Located on the edge of the Old Town, just above Parc des Bastions, the Palais de l’Athénée is a historic 19th-century building that houses the Société des Arts. This institution serves as a hub for knowledge and culture offering a diverse annual program. The e Palais de l’Athénée’s Salle Crosnier regularly features inaugural solo exhibitions by young local artists, showcasing the work of four to five artists per year. The Salle Saint-Ours is dedicated to experimental curatorship, providing a platform for emerging curators to develop and present their projects. Additionally, the Palais de l’Athénée occasionally hosts concerts as well as conferences covering a diverse range of subjects.
The winners of the Viola Competition perform in concert, offering the audience an extended experience. In collaboration with the Institut National Genevois, the Concours de Genève annually hosts a concert that brings together the young winners for a convivial moment following the Viola Final.
Sarah Benslimane, winner of the Manor Cultural Prize 2025, takes over the Palais de l’Athénée with a major exhibition. A French-Algerian artist based in Geneva, she creates paintings and sculptures that mirror the flow of images and stories from the digital age. The exhibition, produced in collaboration with the Société des Arts of Geneva, is housed in the Crosnier and Saint-Ours rooms. A monograph will accompany this project.
Art historian David Ripoll sheds light on the fascinating story of the Palais de l’Athénée, a hidden gem of Geneva’s architectural and cultural heritage. Inaugurated in 1864, this emblematic building bridges the Old Town and the emerging Fazyst districts, embodying both progress and tradition. A symbol of urban reconquest and artistic ambition, the Palais stands as a “semaphore” of Geneva’s past and future — a monument whose signs and meanings this talk invites you to decipher.
In French.
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