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 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.
Curator Danniel Tostes brings together works by several generations of artists to examine community as a space of connection, resistance and collective creation. The exhibition assembles photography, installation, sculpture and mixed-media projects that forge dialogues between historical and contemporary practices. Through gestures, archival fragments and collaborative processes, the show investigates memory, solidarity and the forms that communal artistic practices take across time.
Opening : Thursday 30 April, 18:00 (Salle Saint Ours)
Artist Nicolas Ponce presents a personal exhibition of video installations that probe pathways of memory, both personal and collective. Works combine archival footage, film extracts, stolen sequences and found online materials to build layered visual montages. The exhibition text examines mechanisms of remembrance and describes an artistic montage of contradictions that opens a ‘Chamber of Reminiscences’. Ponce’s practice centres on video and installation, interrogating set, landscape, secrets and political narratives through the lens of popular culture.
Opening : Thursday 23 April, 18:00
Meeting with artist : Thursday 7 May, 18:00
Marie Didier, PhD, CEO of MATIS SA, presents how non‑invasive imaging technologies from scientific research are transforming the study of artworks. She examines the combination of spectral imaging, artificial intelligence and traditional expertise to reveal what the eye cannot see: historical pigments, underdrawings, erased signatures and invisible alterations. The talk discusses applications for conservation, material analysis and the work of restorers, historians and curators.
In French.
Artist Lou Cohen presents a body of work that dialogues between still and moving images. Working with dry pastel, oil paint and short films, she stages interactions within the same installation, confronting static representation with motion. Her practice employs irony and darkly comic tones to translate everyday reality and prompt critical reflection. The works explore perception, narrative tension and the theatrical potential of materials, inviting careful viewing and reconsideration of what images can reveal.
Opening: Thursday 4 June, 18:00
Miró and Mirror Music is an original multidisciplinary concert-performance inspired by the Catalan painter Joan Miró. His imagery is set in dialogue with composers of his time and reworked through Sophie Le Meillour’s live visual mapping. Juliette Rahon signs the staging and choreography, while a chamber ensemble—Mariana Flores (voice), Meglena Tzaneva and Chiara Nava Mambretti (pianos), George Vassilev and Miguel Ferreira (guitars)—performs repertoire by Ravel, Mompou, Albéniz, de Falla, Granados, García Lorca and Obradors. Narration by Eva Kouvandjieva. Produced in collaboration with Dialogues entre les Arts.
Culture, curated weekly.
Event removed from your CoolAgenda.
Your password has been reset successfully. You can now log in with your new password.
We’ve sent you a password reset email to the address provided. Please check your inbox and/or spam folder.
Please check your inbox for a verification email to complete your sign-up.
