As every year, at the beginning of summer, the French Academy in Rome gathers in a collective exhibition the projects of sixteen fellows, at the end of their year of residence at Villa Medici.

For the occasion, the works leave the intimacy of the studios to cross the threshold of the exhibition rooms and meet the public.

On display from June 28 to September 8, 2025, the exhibition curated by Lilou Vidal will be titled Changer la prose du monde (Changing the prose of the world). The reference is to the text of the Italian poet Amelia Rosselli, whose rhythmic and dissident language disrupts the foundations of standardized language and dominant narratives. This invitation to rethink the writing of the world echoes the interventions of artistic, poetic, political, and ecological narratives that animate the multidisciplinary research of the Villa Medici fellows, in a choral exercise that stems from a variety of voices and thoughts.

The exhibition is characterized by the diversity of artistic practices contemplated, from literature to musical creation, passing through art history, visual arts, photography, and cinema. A visual narrative punctuated by phrases chosen by the fellows, like a deconstructed text in the pages of a book with no beginning or end. Echoing the words of the poet Amalia Rosselli, this process of random co-writing contaminates the walls of the exhibition rooms and represents both a collective breath and the expression of 16 individualities.

During their year in the capital, the fellows are encouraged to live the residence as an experimentation laboratory, offering the opportunity to conduct long-term research, explore new paths, and be surprised and involved by the results of encounters with other artistic practices and geographies. The exhibition is an extension of this experience, as well as an opportunity to question how projects that do not fit into conventional exhibition categories are presented. How does an ongoing research materialize? How can visual arts, performative arts, and literature be combined?

The exhibition will also offer various performative moments involving the Villa Medici fellows: activations, performances, workshops, and screenings will animate the exhibition spaces throughout the summer.