PILE - Une archéologie du présent

PILE – An Archaeology of the Present brings together Claire Georgina Daudin's recent investigations into the materiality of places and the traces of time embedded in ordinary architecture.

For several years, the artist has been collecting large masses of layered posters found beneath bridges, on blind walls and along urban infrastructures in the Lyon metropolitan area. Built up over time, these successive layers of paper become autonomous matter: a true skin of the wall.

By turning these fragments over, Daudin reveals their hidden side: surfaces marked by strata of paper, glue, dust and traces of concrete. Presented as ready-mades, these fragments become landscapes of matter and the vestiges of a present already in the process of disappearing.

The exhibition also pays tribute to the discreet architectures that support the city—bridge piers, retaining walls and infrastructures—often overlooked yet essential to its functioning.

Upstairs, the screen prints from the series Palimpsest Walls of La Guillotière, produced at Atelier Chalopin, reveal the other side of this research: torn and overwritten urban images, understood as a city in perpetual rewriting.

5–27 September 2026 Open Friday to Sunday, 3–7 pm, and by appointment. Opening reception: Sunday 6 September, 11 am–4 pm.

Réseau 12/12/12 MAPRAA / 6 ème édition 2026

As part of the 18th Lyon Contemporary Art Biennale, we are presenting the 6th edition of the MAPRAA 12/12/12 network. 12 artists / 12 venues / 12 departments.

Following the same principle as previous editions, during the Biennale and in connection and ‘resonance’ with it, MAPRAA is reviving this network of exhibitions across the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, featuring artists who have taken part in the MAPRAA exhibition cycle. However, this year, 12/12/12 – taking place against a particularly challenging backdrop for the visual arts – has been scaled back to 7/7/7.

Unfortunately, some venues that usually take part are not included in this edition. Their absence in no way reflects a lack of interest or commitment, but rather highlights the precarious realities facing many independent cultural venues today. Many venues are currently going through periods of uncertainty that limit their ability to take part in this kind of initiative, despite their fundamental role in the artistic ecosystem.

This programme therefore celebrates not only the venues that are present, but also those that have now disappeared or those that have been prevented from taking part, yet which continue nonetheless to embody the vitality and resilience of a cultural landscape that needs to be recognised, supported and preserved.

Alain LOVATO, President of MAPRAA