The design duo Formafantasma has taken on one of the most ambitious projects in contemporary art exhibition design, creating the scenography for the Cartier Foundation's highly anticipated inaugural exhibition at its new Paris location. Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, who launched their design studio fifteen years ago, are preparing to unveil their vision as the foundation opens its doors to the public on October 25, 2025.
The opening represents one of the most awaited events of Art Basel Paris week 2025. The Cartier Foundation, France's first private foundation dedicated to contemporary art, is inaugurating its monumental new space at Place du Palais-Royal in Paris's first arrondissement. After thirty years on Boulevard Raspail, the foundation is reinventing itself through an architecture conceived by Jean Nouvel across 8,500 square meters, taking over the former Grands Magasins du Louvre department store.
Nouvel's architectural vision transforms the historic Haussmannian building into what he calls a "machine for seeing," designed not as a formatting but as "making available." The architect has created a window onto the city through large glass panels and mobile platforms that energize the building. From the street, curious observers can watch the installations, creating a dynamic dialogue between street life and artistic works, while natural light constantly modifies visitors' perceptions.
This modular building enables "a scenographic system serving the broad spectrum of visual arts, photography, cinema, crafts, performance, live entertainment, and science," according to the foundation's statement. The inaugural exhibition, titled "General Exhibition," spans forty years of the collection through 600 works by more than 100 artists. This vast inaugural demonstration consists of "fragments" from previous exhibitions, painting a portrait of the foundation known for encouraging alternative practices.
Formafantasma's collaboration with the Cartier Foundation began with their participation in a 2019 exhibition dedicated to emerging talents, followed by work on the "Mondo Reale" exhibition presented at the Milan Triennale in 2021. When approached for this new project, the duo felt extremely honored, particularly excited by the challenge of working in an unfinished building. "The five platforms that structure the building weren't in their current position," they explained. "We could understand the space as a whole, but not how it would be arranged."
The designers approached Nouvel's disruptive architecture as an urban environment where art wouldn't be displayed conventionally. "There are no traditional galleries," they noted. "We had to imagine works presented at different heights, in moving galleries. We had to project ourselves into an unprecedented, very surprising exhibition concept. A bit like discovering a new city without anyone telling us what to do or where to go."
Formafantasma introduced textile elements to create a dichotomy between the intimate and urban spheres, bringing a more domestic material into the institutional space. They also developed a unique lighting concept, using lanterns to highlight exhibition labels like punctuation marks in space, similar to how street lamps guide navigation in a city at night. "We don't worry about having a signature - it's present through our tastes and ideas," they emphasized. "For us, the essential thing is making decisions that take history into account."
The architectural challenge was unprecedented, as the team had no archives to rely on for comparison or evaluation. However, Nouvel's work offered a contemporary approach to dialogue between arts, works, and visitors. "He didn't design a conventional white cube," Formafantasma observed. "From an upper platform, you can have an unprecedented perspective on a work you just saw on the floor below." This unique viewpoint system influenced their decision to avoid adding partitions, allowing both the artworks and the remarkable architecture to be equally on display.
As the opening approaches, the design duo describes feeling "like we're about to give birth," expressing a mixture of excitement, anxiety, and happiness. They hope visitors will perceive the space as an encounter with art, visiting it as they would a park - to stroll according to their desires and instincts. The foundation will offer a free opening weekend on October 25-26, 2025, with mandatory reservations and limited availability through fondationcartier.com.
