Date : 20.05.2026 – from 18h to 21h
Location : Paris, France
Venue : Salon présidentiel de la Sorbonne (Paris 1 – Panthéon Sorbonne)
This event was curated by Elena Posokhova, in collaboration with the Sorbonne Art Gallery.
This Salon exchange was held at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, in the distinguished setting of the Salon présidentiel. The evening was conceived as a structured space for intellectual and artistic exchange, bringing together practitioners, researchers and guests around a single thematic focus, Venice, a place considered both as a site of contemporary artistic production and as a lived cultural experience. Two points of view, local and from a visitor, were woven throughout the program.
Local artists currently based in Venice were represented through works reflecting their engagement with the city and its ongoing cultural moment. Elena Callegari offered a sound performance navigating the textures and rhythms of the city. Andrea Tagliapietra and Mariarosa Vio presented a video performance exploring ecological and cultural unease, rooted in the fragility of Venice’s landscape and lagoon. Alessandra Craba’s series of postcards engaged with the visual language of mass tourism to question the standardized aesthetics imposed on a historically complex city.
Complementing these perspectives, Paris-based artist Thibault Lucas contributed a video filmed on the island of Giudecca during the Feast of the Redeemer in July 2021, a major Venetian festival held annually since 1576, which that year carried particular resonance with the Covid pandemic. Shot through one-way mirrored glass, the work plays on visibility and concealment between those outside and those within.
The evening concluded with an open discussion on the Venice Biennale : its opening week, its curatorial orientations, and the broader questions it raises for contemporary artistic practice, led by Gabriela Anco. The discussion provided participants with an opportunity to situate the works presented within a wider critical and institutional context.
