“The first image that appeared to me after the invitation,in preparation for the twenty-fifth Prix Fondation PernodRicard, was an emoji on a wall of the New York subway.It was a smiley with a downturned mouth and eyes inspirals announcing the end of emotional conflicts. Towhat extent does the study of conflicts and, broadlyspeaking, of the emotions at the heart of these tensions allow us to better understand our changing world? If theconflict is not an attack, then how do we undo this knotthat forms every time we encounter affective dissonanceor must confront a brutal aggravation of ourchronic state of perpetual crisis? These are some of thequestions that crossed my mind at the time and continueto linger into this new year.”

Arlène Berceliot Courtin

Since September 2023, Arlène has taught Art Theory at the École Supérieure d’Art Annecy Alpes. Situated at the crossroads betweenvisual and performative studies and feminist studies, her field ofresearch questions the effects of language and forms of emotions in art and thus attempts to deconstruct the position of objectivityinherent to any research, through the intervention of a transdisciplinary approach to exhibitions, combining references originating as much from the social sciences, as from literature, film, performance, and the visual arts.

Nominated artists : Clémentine Adou, Mads Bycroft, Charlotte Houette, Lenio Kaklea, HaYoung, Paul Maheke and Mona Varichon