Opening Ceremony Economy of the intangible

What gives value to a gesture? To an object crafted slowly, to care offered without expectation of return, to an exchange that leaves no trace in any ledger? Economy of the Intangible begins with this question, exploring what our systems of valuation—economic, social, and artistic—deliberately leave in the shadows.

The exhibition will not simply celebrate these invisible forms of exchange; it will also examine the mechanisms that keep them invisible. Why are some gestures recognized as labor while others are not? Why do certain objects attain the status of artwork while others remain confined to the realm of utility or anecdote? By approaching these questions through the sensitive lens of art, the project invites visitors to reassess their own criteria of value and to reconsider what “counts” and what can be “measured.”

The exhibition will bring together paintings, sculptures, installations, and participatory devices that seek to make visible what the market economy cannot measure: the time invested in discreet practices, reclaimed and transformed materials, care as a form of unrecognized labor, and the silent circulation of overlooked resources. Each artwork will function as a counter-standard, proposing alternative units of measurement and different ways of accounting for what truly matters.

Together, these works will compose a parallel micro-economy in which modesty and discretion are not shortcomings but forms of capital: a capital of attention, effort, and presence in the world. What is often underestimated or forgotten will become both the raw material and the structuring aesthetic force of the exhibition.

The exhibition will run for three weeks, from September 23 to October 17. It will be preceded by a residency period during which participating artists will collectively reflect upon and discuss their artistic intentions, allowing their works to resonate with one another. Ahead of the Lyon Biennale, passersby on Rue Leynaud will be able to observe the artists at work through the gallery’s storefront window, bringing the creative process into public view and promoting the event within the neighborhood.