Opening : Wednesday 24.09.25, 6 – 9 pm
Curator : Céline Poulin
The Frac Île-de-France will be hosting Mathilde Denize’s first solo exhibition at an institution in the Paris region, for which she will be taking over Le Plateau. Denize’s artistic practice combines painting and sculpture — which she considers inseparable — with installation, video and performance. She has developed a unique body of work in which forms are born of assembly, transformation and recycling. Her paintings, which often resemble garments or costumes, are both pictorial surfaces and portable objects, existing on the border between painting, volume, and scenography.
She cuts up her old canvases and attaches fragments of found materials and discarded objects to them. Her cutting and editing techniques are reminiscent of filmmaking. This personal archaeology results in hybrid works: costumes without bodies that are somewhere between armour and camouflage; floating silhouettes; and suspended figures. Paradoxically, the absence of the suggested bodies reinforces their presence. The elusive figures blend into the surrounding colour like a halo, creating a special aura around them.
Mathilde Denize stages her paintings, transforming them into authentic “theatrical tableaux.”Through her installations, she creates spaces for perception rather than narrative, encouraging us to explore shapes and sensations.
Camera Ballet is an immersive experience in which visitors move amongst object-paintings, textile sculptures, videos and performative devices, many of which have been created specially for this exhibition. Mathilde Denize creates a theatrical display of materials and presences, a kind of silent choreography in which forms come to life.
Camera Ballet encourages us to perceive things differently, to allow our gaze to wander and to set it in motion, and to bring transient forms and figures to life.
Mathilde Denize was born in Sarcelles, France, in 1986. She graduated from the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2013. She works in Saint-Ouen. Represented by the contemporary art gallery Perrotin, she has recently exhibited her work in New York and Shanghai. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in France and internationally. She was an artist-in-residence at the Villa Médicis from 2020 to 2021.
Rendez-vous
Promenade
Choreographic performance by Armin Hokmi
Sunday, October 12, 4 p.m.
Free with réservation
As a one time performance at Le Plateau, Promenade is an encounter and conversation between Armin Hokmi and Mathilde Denize’s work. A meeting of the bodies in motion, with their inward gestures in overlap and continuity of the vast space surrounding them. The time in this afternoon is spent with the gentle reception of the superimposition of the two worlds, finding resonances in their colors, patterns, their shared edges and crossings. A merging that is both felt and seen. A morphing of Armin’s choreographic writing and Mathilde’s visual and corporeal universe.
Armin Hokmi is working with dance and choreography. He began in 2009 as a performer with independent theater in Iran and later continued to work and study abroad toward experiences with multiple performative practices and mediums. His dance and movement language is an interplay between a sense of familiarity with known forms, and practices that elude recognition. Cultivating a choreographic practice where different possibilities of referentiality converge in contrast and alteration. An associated artist with Montpellier Danse between 2024-2026, Armin’s recent creations are Of the Heart (2025), Shiraz (2024), International Dance (2022) and Passages (2019).
WEFRAC (Week-end des Frac) les 15 et 16.11.25
- Saturday, November 15
2:30–4 p.m.: Artist family, workshop based on the exhibitio - Sunday, November 16
3 and 4 p.m.: Hypnotic tour of the exhibition with Marie-Juliette Verga Laliberté5 p.m.: Guided tour of the exhibitionFree with réservation
Plateau Talks
With artists Mathilde Denize and Elouan Le Bars and the Frac team
Wednesday, December 3, 7:30 p.m.
Free, no reservation required
Contemporary dance and yoga workshop
Sunday, January 11, 2026
10:30 a.m.-12 p.m.: with Fabien Almakiewicz
Free with
Late night openings
Open until 9 p.m. on the first Wednesday of every month
Free without reservation
Guided tours
Every Sunday at 5 p.m.
Free, no reservation required
Meet at the reception desk
Events for children & teens
Doudou visite
Ages 3 to 5, children accompanied by their families
Wednesdays, October 15, November 5, and December 3, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Open your eyes to the world of painting through a sensory tour punctuated by stories and a creative workshop!
Free with réservation
Familles d’artistes
Ages 6 to 12, children accompanied by their families
Saturdays October 4, November 1, December 6, and January 3, from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Explore the vibrant world of Mathilde Denize with your family, through painting, sculpture, and video, then share a creative moment by making a work of art together in a fun, collaborative workshop.
Free with réservation
Artistes en herbe
Ages 6 to 12
Wednesdays, October 22 and 29, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Discover a colorful exhibition, then let your imagination run wild during a workshop to reveal your inner artist.
Free with réservation
Fashion Lab’
Ages 12 and up, independently
Saturday, November 22, continuously from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Between painting and clothing, transform canvas into textile creations and become an artist-stylist for the duration of a workshop.
Free, no reservation required
Exhibition journal and labels
Read the exhibition journal
Discover the exhibition labels