Diego Marcon
Prom
Exhibition from 01 Apr to 19 Jul 2026
3 months ago
He blends the architectural codes of late Renaissance Italian theatre – a place of social performance where people come as much to see as to be seen – with the minimalism, comfort and accessibility of modern cinemas, which represent an evolution in our relationship with images and entertainment.
The exhibition presents four films made using a combination of animation techniques, props and animated figurines: The Parents' Room (2021), Dolle (2023), La Gola (2024) and Krapfen (2025) *. Each explores the mechanisms of emotion production by drawing on different film genres such as musicals, burlesque, melodrama and horror films. All are rooted in the intimacy of the home, questioning the norms and taboos that govern human relationships. The characters, often ambivalent, evolve in grotesque, sometimes violent situations that provoke both discomfort and empathy. However, the artist imposes neither morality nor conclusion, avoiding any form of resolution.
For the first time, Diego Marcon unveils some of the objects created and used in the making of his films. Exhibited behind the scenes, animatronics, prosthetics, furniture, and sets shatter the illusion of the moving image and question our perception of truth and the trust we place in images.
Diego Marcon’s work evokes feelings of empathy and vulnerability, without moralizing or offering a fixed conclusion. The exhibition, presented at Lafayette Anticipations, brings together his films set in domestic and private spaces. These intimate, closed-off worlds explore relationships between individuals and probe the power dynamics that shape them.
The title of the exhibition, Prom, is a nod to the American ritual of the high school prom, a popular celebration that marks the transition to adulthood.
His work draws on different cinematic vocabularies, notably from musicals, melodramas, horror films, and slapstick comedies.
* Krapfen is the result of a co-production between the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin, Lafayette Anticipations in Paris, the New Museum in New York, the Renaissance Society in Chicago, and the Vega Foundation in Toronto.
Curator: Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel
Architects: Andrea Faraguna, Camilla Morandi, Ari Diamond- Topelson
In partnership with Libération, M Le Monde Magazine, Les Inrockuptibles and Le Bonbon. Thanks to Dulac Cinéma.
Lafayette Anticipations thanks Centre Pompidou for the exceptional loan of sound equipment.
During the exhibition
Electronic reverie: musical nap by Jesse Lucas (0-24 months)
A musical awakening for the youngest visitors
Saturday 18 Apr at 10am, 11am
Sunday 19 Apr at 10am, 11am
Raisa K + Ugné Uma
A dual musical exploration, blending avant-garde pop with vocal and electronic improvisation, featuring Raisa K and Ugné Uma.
Tuesday 05 May at 7:30pm
Diego Marcon: Stories of Youth
Stéphanie Moisdon, art critic, curator and co-director of the Consortium in Dijon, and Philippe Azoury, film critic, screenwriter and author, discuss the portrayal of youth in Diego Marcon’s work.
Tuesday 19 May at 7pm
Diego Marcon’s Carte Blanche at Le Grand Action cinema
Diego Marcon presents a series of short films at Le Grand Action cinema.
Wednesday 20 May at 8pm
Super Kids Party! (ages 3–10)
Art and games on every floor!
Saturday 06 Jun at 2pm
Sunday 07 Jun at 2pm
Violet Savage + Industria Indipendente
A double bill featuring the performances Bouncing by Violet Savage and QUIXOTE_A ROSE IS NOT A ROSE by Industria Indipendente with Annamaria Ajmone.
Saturday 27 Jun at 6pm
After Grief, Florence Peake and Yahon Chang
A performance by Florence Peake and Yahon Chang, which places grief at the heart of its artistic practice.
Wednesday 08 Jul at 7pm
His works – spanning film, video and installation – often utilise a looped structure to articulate an emotional display that flirts with the pathetic aspects of popular entertainment; and simultaneously draws attention to the media itself. Throughout Marcon’s work, empathy and vulnerability are deployed with intentional ambiguity, such that the instrumental use of their forms and figures constitute a blurred morality. This ambiguity is viewed by Marcon first and foremost as a political weapon of defiance.
Diego Marcon graduated from IUAV University of Arts of Venice (2012). Marcon has exhibited internationally with solo presentations including ToonsTunes (Four Pathetic Movements), The Shop at Sadie Coles HQ, London (2025); La Gola, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2024); La Gola, Kunstverein in Hamburg (2024); Dolle, Sadie Coles HQ, London, and Galerie Buchholz, Berlin (2023); Have You Checked the Children, Kunsthalle Basel (2023); Glassa, Centro Pecci, Prato (2023); Dramoletti, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Teatro Gerolamo, Milan (2023); Monelle, Sadie Coles HQ, London (2023); The Parents' Room, Museo Madre, Naples (2021).
He has also exhibited in numerous group exhibitions including Once Within a Time, 12th SITE SANTA FE International (2025-26); Fata Morgana: memorie dall’invisibile, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Palazzo Morando, Milan (2025-26), Collection Exhibition of Saastamoinen Foundation, EMMA Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland (2025); Just Kids, Gammel Strand, Copenhagen (2025); Flowers of Romance Part II, Lodovico Corsini, Brussels (2024); Artificial Optimism, Den Frie, Copenhagen (2024); Nebula, Fondazione In Between Art Film, Complesso dell’Ospedaletto, Venice (2024); Biennale de I’Image en Mouvement 24: A Cosmic Movie Camera, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Genève (2024); After Laughter Comes Tears, MUDAM The Contemporary Art Museum of Luxembourg (2023); The Milk of Dreams, 59th Biennale Arte, Venice (2022); and Sanguine. Luc Tuymans on Baroque, Fondazione Prada, Milan (2018). Marcon’s films have featured in festivals including Courtisane in Ghent, the Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight; International Film Festival Rotterdam; Vienna International Film Festival; Festival du nouveau cinéma, Montreal; and BFI London Film Festival, among others.
