on May 4 in favor of a dismissal of the director. “ The board of directors considered, unanimously, that the nature, number and seriousness of the actions reported in the practice of his managerial function made his continued employment impossible. specifies the press release.
In addition to this disciplinary sanction, the president of Frac Bretagne claims to have made a report to the Rennes public prosecutor, in accordance with the provisions of article 40 of the code of criminal procedure. On the evening of May 6, the prosecution announced that it had opened an investigation into “moral harassment, sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape aggravated by the circumstance of a person abusing the authority conferred on them by their position”. Contesting the facts, Étienne Bernard announced that he was filing an appeal with the Rennes administrative court. In a press release, he castigated the internal investigation carried out by the Égaé group, which “suffers, according to him, from serious failings, both in the conduct of the adversarial process and in the assessment of the alleged facts”.
