Cellules: Dialogues between materials, forms, and intimate narratives

Espace Louve

March 4 – June 4, 2026

Inaugural Exhibition Opening

Vernissage on March 3 at 6 PM

---

© Audrey Piguet, Parasomnia

Dialogues between materials, forms, and intimate narratives

Vernissage on Tuesday, March 3 at 6 PM

The word "Cellules" (Cells) is polysemic: it evokes both living structure, prison, studio, intimacy, but also the idea of breaking down barriers, mutation, and sisterhood. This exhibition brings together the 12 Faces of MAF, paired into 6 duos, who together explore the boundaries between abstraction and figuration in distinct yet deeply connected visual languages. Each pair of artists constitutes a "cell": a space of resonance where two universes meet, confront, or support each other. The exhibition thus acts as a living organism, made of interconnected cells, where intimate narratives and personal aesthetics coexist, respond to each other, and break free.

Dr. Marie Bagi, Director of the Musée Artistes Femmes (MAF) and exhibition curator:

"Cellules is MAF's inaugural exhibition, conceived as a founding and manifesto act. Curated by myself and Lucie Pfeiffer Cotting, art historian and co-curator, it opens the space by immediately asserting an artistic vision based on dialogue, plurality of voices, and attention to intimate narratives. Like a living organism taking shape, this first exhibition inscribes MAF in a dynamic of transformation, porosity, and connection.

The term 'cellule' (cell), at the heart of the project, is approached in all its symbolic richness. It refers to the fundamental unit of life, but also to enclosed space: prison cell, mental cell, inner chamber, as well as the studio—a place of creation and withdrawal. This polysemy deliberately echoes Louise Bourgeois's (1911-2010) Cells, whose work profoundly marked contemporary art history through its capacity to transform confinement into a space of memory, repair, and emotional projection. As with Louise Bourgeois, the cell here is a place of tension between protection and vulnerability, between isolation and the need for connection, between trauma and resilience.

The exhibition brings together MAF's twelve 'Faces' artists, paired into six duos, each forming an autonomous and interconnected 'cell.' These cells are conceived as spaces of resonance where two visual universes meet, exploring the shifting boundaries between abstraction and figuration. The works address the fragmented body, materiality, intimacy, family memory, rituals, the organic, affect, and movement. The diversity of media—photography, painting, textile, sculpture, drawing, installation, or immersive devices—reflects the multiplicity of artistic writings while affirming a strong collective coherence.

The immersive and fluid scenography, without hierarchy or chronology, accompanies this organic vision. Each cell is enriched with short texts, conceived as fragments of crossed intimate journals, extending the dialogue between artists and offering the public sensitive access to creative processes.

With Cellules, MAF inaugurates itself as a space of experimentation, sharing, and emancipation, where the exhibition becomes an inhabited territory. This founding exhibition affirms that art is above all a place of memory, transformation, and relationship—a space where forms, bodies, and narratives can coexist, repair themselves, and break free."

Featured Artists

Charlotte Aeb

Hélia Aluai

Isabelle Ardevol 

Katia Bornoz

Sophie Bosselut 

Joëlle Cabanne 

Delphine Costier

Kathy Le Vavasseur 

Daniela Markovic 

Audrey Piguet

Alexia Weill

Laura Zimmermann