For Art Basel Paris 2026, Miu Miu returns as Official Partner of the Art Basel Paris Public Program for the third consecutive year with Geste de Consolation by French filmmaker Alice Diop. Taking place at the Palais d’Iéna from October 21st to 25th, the project marks Diop’s first venture into exhibition-making, carrying her cinematic language into a physical space shaped by encounters between image, sound, movement and memory.
Alice Diop turns cinema into a space of encounters
Conceived at the invitation of Miuccia Prada, Geste de Consolation extends the dialogue begun with Fragments for Venus, Diop’s 2025 film for Miu Miu Women’s Tales. The project continues her inquiry into representations of Black women across art and culture and the ways these images shape our understanding of the world.
Film, photography, sculpture, poetry, dance, music and live performance converge across four interconnected spaces, arranged with the rhythm of cinematic montage. Diop describes the project as a gathering of women artists who have “healed me” and “nourished me”, placing consolation at the centre as both a creative and collective act.
From Zanele Muholi to ‘Chambre à soi’
The journey begins with a photograph by South African artist Zanele Muholi, followed by Diop’s two-screen video installation, where archival images and film excerpts trace the references that have shaped her gaze—from representations of violence to images that offered solace.
Visitors then enter Chambre à soi, a living room and library inspired by the idea of a room of one’s own. Patchwork carpets featuring a motif by Mary Lee Bendolph soften the monumental Palais d’Iéna, while a library of influential books offers a glimpse into Diop’s intellectual world. The space becomes an intimate portrait of a Black woman thinking, creating and imagining new forms of emancipation.
Voices, movement and collective memory
The domestic atmosphere gives way to a performance arena, where texts by Penda Diouf, Zora Neale Hurston, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, Marie Ndiaye and Zadie Smith, among others, will be performed by a rotating cast including Penda Diouf, Alice Da Luz Gomes, Latifa Laabissi, Séphora Pondi, Davide-Christelle Sanvee and Betty Tchomanga.
Using literature, performance, images and sound, Geste de Consolation builds on Miu Miu’s commitment to telling women’s stories and exploring the relationship between fashion, cinema and art. Taking place at the Palais d’Iéna from October 21st to 25th, 2026, guided tours will be available via the Miu Miu website from October 8th.
