LOVE Exhibition in Paris: Recap and Press

Art-Icon · Bastille Design Center · Paris
May 26–28, 2026

Following the selection of my photograph First Gesture for LOVE — An Anthropology of Simulated Affect, the exhibition took place in Paris from May 26–28, 2026 at the historic Bastille Design Center during one of the city’s most active weeks in the contemporary art calendar.

Presented by Art-Icon, the exhibition brought together photography, video, multimedia installation, and contemporary visual art to examine how love is represented, repeated, performed, and transformed in contemporary culture.

My selected photograph, First Gesture, depicts a sister kissing her newborn brother — a small, instinctive act of tenderness. Within the broader context of the exhibition, the image offered a quieter counterpoint: love as something immediate, familial, and deeply human.

Exhibition Context

LOVE — An Anthropology of Simulated Affect explored the ways visual culture shapes how intimacy, tenderness, desire, vulnerability, and emotional connection are seen and understood.

The exhibition asked whether contemporary emotions are experienced directly, or whether they are increasingly shaped through images already familiar to us — from cinema, advertising, social media, art history, and popular culture.

The project was curated by Danilo Tkačenko and Slavica Veselinović and included works by internationally recognized artists including ORLAN, Marina Abramović, Ai Weiwei, and Roger Ballen, together with a selection of emerging and established global voices.

Vogue Adria Press

The exhibition was featured by Vogue Adria in Tara Đukić’s article, “Orlan, Marina Abramović, Ai Weiwei and Roger Ballen lead a major exhibition on love in Paris,” published May 25, 2026.

The article framed the exhibition around the question of whether emotions in contemporary culture still belong fully to us, or whether they are increasingly projected, recognized, and shaped through images we have already seen.

In that context, First Gesture speaks to one of the oldest and most recognizable visual signs of love: the kiss. The photograph is not ironic or staged. It is quiet, direct, and sincere — a moment of care before language, performance, or self-consciousness enters. Read the article.

The Venue

The exhibition was held at Bastille Design Center, a historic 19th-century building located at 74 Boulevard Richard-Lenoir in Paris.

With its wooden architectural structure, expansive open interior, and glass ceiling, the venue created a luminous setting that connected the historic character of the Bastille district with the contemporary language of the exhibition.

Exhibition Details

Exhibition: LOVE — An Anthropology of Simulated Affect
Organizer: Art-Icon
Curators: Danilo Tkačenko and Slavica Veselinović
Venue: Bastille Design Center
Location: Paris, France
Dates: May 26–28, 2026
Selected Work: First Gesture
Artist: Nicol Hockett