Exhibition guide
Entitled “Virages Virginie”, Pauline Curnier Jardin's personal exhibition takes as its starting point the notion of deviation, even deviance: the turn as an exit from the straight line, abandonment of the stable trajectory in favor of uncertainty and sideways. Like his fragmented narratives, the artist's work is constructed in zones of trouble where fiction, ritual and documentary intertwine without hierarchy.
Visit details
- Dates: From Friday April 3, 2026 to Saturday September 19, 2026: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday from 12:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
- Venue: Palais de Tokyo, 13 Avenue du Président Wilson, Paris
- Price: De 0 à 13 euros.
- Audience: All audiences
- Source: Event page
About the exhibition
Virgins refer to female bodies, saturated with stories, injunctions and violence, caught in a constant tension between sacralization and stigmatization. Between the figures of the saint and the prostitute, these bodies, in turn idealized, controlled or condemned, assert a desiring and transgressive power, far from any passivity or objectification. The term also evokes virgin territory: the unknown as a space for projection and reinvention. “Virgin Turns” thus designates these moments of change where bodies, stories, beliefs and constructions leave the established paths to open, in an irreverent and indocile manner, other possible futures.
This large-scale monographic exhibition allows Pauline Curnier Jardin to deploy her practice through a selection of major works – notably video installations and sculptures – as well as new productions. We discover its phantasmagorical atmospheres, between theater, cinema and ritual, serving recurring themes: the fluidity between vulnerability and power of bodies, the place of women in society, as well as popular forms of spirituality and syncretism.
For the creation of a new video installation, the artist is inspired by a clandestine cinema discovered in 2004 under the Trocadéro (neighbor of the Palais de Tokyo) and nicknamed "the arenas of Chaillot” – a place to invent other forms of freedom. This site resonates deeply with his work, nourishing his attraction to liminal spaces, dissident practices and stories that escape established norms.
This project is a continuation of a long-term relationship between the Palais de Tokyo and the artist, who previously participated in the group exhibitions “Dynasty” (2010, with the Musée d’art moderne de Paris) and “Anticorps” (2020).
This exhibition is produced in collaboration with the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid).
The Palais de Tokyo (Paris), the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid) and the M HKA (Antwerp) will publish in 2026 the first monograph devoted to the work of Pauline Curnier Jardin.