12 exhibitions to see in France over the Christmas holidays

By Matthieu Jacquet.

Josèfa Ntjam in Lyon

Josèfa Ntjam has recently been noticed for her shows in Paris and Venice. The young French artist has built a visual and sculptural universe, in which deities from diasporic cosmogonies, underwater creatures, and major figures of activism converge. For her new solo exhibition at the Institut d’art contemporain (IAC) in Villeurbanne, France, she keeps inviting audiences into her sci-fi-inspired phantasmagorias through film, 3D printing, sculpture, and, for the first time, sound installation.

Josèfa Ntjam, “Intrications,” until January 11th, 2026 at the Institut d’art contemporain, Villeurbanne.

Alison Knowles in Saint-Étienne

As the only female pioneer of the Fluxus movement, which she opened up to performance art in the 1960s, Alison Knowles (1933–2025) has left her mark on art history through diverse, avant-garde practices. Her work includes ritualized collective meals, minimalist scores, computerized poems, interactive sound installations, and cyanotypes. Her rich, prolific career is now the focus of a retrospective at the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain in Saint-Étienne (MAMC+), that opened just days after her passing at the age of 92. Over a hundred works are presented there.

“Alison Knowles. A Retrospective,” until March 15th, 2026 at the MAMC+, Saint-Étienne Métropole.

Korakrit Arunanondchai in Dijon

In Korakrit Arunanondchai‘s videos and in situ installations, nature, ancestral traditions and beliefs – shamanism, animism, Buddhism – clash with new technologies and the global world to create a multisensory experience that aims for a total artwork. For his exhibition at the Consortium in Dijon, the Thai-born artist has crafted a telluric floor made from ashes collected at the Kunsthalle in Bangkok. Visitors are prompted to walk on it, with a spellbinding sound piece blending church choirs and subterranean rumbles playing in the background.

Korakrit Arunanondchai, “The Blood of the Earth,” until May 24th, 2026 at the Consortium, Dijon.

Sylvie Fleury in Sérignan

Shopping bags, oversized eye shadows, golden shopping carts, fuzzy canvases… Since the 1990s, Sylvie Fleury has borrowed from the worlds of luxury, cosmetics, and mass consumerism to craft pop artworks that cast an ironic eye on today’s society. At once mocking unbridled capitalism, appearance-driven norms, and the fetishization of the female body, her work is as relevant as ever today. She is currently the subject of a monographic exhibition at the Mrac Occitanie, which puts several of her major pieces on display, including some in situ installations.

Sylvie Fleury, “Thunderb,” until March 22nd, 2026, at the Mrac Occitanie, Sérignan.

Clément Cogitore in Marseille

The Siberian taiga infused with fantastical elements, the inner chambers of the Lascaux caves, the Alaskan sky lit by a mysterious phenomenon… Clément Cogitore’s videos and films embark us on a journey to captivating locations steeped in legend and myth, where scientific narratives and local beliefs collide. In 2022, the artist and filmmaker turned his attention to Ferdinandea, an island that emerged multiple times in the 19th century in the Strait of Sicily, before being completely submerged. At the Mucem, this film is being screened alongside numerous archival documents that shed light on this fascinating chapter of Mediterranean history.

Clément Cogitore, “Ferdinandea, the Ephemeral Island,” from December 10th, 2025, to September 20th, 2026, at the Mucem, Marseille.

Monia Ben Hamouda in Noisiel

For several weeks now, the floors of CAC La Ferme du Buisson have been covered in ochre and copper-toned sand dunes. From them, abstract paintings made of spices emerge. Meanwhile, symbols drawn from Arabic script and iconography float above them. For her first solo exhibition in France, Italian-Tunisian artist Monia Ben Hamouda invites us into this delicate, shifting desert, shaped by Najdi poetry and pre-Islamic oral traditions, as well as her own knowledge of Arabic calligraphy passed down from her father.

Monia Ben Hamouda, “Post-Scriptum,” until January 25th, 2026, at CAC La Ferme du Buisson, Noisiel.

Rammellzee, part two, in Bordeaux

Graffiti master, painter, sculptor, rapper, performer, and theorist, American artist Rammellzee (1960–2010) created a groundbreaking and uncategorizable body of work long overlooked by institutions. After the summer show, Alphabeta Sigma (Face A), at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the CAPC in Bordeaux now unveils the second chapter, (Face B). The exhibition puts the artist’s work back into the vibrant New York art scene of the 1980s, in dialogue with figures like Basquiat, Warhol, Kenny Scharf, or even Madonna.

“RAMMELLZEE ALPHA BETA SIGMA (FACE B),” until April 26th, 2026, at CAPC, Bordeaux.

Julie Béna in Grenoble

“Parodie” (“Parody”) is the word Julie Béna chose for the title of her solo exhibition at the Magasin CNAC. It is also spelled out in large, glittering rainbow letters inside the Grenoble art center. With that ambitious project, the French artist immerses us in a world at the crossroads between literature, circus, and cabaret. Court jesters, carousel horses, carriages, puppets, and other curious characters emerge and seem to interact in this body of films, sculptures, and installations created over the past ten years.

Julie Béna, “Parodie,” until April 5th, 2026 at Magasin CNAC, Grenoble.

Jean-Charles de Castelbajac in Toulouse

Since the creation of his label in the early 1980s, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac has consistently pushed the boundaries of fashion and creativity. Collage, upcycling, clothes inspired by pop culture and childhood imagery, monumental public artworks at Orly Airport and the Grand Palais, collaborations with artists like Cindy Sherman, costume design for Beyoncé and Lady Gaga, designing a liturgical wardrobe for Notre-Dame de Paris… His myriad projects are testament to his insatiable creative drive. Les Abattoirs in Toulouse pay tribute to his prolific career through a historic retrospective.

Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, “Imagination At Work,” from December 12, 2025, to August 23, 2026, at Les Abattoirs, Toulouse.

Beatrice Bonino in Paris

True to its mission of showcasing emerging artists, the Fondation Pernod Ricard is hosting the first institutional exhibition of Beatrice Bonino in France. As a spiritual heir to Arte Povera and post-minimalism, the young Italian artist is fascinated by the banality of everyday life, as well as by languages and signs. Her sculptures and composite assemblages made from everyday materials are shown in dialogue with works by her predecessors, such as Marisa Merz, Dieter Roth, and Lutz Bacher.

Beatrice Bonino, “In the main in the more,” until January 31st, 2026 at Fondation Pernod Ricard, Paris 8th.

Vivian Suter in Nîmes

Since the 1980s, Vivian Suter has been painting relentlessly in the wild, near her home in Guatemala. Even though she gained recognition late in her career, the Swiss-born painter has enjoyed rising fame over the past fifteen years of her career. After showing her exhibition Disco in Lisbon last year and in Paris at the Palais de Tokyo last summer, her work is now on display in a third and newly expanded version at Carré d’art in Nîmes. There, hundreds of paintings form a lush jungle of shapes and colors.

Vivian Suter, “Disco,” until March 29th, 2026, at Carré d’art, Nîmes.

Romuald Jandolo in Poitiers

Romuald Jandolo, who grew up in a circur, has a clear affinity for performance arts. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Confort Moderne, the artist has filled the venue with enigmatic figures draped in glittering, pointy-hooded cloaks. Their spectral presence glows amidst a scenography of haystacks. While the silhouettes may recall the white robes of the Ku Klux Klan, the flamboyant staging places them in an ambiguous realm… One where the bliss of a village dance meets the solemnity of medieval ceremonial garb.

Romuald Jandolo, “Pardon pour la lumière,” until December 21st, 2025, at Confort Moderne, Poitiers.