The Nuit des Musées 2026 is shaping up to be a memorable edition at the MAC/VAL, the Musée d'Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne in Vitry-sur-Seine! Opened in 2005, the MAC/VAL is France's first contemporary-art museum devoted entirely to artistic creation since the 1950s. Located in Vitry-sur-Seine, a city renowned for its commitment to art and its vibrant cultural scene, the museum was designed by architect Jacques Ripault. The building, with its bold, modern architecture, spans 13,000 m² and houses a permanent collection of more than 2,000 works by French and international artists.
The Nuit des Musées is the perfect opportunity to discover this cultural site in the Val-de-Marne département. During this not-to-be-missed event, many of the Paris region's most fascinating spots invite you to discover our heritage in a whole new way, with a program of night-time visits and special events. There's something for everyone!
So, ready to discover what awaits you at the MAC/VAL for the 22nd edition of the Nuit des Musées in Paris and Île-de-France? Don’t miss the next date on May 23, 2026. After all, it’s the must-attend event for art lovers!
At the heart of the exhibition « Le genre idéal », students from Ferdinand Buisson Elementary School unfold their staging and raise their voices.
A new, unprecedented journey where the genres of art history (portrait, still life, landscape) resonate with the works of contemporary artists: Laurent Pernot, Enrique Ramirez, and Ange Leccia.
Step by step, the youngest visitors and their accompanying adults take ownership of the museum, noticing the colors, shapes, and patterns.
Led by MAC VAL's guides, these tours invite participants to view together, share words, and name their emotions.
Ages 4 and up
To mark its inauguration for European Night of Museums, embark for the first time on a journey through the exhibition "Ici grand ouvert," SMITH's first solo show.
Discover an extraordinary exhibition where the study of life, knowledge, and the cosmos gives rise to photographic and poetic imagery.
Opening hosted by the students of the Art and Cultural Education exhibition
Three original projects led by three artists: Florence Nkpa-Poirier, Louise Vendel, and Luc Médrinal.
The program highlights three distinctive techniques (linocut, drawing, and leporello) and invites audiences on a journey through three artistic realms where the living world is embodied through drawing, sculpture, and art publishing.
A discovery through gesture or words around a selection of works in "The Ideal Genre." These tours offer an offbeat take on the exhibition.
Duration: 1 hour
All audiences. From 11 years old.
Exhibition “The Ideal Genre”
A tour in “natural sign-language communication” to express yourself through the body, to convey meaning through gestures in real time, without words or a predefined lexicon. With a museum guide and in dialogue with the audience, Levent Beskardes shares his perspective and the questions that arise from the works in the exhibition “The Ideal Gender.”
Duration: 1h
Open to all audiences, accessible to both deaf and hearing visitors
Information: reservation@macval.fr or 01 43 91 64 23
From the artwork to the sound, it's only a step…
A guided tour through the exhibition "Le genre idéal" conducted by middle school students as part of "La classe, l'oeuvre".
Opening night of SMITH's exhibition "Ici grand ouvert."
Born in 1985, the artist-researcher SMITH moves between photography, moving image, installation, sculpture and performance. His work unfolds in open-ended cycles, often launched by photography. He dissolves chronology, redraws the boundaries between portrait and landscape, and opens a space where the human, animal, vegetal, mineral and celestial realms interlace. His practice is imbued with a poetics of metamorphosis that goes beyond mere reality, traversing the in-between spaces and dwelling in thresholds rather than certainties. Forms slide, identities shift, bodies transform, perception shifts its register. From fluctuating states of consciousness, from trance to psychedelia, SMITH builds a web of correspondences linking bodily and cognitive practices with experimental scientific and technological devices, in search of a meeting point where spirituality, sensitivity and technique reconstruct themselves together.
Acoustic concert at the heart of SMITH's “Ici grand ouvert” exhibition for the opening of the show
A playlist stroll to wander through the five genres of the exhibition “Le genre idéal.” The hierarchy of genres in art also unfolds—and wears out—in music. From concrete or minimalist music to pop, or rock, and including so-called classical music, these are as many ways to engage with the works, to rethink how we classify them, and above all to discover a possible soundtrack for the exhibition!
Duration: 1h
All audiences. From 11 years old.
Exhibition “Le genre idéal”
Le programme est mis à jour en fonction des annonces officielles
Dates and Opening Time
On May 23, 2026
Location
MAC/VAL, Val-de-Marne Museum of Contemporary Art
Place de la Libération
94400 Vitry sur Seine
Prices
Free
Official website
www.macval.fr
