Kiki Smith's Enchanting Survey at MO.CO Montpellier

The MO.CO in Montpellier presents "Être ici | Maintenant | Partout, Kiki Smith," a comprehensive exhibition of around 150 works by the American artist, running from June 13 to October 11, 2026. Co-curated by Rahmouna Boutayeb and Pauline Faure, the show occupies the entire venue and highlights Smith's diverse use of media—bronze, papier-mâché, drawing, embroidery, printmaking, and photography—with the human body as a central theme. The exhibition avoids chronological order, instead creating dialogues across periods and mediums. It includes objects from the Montpellier medical school's anatomy collection, referencing Smith's study of Henry Gray's anatomical plates. A highlight is the basement gallery featuring monumental tapestries, including "Seven Seas," woven over seven years by the Gobelins manufactory and shown in France for the first time. Smith, born in Germany in 1954, last had a major French exhibition at the Monnaie de Paris nearly seven years ago. The title derives from her 2014 statement about synthesizing existence into form, with "Partout" added to reflect the work's transcendent quality.