The history of architectural photography began between 1826 and 1827 with the world's oldest preserved photograph: "View from the Window at Le Gras," a heliograph by Nicéphore Niépce, its inventor. In the early 19th century, the daguerreotypes used at the time required long exposure times, leading architecture to become an inspiring subject that captivated photographers with its architectural curves and lines. Photographers documented the construction of the Eiffel Tower, the Paris Metro, and New York City skyscrapers, capturing the work of famous architects such as Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus movement. More recently, "urbex," short for urban exploration, aims to explore abandoned places. The resulting images reflect architecture challenged by the age of time. They question human constructions and their ephemeral nature. Throughout the 20th century, photography evolved into a true art form. Although the image often faithfully reproduces the building, the artist's subjective perspective reveals atmosphere, plays with light, and becomes more abstract. The artist conveys his or her personal vision of a structure and its architectural elements. This selection invites you to discover these perspectives.

How can we take positive action while we are in the midst of a climate crisis, wars, and a society that is changing at incredible speed and collapsing in various ways? How can we engage when we feel utterly powerless in the face of global injustices that seem beyond our reach? How can we take back power, take action, and move forward as individuals within a system that intentionally paralyzes us? The answer I connect with most is care. Collective care. Care is a radical act in our current society. An act of care can and will make a difference. Here is a selection of works that highlight the theme of care through various themes: collective care, personal care, care of our planet, explored through different mediums. As Thich Nhat Hanh says in "The Art of Communicating" (2013), "Care is the bridge that connects us to one another."

Whether it's to translate as closely as possible the intimate universe or the one that surrounds us - to enrich, purify or explore the essence of a motif by representing what it does not reveal - the points of age to the languages of abstraction are multiple, persistent, and powerful: The examination of the subconscious, the restitution of unspeakable emotions, the wonder at the exuberance or romanticism of nature, the expression of a mapping of the world reduced to its strict essence, the staging of a dysfunctional reality, a macro vision or the investigation of the infinitely small…

Out of context (At the edges of reality) explores the interstitial spaces, at the tenuous borders, between a dreamlike, poetic, phantasmagorical, esoteric, Cartesian or intuitive figuration, and its metamorphosis - through sliding or tilting - into pure abstraction, whether it be lyrical, expressionist, geometric or non-objective. This selection of works expresses my unalterable fascination for this delicate, impermanent and floating balance; a back-and-forth between the motif and the elsewhere; the concrete and the imaginary; the identifiable and what escapes qualification; the subject and the Whole.

With the curation "MirrorMirror (on the wall)," I was interested in examining the figurative within the media of photography, works on paper, painting, and sculpture. As an expert in photography and contemporary art, and as an artist working with performance and moving images, I am deeply motivated by concepts related to intimacy and how art can be used as a vehicle for healing and as a catalyst for the unveiling of our multiple identities. I am particularly guided by the potential of art to be a politicized space, capable of giving voice to minority groups; to allow us to share our experience as an act of generosity and empowerment.

In an increasingly visual and homogenous world, I am always drawn to artists who seek to move away from visual narratives that are too preoccupied with the mainstream.

I believe that artists have the ability to offer their audience a mirror that can allow the viewer to see a part of themselves that they may not have known existed, so that a journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance can begin.

Captivating figurative art has the ability to take us on a journey to explore both the known and lesser-known facets of the human experience.

By Night is a tribute to the eponymous exhibition held at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in 1996. In May 2025, the Fondation Cartier closed the doors of its iconic building on Boulevard Raspail in Paris, to reopen—after a night of several months—in the new spaces designed by architect Jean Nouvel at 2 Place du Palais Royal.

By Night presents a selection of works by artists from several continents, all sharing a fascination with the night. The works in this selection reflect the creative emotion that the night inspires in their creators—whether wild nights, urban nights, celestial and starry nights, dreamlike nights, sleepless nights, nocturnal wanderings, nights of waiting, of desire—all these nights captured through the eyes of the artists, in the silence and darkness of nature or in the luminous chaos of cities.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light.
God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light 'day', and the darkness He called 'night'.
And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.”
Book of Genesis

The intimate as a reflection of the soul and culture
Shards of Intimacy brings together a selection of contemporary African works in which portraiture becomes an intimate and universal language. Each face, each painted body tells a story—that of a person, a place, a culture. These artists capture much more than features: they reveal souls, marked by memory, struggles, hopes, and inherited heritage.

Far from a simple aesthetic exercise, the body here becomes a living archive. It gives voice to silences, traditions, crossbreeding, and multiple identities. The textures, the gazes, the vibrant or muted colors reflect a plural, introspective, and powerful Africa, between an accepted past and a reinvented future.

This curation highlights artists who use the body as a medium for expression and memory. Their works embody an Africa that looks at itself, thinks about itself, dreams about itself, and asserts itself.