Les Voix de la Vallée

[Sold out] Paul B. Preciado and Pauline Déroulède

Cultivated bodies, biopolitical bodies. Towards a free mutant individual

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About the night class

As part of the exhibition The Valley, the Fondation Cartier invites philosopher, exhibition curator, and writer Paul B. Preciado and French wheelchair tennis champion Pauline Déroulède to participate in the Voices of the Valley evening series. Within the exhibition spaces, the two guest speakers discuss the hypotheses proposed by Fabrice Hyber in his paintings before a live audience.

Over the course of this evening, on Thursday 26 January, they will talk about physical metamorphoses through prosthetics, sport, politics, and hormones. Referring to Hyber’s works Placenta, Herb, and Polyptyque du sport, their discussion explores issues like the cultivated and biopolitical body and the desire for a free mutant individual.

This live discussion will be broadcast simultaneously on the websites of the Fondation Cartier and *Duuu Radio, and in the form of podcasts via the main platforms.


With the participation of:

  • Picture © Maria Rouge.
    Paul B. Preciado

    Philosopher, writer, and exhibition curator, Paul B. Preciado is one of the leading contemporary voices when it comes to gender studies, sexual politics, and the body. The recipient of a Fulbright scholarship, he first studied at the New School for Social Research in New York, under Jacques Derrida, before obtaining his PhD in philosophy and architectural theory from Princeton. Active across several spheres, he curated the Taiwanese pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2019, as well as curating public programs for documenta 14 (Kassel/Athens) between 2015 and 2017. He worked as director of research at the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) between 2010 and 2014, and taught philosophy of the body and transfeminist theory at the Université Paris VIII-Saint Denis and at New York University. Following in the footsteps of Michel Foucault, Monique Wittig, Judith Butler, and Donna Haraway, he is also the author of numerous works: Countersexual Manifesto, Testo Junkie: Sex, Drugs, and Biopolitics in the Pharmacopornographic Era, Pornotopia, An Apartment on Uranus, Can the Monster Speak?, and Dysphoria Mundi. He regularly pens essays for the French newspaper, Libération.

  • Picture © Pauline Deroulede - Pauce.
    Pauline Déroulède

    Pauline Déroulède was the victim of an accident, one evening in October 2018, when she was knocked down by a ninety-two-year-old driver. At the age of twenty-eight, she lost her left leg. A dozen operations under general anesthetic and long months of physio would ensue... But as she says herself with great selflessness: “I am still standing”. Instead of wallowing in anger, Pauline, an accomplished sportswoman, very quickly expressed her new ambition: to become the Paralympic wheelchair tennis champion at the Paralympic Games in Paris in 2024! Pauline is currently French champion and ranks at number seventeen in the world rankings. She is also the French wheelchair tennis doubles champion for 2021 and 2022. This paragon of resilience is a combative, positive, open-minded, and committed young woman. Her story, determination, and fight for the putting in place of regular driving aptitude tests make her a true “role model.” Pauline became a mother to a little girl, Ava, five months ago, whom she credits as her greatest personal victory!


Practical information

Additional information

Estimated duration: 1 hour.
Discussions in French.
Free seating within the limit of available spaces.
Access to the classroom where the evening class is held upon presentation of the exhibition ticket.
This ticket includes access to the evening class on the date chosen when booking, as well as entry to the exhibition that same day from 5pm.
The evening classes are broadcast live on the websites of the Fondation Cartier and *Duuu Radio, before being made available in the form of podcasts.
Latecomers will not be allowed access to the event so as not to disturb the speakers or interfere with the audio recording. We thank the audience in advance for their punctuality.

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