Ball Theater in Lille – Center of Architecture WAAO, Lille, France
 
This exhibition focuses on the mechanisms of celebration. It features a selection of visual works that capture the atmosphere of festive rituals and architectural fragments such as those found in theaters, nightclubs, and large open-air festivals. The exhibition aims to reveal this architecture by staging various devices designed to create sound and light environments conducive to disorientation, hallucination, trance, or even ecstasy.
 
When the celebration is in full swing, these devices are invisible, overshadowed by the vibrant whirlwind of artificial effects. But when the festivities pause, they appear bare and sincere. They form a strange yet familiar landscape that may seem mundane at first glance but allows us here to step behind the scenes and uncover the flip side of the ephemeral magic that turns celebration into utopia.
 
The exhibition seeks to create a unique experience that lies somewhere between the end of an event and its preparation. For these two moments are alike: are we wrapping up the event or getting ready for the next one? Are we witnessing the end of an era or the beginning of a new one? By showing that celebration is not just a moment of ecstasy but a project that must be continually rebuilt, this exhibition questions our relationship with time and our sense of crisis, suggesting that the end of an era is always the beginning of another.