Created in 2002, Rendez-vous is an international platform based in Lyon and dedicated to young creative artists. Its two special features are the unusual combining of the forces of three French institutions -the Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon, the Institut d'art contemporain, Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes and the École nationale supérieure des beaux‑arts de Lyon- and the setting up of a joint commission open to ten curators of international biennials and triennials (Liverpool, New Orleans, São Paulo, Sydney, Gwangju, Kochi Muziris, Yokohama, Istanbul, Moscow and Dakar).

Rendez-vous, a launching-pad for young artists, consist of an exhibition in association with the Lyon Biennial one year and an event outside France in the form of exhibitions and residences in the following year.

After residences in Moscow, Beijing, Miami and Buenos Aires, an exhibition at Shanghai Art Museum in 2008, and the participation of four French artists at the Shanghai Biennial in 2010, Rendez-vous is travelling to South Africa in 2012. Riason Naidoo*, Director of the South African National Gallery in Cape Town, is hosting Rendez-vous 12.

This year's event is to assemble 20 artists from 5 continents. Ten of the artists live in France. The works consist of new projects in sculpture, video, installation, drawing, painting, performances, etc.

*Riason Naidoo is also joint curator of the Dakar Biennial.