Vivre avec / Living with
From 3 April to 23 August 2026, Frac Centre-Val de Loire is hosting the exhibition of the French Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia: Vivre avec / Living with, an initial proposition by curators and architects Dominique Jakob and Brendan MacFarlane, with Éric Daniel-Lacombe and Martin Duplantier.
The Vivre avec / Living with exhibition at Frac Centre-Val de Loire explores an architecture of attention, adaptation and cohabitation designed in response to today’s ecological, political and social crises, with scenography by Jakob + MacFarlane. Showcasing some 50 projects from around the world, the exhibition demonstrates how architecture is able to adapt to instability and invites us not to build differently, but to “live with” what already exists: proximity, damage, vulnerabilities, nature and the living world. It invites us to “live with” intelligences that, when brought together, allow us to collectively face the challenges of our time.
At Frac Centre-Val de Loire, the concept of “living with” is directly applicable to the exhibition, which presents the projects chosen for the French Pavilion at the Biennale alongside historic and sometimes iconic projects and works from Frac’s international collection of forward-looking and experimental architecture. Above all, it was designed for a space that already “lives with” two architectures: a legacy of its military heritage and Les Turbulences, a radical and boldly contemporary structure designed by Jakob + MacFarlane.
The exhibition also addresses the question of “living with” by engaging with local and regional partners. Throughout its duration and as part of satellite events for the Festival of the New European Bauhaus, meetings will be organised in cooperation with the “Living in Centre-Val de Loire” community, architects and urban designers (Maison de l’Architecture et des Paysages Centre-Val de Loire; CAUE – Conseils d’Architecture, d’Arbanisme et d’Environnement; and urban development agencies). The same topics will also be addressed during an event that will convene architecture, design and landscape design schools. These events will see Centre-Val de Loire regional authorities, government representatives and cultural, social and educational stakeholders coming together to share and pose questions and discuss initial experiences of adaptation in the cultural field.
The exhibition will appeal to younger audiences by presenting a selection of works from Frac’s collection that tie in with the themes advanced by the French Pavilion and presented in several high schools in nearby towns such as Romorantin, Châteauroux and Vendôme, as well as through a series of activities designed for school pupils as part of the Semaine de la Biodiversité event. Lastly, these topics will be a thematic focus in the preschools and primary schools of the Les Blossières district in Orléans, with which Frac has a three-year twinning partnership.
The Vivre avec / Living with exhibition is recognised by Bourges 2028, European Capital of Culture and is part of the recent partnership agreement between Institut français, the Directorate General for Artistic Creation of the French Ministry for Culture, and Platform, the national network of Fonds régionaux d’art contemporain (Regional Collections of Contemporary Art – Frac).