Origins: an exhibition that probes discrimination at the Museum of the History of Immigration

Contemporary art challenges racism and discrimination in a groundbreaking exhibition on display at the National Museum of the History of Immigration, from June 5 to August 23, 2026.

Where does racism come from, and how does it endure? What does it look like in daily life? Can we imagine a world without discrimination? The National Museum of the History of Immigration invites us to question a vast and complex topic, through an exhibition that blends contemporary art with the social sciences.

From June 5 to August 23, 2026, the exhibition At the origins: cross-cutting perspectives on racism and discrimination challenges our preconceptions about immigration, the people it brings, and how they are judged or integrated into our societies.

This exhibition brings together a range of contemporary works—paintings, photographs, installations—and places them in dialogue with studies and scientific data gathered by several official bodies (the Defender of Rights, the National Institute for Demographic Studies, and the European project UNDETERRED — Unintentional Discrimination Detected and Racism Revealed and Deactivated…).

The exhibit guides visitors through everyday scenarios: in schools and the workplace, in the realm of sports, housing, health, and policing. Each setting can give rise to discrimination rooted in prejudice and stereotypes. The Museum of Immigration History dismantles these received ideas, tracing their origins to better explain what lies behind racist words and actions. Many of these prejudices, born from a colonial past, still shape the imagination of our contemporary society.

Participating artists lend their voices to those who have faced discrimination, revealing their stories and struggles. Through art, creators can also envision a world free of racism, where coexistence takes on new forms, and everyone can exist liberated from these preconceived identities.

Identity sits at the very center of this exhibition: the identity imposed on us at birth, defined by subjective criteria; the identity that has been erased and that new generations can bring back to life; the identity we choose for ourselves, outside the reductive boxes society has built.

By unpacking and explaining the mechanisms of discrimination, the museum aims to show that another way of coexistence is possible. An important yet complex topic, to be explored this summer at the Palais de la Porte Dorée.