Vies minuscules

Exhibition
September 24, 2026 – January 31, 2027
Panthéon, Paris

Press release

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Press release

GERZ Jochen, Das autoportrait, 1975
Betacam noir et blanc, silencieux, durée: 72’55”
© Adagp, Paris, 2026, photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI/Dist. GrandPalaisRmn

In autumn 2026, Centre Pompidou and the Centre des Monuments Nationaux (CMN) will present "Vies minuscules" (Small Lives) at the Pantheon. The CMN will thus join the Constellation program by hosting this multidisciplinary exhibition. The title is taken from the 1984 novel by Pierre Michon, which brings together eight portraits of strangers, distant relatives or fleeting encounters, from which he weaves his own biography. By shining a spotlight on these existences that would otherwise be lost to the sands of time, Michon pays poetic tribute to them.

Inside a monument dedicated to the great women and men of the nation, “Vies minuscules” returns to this guiding theme and examines how art has created space for the lives relegated to the margins of history books, testifying to their role, however infinitesimal, intimate or ignoble, and creating awe-inspiring or delicate mausoleums to their fragile memory. By exploring the forgotten lives that artists have taken as their subject, it offers a new interpretation of history, one that considers “the power and authority of the archive and the limits it sets on what can be known”, in the words of historian Saidiya Hartman.

Live performances

Because the focus on overlooked lives runs through all modern and contemporary artistic practices, a series of live performances has been created to accompany the exhibition, from literature to music, theatre to dance, cinema to performance.

Curated by

Eva Barois De Caevel, Curator, Contemporary and Prospective Creation Department, Musée national d'art moderne – Centre Pompidou
Mathieu Potte-Bonneville, Director of the Culture and Creation Department, Centre Pompidou
Aurélien Bernard, Associate Curator, Contemporary and Prospective Creation Department, Musée national d'art moderne – Centre Pompidou