The Associations of Pauline Curnier Jardin

The Associations of Pauline Curnier Jardin is the first survey exhibition dedicated to Pauline Curnier Jardin’s (born in 1980 in Marseille, France) artistic career, which emerged twenty years ago at the intersection of cinema, performance and the visual arts.

The title announces a story: a story of groups formed throughout the artist’s career, the affinities she has forged over time, and the feminist, civic and creative commitment that has shaped her practice.

The exhibition unfolds as a gathering, a reunion of people and characters, rituals and places, associating to form a hybrid practice driven by a constant quest for freedom, transformation and emancipation.

For the first time, an extensive collection of works from the period 2006-2024 has been brought together especially for the occasion, including more than twenty films directed by the artist. These give a clear idea of the range of cinematic styles and genres that she explores: from documentary to theatrical staging, filmed performance to tableaux vivants, tales to experimental fiction. The exhibition also features sculptural assemblages, a display of drawings and a selection of large-scale installations resembling stage sets that have contributed to Pauline Curnier Jardin's renown.

At the heart of the exhibition, the artist has installed a stage to host a lively programme conceived in resonance with her work: events lead by guest organizations, performances, screenings, lectures and workshops. 

Pauline Curnier Jardin’s work plunges deep into the cultural history of our regions. It bears witness to a profound fascination with stories, their structure and the ways in which they are shaped by state, church or patriarchal policies, but also (and especially) by alternative narrative systems that arise from the invisible areas of our societies.

Firmly anchored in reality, yet distorting it to magnify its beauty and contradictions, Pauline Curnier Jardin’s oeuvre positions Europe as a central protagonist – at once setting, silent witness, and co-author. Europe appears through its suburbs – French, Italian, German – its cities – Rome, Berlin, Noisy-le-Sec – its beliefs, vernacular practices, traumas, and festivities.

Two fundamental themes structure her work: the exploration of practices that offer a cultural outlet, such as carnival, travelling cinema, circus, procession or living nativity, and a practice of gathering – in a collective, family, community, association or troupe – that we might see as an essential and privileged tool of her life as a woman and an artist. 

From measure to excess, Pauline Curnier Jardin’s films, drawings, performances and installations reveal spaces of truth where personal and official histories lose their hierarchical relationship. As genuinely cathartic celebrations, her works forge bonds, revealing the shared space between countercultures and loci of power, encouraging us to imagine new possibilities.

Exhibition curated by Anne-Claire Schmitz, senior curator, M HKA