The first of a series of international exhibitions focused on the margins and suburbs of France and the United States, In the Banlieues/Centering the Margin: Saint-Denis/Oakland is presented during Summer 2022 in Paris, Saint-Denis, San Francisco and Oakland. Whatever you call them - banlieues, peripheries, suburbs - this exhibition highlights the symbolic pivot from the center to the periphery. Artistic movements, social struggles, urban innovations: Oakland, California and Saint-Denis, France are today exerting their influence and inventing solutions to the challenges posed by equity and the rapid urban development of metropolitan areas.

“Bringing together a hybrid corpus of images, archives, models, paintings, artistic installations, objects, and videos, this exhibition explores cultural and inhabitant practices in urban planning. They are composed of places, people, and stories, drawings – far from clichés - portraits of composite urban areas on the peripheries. There is an urgency, today, to recognize and understand the day-to-day experiences of those who live, work and create in our cities.” June Grant and Laure Gayet, co-curators of the exhibition

The exposition is co-produced by the Pavillon de l’Arsenal; the Villa Albertine in San Francisco and California Humanities ; in partnership with SPUR San Francisco, la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme Paris Nord; with the support of the foundation 836M, l’Institut Français, la Fondation Art Explora; in collaboration with the cities of Oakland and Saint-Denis, Périféeries and with the participation of ARTE.