The Associations of Pauline Curnier Jardin

Resistance and imagination in the work of Pauline Curnier Jardin

The Associations of Pauline Curnier Jardin is the first survey exhibition dedicated to Pauline Curnier Jardin’s (°1980, Marseille, France) artistic career, which emerged twenty years ago at the intersection of cinema, performance and the visual arts, in close connection with the places where she has lived and worked: the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and France.

The title announces a story: a story of the groups formed throughout the artist’s career, of the affinities she has forged over time, and the feminist, civic and creative commitments that have shaped her practice. The exhibition unfolds as a gathering, a reunion of people and characters, rituals and places, associating to form a hybrid practice driven by a constant search for freedom, transformation and emancipation.

Two fundamental themes characterize the work of Pauline Curnier Jardin: the exploration of practices that offer a cultural outlet, such as carnivals, travelling cinemas, circuses, processions or living nativities, and a practice of gathering — in a collective, family, community, association or troupe — that we might see as an essential and privileged tool of her life as a woman and an artist.

A living archive of twenty years of artistic practice

For the first time, an extensive collection of works from the period 2006–2024 is brought together, including more than twenty films, sculptural assemblages, a display of drawings and a selection of large-scale installations resembling stage sets that have contributed to Pauline Curnier Jardin’s renown.

Open stage

At the heart of the exhibition, the artist has installed a stage to host a lively programme conceived in resonance with her work: events organized by guest associations, performances, screenings, lectures and workshops.

09.10.2025 22:00  Niko G × Kali Concert : voorbij
30.10.2025 19:00 FRONT ROW met Pauline Curnier Jardin Artist Talk 
27.11.2025 18:30–22:00 UTSOPI, My Wonderful Whorehouse Event
17.01.2026 19:00–23:00 Art’s Birthday, Anna Reutinger, Hats for communal celebration Performance
24.01.2026 15:00–16:15 Tímea Junghaus & Clara Schulmann – Double lecture
25.01.2026 15:30–18:00 Emma Crombé & Louis Dewitte, Cunty Costumes Drawing Session
29.01.2026 19:00–22:00 Hyster-X, GUT!

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Film platform

Watch Pauline Curnier Jardin’s films at home.
In partnership with the artist’s studio, Muhka has made all the films made by Pauline Curnier Jardin between 2006 and 2024 available to the public on an online platform designed especially for the exhibition. Free access until the end of February 2026.
https://paulinecurnierjardin.ensembles.org

Publication

The first monograph dedicated to Pauline Curnier Jardin’s work will be published in 2026. The book is a collaboration between the Palais de Tokyo (Paris), the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid) and Muhka (Antwerp).

Not to be missed

The Associations of Pauline Curnier Jardin is part of a double exhibition devoted to the work of Pauline Curnier Jardin, organised in partnership with NW, Open House for Contemporary Art and Film.

In parallel to the retrospective at M HKA, NW presents Dress to Kill, an individual exhibition by Pauline Curnier Jardin, including the new film Jeanet Film Adulte (2025).
The exhibition in Aalst runs from 31 October 2025 until 29 March 2026.
More info >

On Pauline Curnier Jardin

Pauline Curnier Jardin (1980, Marseille, France) is an artist working across installation, performance, film, and drawing. Her outstanding cinematic installations create unorthodox universes and tell stories, thus proposing alternative narratives. She is the winner of the 2019 German Preis der Nationalgalerie, the 2021 Villa Romana Prize in Firenze, and recipient of the 2019-2020 Villa Medici fellowship in Rome.

Her work was included or commissioned over the last years in: Galeria Municipal do Porto, Porto (2025), Kiasma, Helsinki (2024), MACRO, Rome (2024), Centraal Museum, Utrecht (2023), Kunsthaus Pasquart, Bienne (2023), CRAC Occitanie, Sète (2022); FRAC Corsica (2022); Fondazione Memmo, Rome (2022); Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin (2022); LIAF, Venice and Kabelvåg (2022); Hamburger Bahnhof-Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin (2021); INDEX – The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, Stockholm (2021); Steirischer Herbst Festival, Graz (2020); Manifesta 13, Marseille (2020); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2020 and 2013); the Bergen Assembly, Bergen Biennial (2019); International Film Festival, Rotterdam (2018); the 57th Venice Biennale (2017); Tate Modern, London (2017); Performa 15, New York (2015).

Exhibition curated by Anne-Claire Schmitz, senior curator, Muhka
The exhibition has been made possible with the support of The French Embassy in Belgium and the Institut Français