Burgundy display walls with paintings and a sculpture, Communautés en résonance, scenography by Karen Pisoni
Communautés en résonance
Société des Arts, Geneva, 2026

Communautés en résonance is a group exhibition at the Société des Arts de Genève, in the Palais de l'Athénée, from 1 May to 4 July 2026. Curator Danniel Tostes brings historical and contemporary works by fifteen artists into dialogue, across generations and backgrounds, around the idea of community as a space of connection and collective making. Danniel and I worked together on this scenography. The challenge was to host thirty-five works in the two rooms of the Salle Saint-Ours, a space already rich in architecture, beneath a ceiling decorated with frescoes.

Doorway to the Salle Saint-Ours at the Palais de l'Athénée, Geneva, Communautés en résonance exhibition
Six-sided burgundy display wall and a painted portrait beneath the ceiling frescoes
White-walled room with floor sculptures and framed photographs, Palais de l'Athénée
Landscape painting and work on metal on the wall, piece placed on the floor

There is no set route: visitors move freely, and new dialogues between the works appear with every step. In the centre of the larger room, two hexagonal volumes serve as display walls. Depending on where you stand, they open or close views onto the works hung on the walls.

Two burgundy volumes beneath the painted ceiling of the Salle Saint-Ours, scenography by Karen Pisoni
Painted portrait on a burgundy display wall, more volumes in the background
View between two volumes towards works hung on the walls of the Salle Saint-Ours

The six-sided shape of the volumes echoes a motif drawn in the ceiling frescoes, creating a dialogue with the architecture of the room without hiding it. Both volumes are made of wood. Their deep burgundy answers the colours of the room and sets off the works.

Opening night visitors in front of a painting on a burgundy display wall
Opening night visitors among the burgundy volumes of the Salle Saint-Ours
Burgundy wooden volume with a painting and a sculpture, beneath the painted ceiling
Karen Pisoni and Danniel Tostes in front of a display wall at Communautés en résonance

Information

Date

1 May to 4 July 2026

Venue

Salle Saint-Ours, Palais de l'Athénée, Geneva

Client

Société des Arts de Genève

Context

Laboratoire curatorial Saint-Ours

Type

Exhibition scenography

Curator

Danniel Tostes

Artists

Debbie Alagen, James Bantone, Yann Stéphane Bisso, Marisa Cornejo, Zaq Guimarães, Hudinilson Jr., Stéphan Landry, Nell Lechevalier & Loréleï Nelle, Billy Morgan, Tony Morgan, J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere, Natalie Paneng, PRICE, Audrey Ramos, Suzanne Santoro

Credits and thanks

Scenography

Karen Pisoni, Danniel Tostes

Production

Thulú Barbarán, Mayotte de Saulieu

Lighting design

Hsuan Lee

Installation

Souplex (Vincent Grange, Tanguy Troubat)

Graphic design

Roman Karrer, Emma Kouassi

Photos

Greg Clément

Thanks

The Société des Arts de Genève and its whole team

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