L’envers de la Fête

Against a backdrop of environmental crises, geopolitical conflicts and legislative backtracking on minority rights, the festival might seem futile. Yet it is a space for resistance and social transformation, where marginalised communities find refuge and autonomy. The current tendency to criminalise the party is a testament to its subversive power and its role in intersectional alliances. It reveals its capacity to create a sense of collective existence and to become a tool of struggle, a territory to be defended against the dominant order.

The exhibition L’Envers de la Fête explores these political, social and architectural dimensions of the festival. It looks at the technical and spatial devices that shape the festive experience: loudspeakers, light shows, platforms, triangulated beams, curtains and DJ booths. These elements, usually invisible in the midst of celebration, appear in a different light when exposed, highlighting the precariousness and ephemeral magic that characterise party spaces.

Conceived as an immersive installation, the exhibition oscillates between the preparations and the aftermath of the party, illustrated by a sound and visual reconstruction that questions this transition. It invites us to see the party as a constantly evolving project that goes beyond a simple moment of pleasure. Through its staging, it questions our relationship with the party and its capacity to be a space for social and political reinvention. It celebrates its role as a driving force in struggles and proposes a re-reading of its infrastructures, while inviting us to imagine new festive and collective futures.

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Curators: Georgi Stanishev, Gilles Delalex, Faustine Horgnies, Léonie Debrabandère
Scientific advisor: Arnaud Idelon
Contributors: Frédérique Delfanne, Benoit Garet, Perrine Devanneaux, Estelle Delattre
Technical director: Stéphane André
Set design: Georgi Stanishev, Gilles Delalex
Production: WAAO, Bazaar St So

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