Bruno MAQUART ousted from the Presidency of Universcience

Bruno MAQUART, president of Universcience since 2015, left office on June 12, six months before the planned end of his second term. This eviction, decided in the Council of Ministers, comes after several months of tensions with its tutelage. In March, a resolutely optimistic press conference on the partial reopening of the discovery palace had been publicly disowned by the Ministry of Culture, which claimed to have given “No downstream” to the announcements formulated. This hiccup is one of the symptoms of the rupture between Bruno MAQUART, the ministry and the management of the Grand Palais, in disagreement on the strategy and the use of renovated spaces.

Closed since 2020 as part of the vast rehabilitation project of the Grand Palais, the Discovery Palace was to be reopening in several phases until 2026. A first sequence, scheduled for June 2025, included a scientific festival and a new space for children. It was canceled at the last minute, due to the lack of time delivery of the premises. This postponement has rekindled criticism of the lack of readability of the project and on a possible marginalization of the palace in the face of the artistic programming of the Grand Palais Voisin.

In a platform published by The worldscientists and directors of cultural institutions have alerted to the future of the palace, which they consider a “Major symbol of scientific mediation”. They call to preserve his identity based on live demonstrations and experiences, and are concerned with a shift towards technological devices without educational anchoring. The Academy of Sciences itself requested clarifications on the cultural project.

Inspector of Social Affairs and former student of ENA, Bruno MAQUART (61 years old) notably directed the Center Pompidou (2001-2007) and the France Museum agency (in charge of the Louvre Abou Dhabi) before joining Universcience. Requested by The Arts Journalthe universcience press service indicated “Not being able to make any comments on the subject”.