In October 2025, American curator Naomi Beckwith will present an ambitious and original project at the Palais de Tokyo, occupying the entire exhibition space and reviving the institution’s carte blanche format. Her project for this season examines the artistic and intellectual relations between France and the United States, showing how successive generations of American artists have appropriated theoretical, political and poetic ideas shaped in the French-speaking world, transforming them into artworks and ways of making art.
This season will feature a two-part programme: a solo retrospective exhibition by American sculptor Melvin Edwards—his first in France—and a major group show ECHO DELAY REVERB: American Art and Francophone Thought, bringing together nearly 60 artists. Both speculative and generous, these exhibitions offer a fresh perspective on the historical and contemporary exchange of forms and ideas between France and the United States, reaffirming their exceptional creativity and relevance at a time when they are sometimes called into question.
List of artists for ECHO DELAY REVERB (non-exhaustive)
Allora & Calzadilla, Laurie Anderson, Firelei Báez, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Mark Dion, Torkwase Dyson, Andrea Fraser, Hal Fischer, Charles Gaines, Ellen Gallagher, Andrea Geyer, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Dan Graham, Renée Green, Adler Guerrier, Hans Haacke, David Hammons, K8 Hardy, Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, Sky Hopinka, Juliana Huxtable, Char Jeré, Mike Kelley, Caroline Kent, Glenn Ligon, James Luna, Tala Madani, Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Julie Mehretu, Meleko Mokgosi, Wangechi Mutu, Lorraine O’Grady, Pope.L, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Martha Rosler, Cameron Rowland, Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, Allan Sekula, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, Kiki Smith, Oscar Tuazon, Fred Wilson, Cici Wu, Anicka Yi, etc.