ImmersION at L’Aiguillage: the art and quantum-physics exhibition at Les Frigos in Paris

ImmersION, a multidisciplinary show blending contemporary art with quantum physics, is set to run from June 26 to October 31, 2026 at L’Aiguillage, a contemporary art space housed in the Frigos de Paris complex in Paris’s 13th arrondissement. Spearheaded by Lilay Gros-Desormeaux, a PhD student in the Materials and Quantum Phenomena laboratory at Paris Cité University, the project invites visitors to experience scientific research in a new light through original works by artists who are immersed in the lab’s universe.

Quantum physics, born in the 20th century, studies matter at the atomic scale and has given rise to technologies such as lasers and transistors. Through ImmersION, these once-abstract ideas are transformed into shapes, sounds, images, and installations accessible to a broad audience.

Contemporary works inspired by quantum physics

For ImmersION, artists from a range of disciplines were invited to observe the phenomena, protocols and tools of a quantum physics research laboratory. From this encounter, works emerged that translate complex scientific concepts into visual, sonic, or immersive experiences.

The exhibition brings together installations, drawings, paintings, sculptures, videos and immersive installations. Visitors are invited to experience differently the research conducted on matter, light, trapped ions, lasers, and the lab’s technical environments.

Highlights of the exhibition

• A meeting between contemporary creation and scientific research conducted in Paris;
• Original works inspired by the universe of the Materials and Quantum Phenomena Lab;
• A parcours blending installations, paintings, videos, sculptures and immersive experiences;
• A sensitive approach to making the issues of quantum technologies more accessible;
• An exhibition installed at Les Frigos, the emblematic creative hub in the 13th arrondissement.

Artists, talks and programming around ImmersION

ImmersION is not conceived as a fixed exhibition. The project includes opportunities for dialogue and engagement, with encounters, guided tours, lectures, roundtables, performances, and hands-on science activities. The goal is to make L’Aiguillage a space of discovery, transmission, and shared curiosity.

The lineup includes the artists Alain Frentzel, Armelle Trouche, Cordélia Beaudequin, David Coulon, Étienne Assénat, France Mitrofanoff, Guillaume Krattinger, Hervé Bernard, Igor Bertrand, Isabel Bertelot, Mehdi Boukri, and Micha Laury. Each brings a distinctive take on the materials, techniques, and imaginaries drawn from quantum research.

The Aiguillage, a contemporary-art venue at the Frigos de Paris

The exhibition takes place at L’Aiguillage, at 19 Rue des Frigos, in Paris’s 13th arrondissement. This independent venue dedicated to contemporary art sits within the distinctive Frigos complex, former cold-storage warehouses that have become artists’ studios and creative spaces.

This context gives the project a distinctive resonance. Just steps from the laboratory, L’Aiguillage becomes a crossing between two worlds: the precision of science and the freedom of art. The stark, creative setting of the Frigos accompanies an exhibition that aims to render visible what, in quantum physics, often escapes both the eye and intuition.

An exhibition at the crossroads of science, imagination, and transmission

The project grew out of a meeting between Lilay Gros-Desormeaux, a doctoral student in the Materials and Quantum Phenomena Laboratory at Université Paris Cité, and L’Aiguillage. Its aim: to bring the general public closer to quantum technologies and their scientific and social implications, without compromising the clarity of the concepts.

With ImmersION, art becomes a mediation tool, able to make visible phenomena that are usually invisible, laboratory setups, and research questions typically reserved for specialists. A proposal to discover, in a new light, the links between matter, light, contemporary creation, and science in Paris.