Munich/Paris. On the occasion of this new edition of Paris Photo at the Grand Palais, BMW France unveils the exhibition “Crossing the Missing Fragment”, by artist Raphaëlle Peria and curator Fanny Robin, the duo laureates of the BMW ART MAKERS mentoring programme.
A partnership backed by a shared vision for the future of culture.For more than 50 years, BMW has affirmed its lasting commitment to culture, convinced that artists are trailblazers who can anticipate and reveal the major issues of their era. Supporting creation means supporting those who shape tomorrow’s perspectives.
For 23 years, this role has been notably expressed through this partnership with Paris Photo. By supporting the international photographic and artistic scene, BMW provides decisive visibility to emerging talents. Many artists supported by the programme have since achieved major recognition, confirming the strength and relevance of this commitment.
This ongoing dialogue between artistic innovation, society, and business reflects a shared desire: to embed culture for the long term and make it accessible to all, both today and for future generations.
“Together, we make culture shine today and for future generations, by valuing its longevity in a world where everything speeds up,” says Vincent Salimon, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW Group France.
“Crossing the Missing Fragment” reinvented for Paris Photo.“Trees are living beings that carry our memory; they are the guardians of our secrets.” Raphaëlle Peria.
The second part of the exhibition, created by the duo laureates of the BMW ART MAKERS programme, is presented in November under the Grand Palais’s dome in Paris. First unveiled this summer at the 56th edition of the Rencontres d’Arles, at the Cloître Saint-Trophime, the exhibition has been reinvented for Paris Photo and enriched with approximately ten new works. For the occasion, the set design has been entirely rethought and specially conceived to enhance this new chapter.
Fanny Robin, the curator, thus presents the project as follows: “Embarking on the journey at the heart of the exhibition Crossing the Missing Fragment is to retrace the thread of water and time. Through this project, Raphaëlle Peria offers us an intimate archaeology of the image, where personal memory engages in dialogue with the universal.
After its initial presentation at the Rencontres d’Arles, this second part of the exhibition conceived for Paris Photo is unveiled as an even more immersive traverse of the landscape. With a renewed scenography designed as a space of resonance that interacts transparently with the Grand Palais’s glass roof, the exhibition takes on a decidedly different form. A series of new works, created specifically for the occasion, subtly resonates with the venue’s architecture .
At the pinnacle of this installation, a copper wallpaper with ardent reflections envelops the space like a fresco-palimpsest, blurring the lines between archival images and representations of a present environment. Through this revised approach, new sensitive strata unfold within the space, bearing witness to the uniqueness of Raphaëlle Peria’s gaze and singular gesture.
The project begins with the discovery of an exhumed photo album, a relic from a childhood journey aboard a barge, initiating this new creation. Family archives, long buried, revive fragmentary memories and become the foundation of an exploration where memories confront the evolution of the landscape. Thirty years later, Raphaëlle Peria returns to the places once crossed. She finds a nature in peril: the plane trees along the Canal du Midi, rotting from within due to the colored canker, now embody a slow disappearance. Confronted with this silent erosion, the artist tirelessly scratches the surface of images, revealing through subtraction the imprint of passing time. With complete transparency, she translates the fragility of life through the very material of photography.”
The BMW ART MAKERS programme brings together and supports an emerging visual artist and a curator in the creation of a collaborative artistic project.
The laureate duo, composed of an artist and a curator, receives a grant of 33,000 euros which covers the scholarship as well as the research and production budget for the works. The project is presented each year at the Rencontres d’Arles and then at Paris Photo, of which BMW is an official partner.
Practical informationExhibition “Crossing the Missing Fragment”by Raphaëlle Peria and Fanny RobinParis Photo – Stand C01 Grand Palaisfrom November 13 to 16, 2025
Biographies of the BMW ART MAKERS 2025 Laureates.
Raphaëlle Peria, Artist Graduated in 2014 from the École Européenne Supérieure d’Art de Bretagne. In 2015, she was a finalist for the Bourse Révélations Emerige and in 2017 she held her first solo exhibition at Galerie Papillon, Paris. In 2019 she was a resident artist at Château Blanc in Flixecourt, culminating in the solo exhibition Narcissus in flores. In 2021, she participated in the Blooming exhibition organized at Domaine Pommery in Reims. In 2022, she took part in the exhibition Singularités plurielles: Azul Andrea, Eva Jospin, Raphaëlle Peria, Christelle Téa at Chapelle de la Visitation – Espace d’art contemporain, Thonon-les-Bains. In 2024, she presented her solo exhibition Dérives de nos rêves informulés at Fondation Bullukian, Lyon. Her work is part of public and private collections: Frac Picardie, Musée des Beaux-Arts La Cohue, Fondation Thalie (BE). She is currently a resident at Villa Velasquez in Madrid.
Fanny Robin, CuratorFanny Robin is an art critic, artistic director of Fondation Bullukian in Lyon, and an independent exhibition curator. In 2018, she founded the Campagne Première festival, which raises awareness of contemporary art and heritage enhancement in rural areas, notably through artist residencies and exhibitions where residents and local stakeholders are invited to participate in cultural projects. Fanny Robin develops a committed curatorial and critical approach focused on issues of transmission and relationships. She is particularly interested in artists who draw from the past (historical context, traditional gestures and techniques, popular traditions, and tangible and intangible heritage) to question current events and our changing society.
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