Mire Lee and Pipilotti Rist: THE (PSYCHO)SOMATIC ZONE at The Institute of Contemporary Art, Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes

admin 07/21/2026

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Mire Lee, Turbine Skeleton from Open Wound, 2024-2026. Courtesy of the artist and Tina Kim Gallery. View of the exhibition THE (PSYCHO)SOMATIC ZONE at the Institute of Contemporary Art – Frac Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne, 2026. © Thomas Lannes.

Mire Lee, Untitled (Orange pump animal bone glue study), 2026. Courtesy of the artist and Tina Kim Gallery. View of the exhibition THE (PSYCHO)SOMATIC ZONE at the Institute of contemporary art – Frac Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne, 2026. © Thomas Lannes

Mire Lee, Flat Skins from Open Wound (détail), 2024-2026. Courtesy of the artist and Tina Kim Gallery. View of the exhibition THE (PSYCHO)SOMATIC ZONE at the Institute of contemporary art – Frac Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne, 2026. © Thomas Lannes.

Mire Lee, Untitled (Orange Pump Animal Bone Glue Study) (détail), 2026. Courtesy of the artist and Tina Kim Gallery. View of the exhibition THE (PSYCHO)SOMATIC ZONE at the Institute of Contemporary Art – Frac Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne, 2026. © Thomas Lannes.

Pipilotti Rist, I’m a Victim of this Song, 1995. Collection IAC – Frac Rhône-Alpes. Courtesy of the artist; Mire Lee, Fragments from Open Wound, 2024-2026. Courtesy of the artist and Tina Kim Gallery. View of the exhibition THE (PSYCHO)SOMATIC ZONE at the Institute of contemporary art – Frac Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne, 2026. © Thomas Lannes

Pipilotti Rist, I’m Not the Girl Who Misses Much,1986. Collection IAC – Frac Rhône-Alpes. Courtesy of the artist. View of the exhibition THE (PSYCHO)SOMATIC ZONE at the Institute of Contemporary Art – Frac Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne, 2026. © Thomas Lannes.

Pipilotti Rist, Sexy, Sad, I, 1987; Blutclip, 1994. Collection IAC – Frac Rhône-Alpes. Courtesy of the artist. View of the exhibition THE (PSYCHO)SOMATIC ZONE at the Institute of Contemporary Art – Frac Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne, 2026. © Thomas Lannes

Pipilotti Rist, (Entlastungen) Pipilottis Fehler, 1988. Collection IAC – Frac Rhône-Alpes. Courtesy of the artist. View of the exhibition THE (PSYCHO)SOMATIC ZONE at the Institute of Contemporary Art – Frac Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne, 2026. © Thomas Lannes.

THE (PSYCHO)SOMATIC ZONE
The Institute of Contemporary Art, Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes
Mire Lee | Pipilotti Rist
April 3 to August 2, 2026

PR: THE (PSYCHO)SOMATIC ZONE arises from the pure and immediate collision of body and mind.

In this reflex zone, sensation precedes words, and the intellect loses its role as mediator. “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here,” warned Dante at the gates of Hell. Here, it is artifice that we must renounce.

On the left side of the exhibition space, Mire Lee’s sculptures—body-machines that are sometimes alive, sometimes lifeless—patiently await visitors, trapped in a hellish routine. Their inertia reflects rest after ecstasy, while their petulance reflects pleasure, tension, and agony. On their bodies, like scars, marks or residues preserve the memory of their experiences. What has been remains, on the verge of being erased.

Construction materials—props, turbines, panels, nets—are transformed into skin and skeletons. Once protective and powerful, these architectural relics are transformed into breathless, vulnerable creatures, on the border between machine and flesh. The aesthetics of science fiction arise naturally: these cyborg bodies, suspended between past and future, are nothing more than entities exiled from forgotten limbos.

The space imposes its contradictory emotions: fascination and unease, desire and repulsion, wonder and discomfort. Each form first strikes the body, leaving a lasting impression. Here, matter lives, breathes, and remembers—and we, in contact with it, are inexorably reminded of our own end.