La Friche #5 explores the emergence of collective spaces in rural and semi-urban areas, focusing on how initiatives grounded in the sharing of human, economic, technical and theoretical resources are reinventing artistic, ecological and human-centred ways of working.

Conversations, readings, research and a shared journey have allowed this edition’s participants to confront their ideas, enrich them through encounters, and open new pathways for the future. The La Friche #5 Open Studios offer a mid-term insight into their ongoing investigations. Through geographical and mental maps, documentation and archive notebooks, a cabinet of curiosities currently in development, and a video programme conceived collectively, Liza Maignan, Xiyun DAI and Fanny Van Opstal invite you to come see, read and discuss what they have shaped together and what each is pursuing individually.

Fanny Van Opstal presents her reflections on how to organise the knowledge she has been gathering over the past two years while travelling across France to meet artistic initiatives in rural contexts. Visitors are invited to explore La Balbuzarde, a map tracing her encounters and designed by Pia-Mélissa Laroche, as well as the small cabinet she is creating with the Palais de Tokyo teams to document her research.

Xiyun DAI has been exploring for several years the seemingly invisible yet deeply structuring links between plants, the infrastructures and technologies of early modernization, and the expansionist policies of former empires. She invites you to discover her archives, images and the paths she has retraced in notebooks and exhibitions, revealing the connections that shape and renew artistic, botanical and agricultural practices.

Liza Maignan has long been navigating various rural territories in France where collective, artistic and activist initiatives are taking shape. She relays these practices through texts and collective discussions. This residency offers her dedicated curatorial research time for an exhibition she is preparing at the Palais de Tokyo for autumn 2026.

Together, the three residents—researchers and curators—sought to share their joint explorations and, in turn, to invite some of the artists with whom they regularly engage. Their collaboration has given rise to a screening programme running from 6 pm to 8 pm on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 December.

• From 2 pm to 6 pm, all weekend

Presentations, discussions and encounters with

Liza Maignan, Fanny Van Opstal & Xiyun DAI

 

• Saturday 13 December, 6 pm – 8 pm

Couper L’eau, Couper Le Bois — Lisa Di Giovanni & Robin Cognez, 23”

Steel Garden — Qingmei YAO, 7’25”

POV — Théo Audoire, 33”

 

• Sunday 14 December, 6 pm – 8 pm

Solar Wheels — Xin SHEN, 26’52’’

Les animaux vont mieux — Nathan Ghali, 25”

Anagāriya — Guangli LIU, 09’31’

The Friche is a dedicated space–time set at the heart of the exhibitions where, since June 2023, artists, researchers and collectives have come together to experiment and create. Grounded in an approach of institutional permaculture, this space encourages encounters and collaborative working, while feeding into the Palais’ wider projects. La Friche fosters a living ecosystem that supports both artists and the institution alike, nurturing organic forms of reflection and contributing to the vitality of its everyday life.

• An event accessible to individuals with an exhibition ticket.