Art won't change the world. But it changes people, and people change the world.
The Artistic Experience
We believe in the power of art and artists to speak to our hearts and imaginations, to paint the unthinkable, to put into music what is speechless. These poets, prophets, researchers, activists unfold the horizon of what is possible.
That’s why, at ChangeNOW, more and more space is given each year to art and culture professionals, and to a variety of practices: visual artists, photographers, dancers, musicians…
Thanks to the cultural and financial partners of the ChangeNOW Communities association, we invite them to exhibit, perform and intervene on stage as ambassadors of a sensitive relationship with human and non-human living beings.
Take part in the Artistic Experience
Meetings
With artists of all practices and cultures, professionals from around the world
Resources
Examples of eco-designed works with minimal environmental impact and immense evocative powers
Discoveries
New ways of looking at the world, and surprising questions raised by artists
Sensations
Interacting with the works and experiencing them in the flesh, to leave ChangeNOW a little different
The Art exhibition is sustainable and circular in a number of ways
Eco-Design
The artworks, the exhibition design and the signage use sustainable or recycled materials.
Eco-Production
A cradle-to-cradle (C2C) waste management policy is in place. We also reduce the shipping and transportation footprint throughout the exhibition’s life cycle.
Network
Various institutions help us build this circular exhibition, from material sourcing to post-exhibition management (works are sold, re-exhibited or recycled).
Education
The themes addressed in the exhibition are the subject of an open conversation with all our stakeholders, including suppliers, sponsors, partners and the public, through guided tours, learning expeditions (LEX) and workshops.
The artists you’ll discover in 2026
Pinaffo Pluvinage
Fanions & Carillons
Initially commissioned by the Abbey of Fontevraud in 2023, this automaton pays tribute to the abbey’s historic clock. Its simple, rudimentary mechanism produces no sound from bells, but instead animates fabrics.
A set of ten inert pennants awaken one after another, creating ephemeral forms that transform and echo one another. Like a silent carillon, this visual choreography generates a visual melody lasting a few minutes, repeating at regular intervals. A true ephemeral symphony of textiles.
Crédit photo : https://pinaffo-pluvinage.com/Fanions
Dorian Étienne
« Pays’Âges » is a participatory and itinerant project that immortalises changing landscapes as seen from the sky. Since 2022, artist-designer Dorian Étienne has been creating a series of monumental « tapestries-testimonials » revealing the unique characteristics of the regions studied, their topography and biodiversity.
Made on site with local residents, they are composed exclusively of local and natural materials. Each artwork will be renewed 30 years later to form before/after diptychs that will bear witness to local ecological and societal issues.
These collective creations thus capture a « state of the place » at this crucial moment of ecological disruption, while weaving links between inhabitants and territories.
Photo credit : https://www.dorian-etienne.com/fr/paysage-guilben
Fondation Carmignac
Musée-valise : The Imaginary Sea
The Carmignac Foundation presents this traveling miniature museum, designed as a contemporary “cabinet of curiosities” inspired by the exhibition The Imaginary Sea (Villa Carmignac, Porquerolles, 2021). This four-wheeled blue chest, thanks to a choreographed opening, reveals works, sounds and images in a theater of sensory intimacy.
Designed for audiences unable to visit museums, it travels from hospitals to prisons and cultural events, inviting visitors to enjoy a poetic and authentic encounter with art and the ocean.
Artists: Bianca Bondi, Jean Painlevé, Yves Klein… (complete list)
Photo Credit: Croquis musée-valise, Stephan Zimmerli
Valentine Huyghues-Despointes
The Wreck Desk
Mahogany, Leather, Plastic
From a common Empire-style desk, the artist conjures up a teeming underwater wreck. Wood, recycled plastics, and leather scraps (calf, bull calf, goat, crocodile, alligator, lizard and fish) make up a marine landscape modeled by hand with the help of 23 volunteers. Through a play on mirrors, the work evokes the fate of the “Aliénés” of the Mobilier National: forgotten furniture, declassified and removed from the national collections.
A saddler and leatherworker trained at the Ateliers Grégoire, who has worked for Dior, Vuitton and Baccarat, Valentine Huyghues-Despointes has been developing a sculptural universe since 2014 in which leather becomes a narrative and poetic material.”
Discover past year art experience
The Wall of Change par Tim Zdey, 2022
Created live over 3 days during ChangeNOW 2022, The Wall of Change was transformed from a blank canvas to a live giant wall painting as people committed to more sustainable behaviors. More than 670 participants committed to reducing their impact on the planet around four themes: ocean, food, fashion, and energy.
It has since been reused 4 times, making it an emblem of circular scenography at ChangeNOW.
Past Speakers include
Marion Waller
Nick Brandt
Inès Léonarduzzi
Pascal Hufschmid
Karina El Hélou
Magda Danysz
Founder
Kubra Khademi
Arturo Galansino
General Director
Xavier Veilhan
Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza
Chairwoman
Chris Dercon
Grand Palais, President
Delphine Diallo
Esme Ward
Director
Partners 2025
Are you an artist and you want to exhibit or perform at ChangeNOW? Send us your details and your project
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