Exhibition:
Dérive par Nature
Capsule Vortex × Aix Biennale
At a glance
📅 18–24 September 2026
Opening reception: Friday, 18 September, 6:00–7:45 pm
Venue: ESAAIX
57, rue Émile Tavan
Free admission: Saturday, 19 September to Thursday, 24 September, 10:00 am–6:00 pm
Closed on Sundays.
Artists: Louise Plasterie, Cleri Demaria Fanelli, Théo Giachetti, Valentin Aubert, Lilou Tasman, Hélène Berlemont, Eugénie Boetzlé, Peter Haddad, Alexandre Malvault
Format: Exhibition, performances, lecture
Curator: Séverine Gérard-Marchant
With the support of: Aix Biennale, ESAAIX, Beaux-Arts de Marseille, ESAA Avignon, L’Improbable Chair (Paris)
Nine young artists present works emerging from practices of dérive — individually or collectively — moving between city and countryside, pavement and natural terrain.
The concept of dérive, theorised by Guy Debord and the Situationist International in the 1950s, describes a way of moving through a place without a predetermined route or destination, allowing oneself to be guided by the terrain rather than by a plan. As if dérive, more than a method tied to a particular place, were by nature an individual way of finding access to the world — a way, wherever one may be, of searching for and finding one's own path.
Presented by Capsule Vortex, a travelling initiative dedicated to emerging artists from art schools across France and Europe, the exhibition brings together painting, sculpture, poetry, performance, installation and video.
At each stage, Capsule Vortex settles into a different location and presents works born from a process of introspection, where creating becomes a way of better understanding oneself as much as understanding the world. The works presented here follow no predetermined plan: they emerge from the process itself — the dérive, encounters, and the living world.
Full programme
Friday, 18 September, 6:00–7:45 pm: Opening reception, featuring Louise Plasterie’s performance La Soupe V3.
Saturday, 19 September, 4:00–5:00 pm: Lecture by Nil Samar in the school’s amphitheatre, with the support of L’Improbable Chair in Paris.
Further performances will take place throughout the week. To stay informed, follow @capsule.vortex on Instagram.