More than just an exhibition, the Thaddaeus Ropac gallery offers an immersive artistic experience this spring. Located in the Marais district of Paris, the gallery is hosting the artist’s very first solo show in France. Titled "Glass Slipper", this installation is available for free viewing from March 7 to April 11, 2026. Don’t miss the opportunity to encounter this captivating new work.
Born in California in 1990, Ariana Papademetropoulos honed her craft at CalArts and the Universität der Künste in Berlin. Since then, the contemporary artist has exhibited widely, showcasing her work across the United States and internationally, including shows in Marseille, at the Villa Médicis in Rome, and at the Centre Pompidou-Metz.
This spring, Ariana Papademetropoulos takes over the ground floor and first level of the Thaddaeus Ropac Gallery with a series of dreamy, surrealist works, spanning from paintings to sculptures. But once inside the gallery, your gaze is immediately drawn to a installation located at the heart of the main room, centered around an fish-filled aquarium. Titled "Water Based Treatment", this piece invites visitors to step inside the aquarium, where a delicate mattress and pillow, along with a headset, await. Guests are encouraged to lie down and listen to a soundscape composed by Nicolas Godin. For this project, half of the French music duo Air crafted a soundtrack based on 1970s ambient sound therapy tapes.
On the day of our visit, some visitors seemed rather shy, hesitant to lie down in the aquarium in front of other guests. But others—clearly untroubled by claustrophobia—had no qualms at all, closing their eyes or marveling at the fish—such as the “kissing fish” — swimming peacefully around them. It also raises questions about the well-being of these freshwater species within the exhibit. Visitors are kindly asked not to touch the aquarium glass to help maintain the calm environment for the aquatic inhabitants.
Surrounding this installation, the gallery showcases the artist's latest large-scale paintings by Ariana Papademetropoulos. In these works, dining chairs soar above bubbling lava pools, while others appear to be tumbling through the eye of a twilight tornado.
In the gallery's antechamber, we discover two hyper-realistic works featuring transparent dry-cleaning bags. The visit then moves upstairs, where Ariana Papademetropoulos presents three sculptural vintage telephone booths. These installations invite visitors to step into an unconventional experience—picking up the receiver to listen in on conversations between the artist and her medium. Ariana Papademetropoulos extends the exhibit’s themes of therapy, ritual, and transformation through this immersive setup. These shell-shaped wall sculptures are complemented by small paintings depicting microwaves on fire at various stages of eruption.
Ultimately, the "Glass Slipper" exhibition features only a handful of works by Ariana Papademetropoulos, roughly a dozen in total. So, don’t expect to spend hours browsing the gallery. However, the Parisian space of Thaddaeus Ropac offers a genuine immersive art experience, inviting visitors into the captivating and unconventional world of this young American artist, who is surely poised to surprise and challenge us in the years ahead.
Some visitors may remain indifferent or unimpressed by the artistic universe of Ariana Papademetropoulos. But others will most certainly find themselves drawn in. That was definitely the case for us. Keep in mind, the exhibition is free and open to everyone. Be aware that, depending on the time and day, it can get a bit crowded, and you might face longer wait times to enter the aquarium. In the meantime, why not explore the other works by the artist in the gallery, or check out the second, smaller exhibition dedicated to the American artist Tom Sachs?
Dates and Opening Time
From March 7, 2026 to April 11, 2026
Location
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac - Marais
7 Rue Debelleyme
75003 Paris 3
Access
Saint-Sébastien Froissart
Prices
Free
Official website
ropac.net
