The Art Center

Missions and History

Located in the heart of Sète on the bank of Canal Royal, the Crac Occitanie faces the port and the Mediterranean. The uniqueness of its architectural volumes stems from the industrial nature of the building, which originally served as a refrigerated warehouse for fish preservation.

In 1997, architect Lorenzo Piqueras renovated the original building, providing its current configuration and making it into an exceptional exhibition site with 1200 square metres of space spread over two levels.


A dedicated art creation site

What makes art centres special is that they offer living artists the possibility of creating projects that need support and specific premises for their production. Large-scale works and projects represent the highlights of the Crac Occitanie’s programme.

As such, and with a view to supporting the creation of today’s art, the Crac Occitanie offers:

  • a programme of temporary exhibitions,
  • the publication of exhibition catalogues and artist books,
  • a dynamic cultural and educational programme accessible to everyone, including guided tours, workshops, talks, concerts, performances…

The Crac Occitanie fosters local, national and international partnerships in a spirit that allies close contact with visitors and openness to the world. A site of production, research, experimentation and exhibition, the art centre has presented works by over six hundred French and international artists since 1997.

A place where everyone is welcome!


The Crac’s mediation team offer a range of exhibition supports that meet the needs of its diverse visitors as closely as possible, with the aim of closing the gap that distances certain sectors of the public from culture.
The art centre is a place for training the eye and more broadly building a critical sense, in a world increasingly saturated with images and information.

By offering gentle, interactive and alternative forms of education involving creativity, experience of the senses, and acceptance of distinctive characteristics, the art centre offers sensitive, poetic approaches that foster not only the capacity for wonder and aesthetic emotion, but also sometimes doubt and constructive argument.

A place that is an integral part of its region

Managed by the Occitanie region, the Crac is one of its major sites of contemporary art creation and distribution. Accredited by the state, it receives support from the Ministry of Culture, with the help of Occitanie’s regional directorate of cultural affairs.

The CRAC is an active member of several networks:
DCA - French national network of contemporary art centres,
Air de Midi, réseau art contemporain en Région Occitanie,
Plein Sud, 72 venues for contemporary art, rooted in the same territory, from Sérignan to Monaco,
LMAC, Laboratoire des Médiations en Art Contemporain Occitanie.


Facade du Crac Occitanie, au bord du Canal Royal - Photo de Marc Domage.

Visuels de la page :
The Crac Occitanie in Sète on the edge of Canal Royal, photo Marc Domage.
Exhibition views (from left to right) : La mer …et Setera - Carte blanche to Agnès Varda, 2009, Géométries amoureuses by Jean-Michel Othoniel, 2017, La vie en rose by Anne Lise Coste, 2019 - photos: Marc Domage. Exhibition view Pharmakon by Antoine Renard, 2021 - photo Aurélien Mole.
_Façade of the Crac Occitanie on the occasion of a performance as part of Canal Royal, summer 2021, photo by Cyril Boixel.
Façade of the Crac Occitanie, on the edge of Canal Royal, photo Marc Domage.