Paris des vi(ll)es | Public Intimacies

It was at Cité...

Paris des Vi(ll)es | Public Intimacies unfolded between August 2025 and January 2026 as a collective experiment on the scale of the Cité and its surrounding neighbourhood. Conceived simultaneously as a residency, an exhibition, and a series of events in the urban space, the project brought together around thirty artists and thinkers within an open, evolving platform for exchange.

Over the months, the artists occupied the sites, walked the neighbourhood, and engaged with its residents. From this immersion emerged a variety of forms—performances, narratives, films, installations—which became the living substance of the exhibition, conceived as a direct extension of this process.

Cité internationale des arts © Maurine Tric / Adagp, Paris 2025

On the occasion of the Cité’s 60th anniversary, the project was structured around a seemingly simple question: is Paris a hospitable city? Far from being trivial, this question opened up sensitive and political reflections on the ways in which we inhabit, share, and shape the city today.

Punctuated by public moments—open studios and events in the urban space—this collective endeavour brought forth connections, narratives, and unexpected perspectives. Rather than offering a definitive answer, Paris des Vi(ll)es | Public Intimacies created a space for experimentation and dialogue, gradually revealing, through these exchanges, tensions, possibilities, and forms in the making.