BRUSSELS.- From April 23 to July 4, 2026, the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès presents the exhibition “Extrazimmer” by Caroline Achaintre in its exhibition space La Verrière. For this occasion, the artist presents several artworks including a large scale tapestry. The selection of works as been augmented and accompanied by works by Czech artist Anna Zemánková and sculptor Régis Jocteur Monrozier, as well as a text by Alsatian writer Simone Morgenthaler.
At La Verrière, Caroline Achaintre reveals the work Gobbler, her most ambitious production to date produced on the occasion of Art Basel Unlimited 2025. A majestic tapestry presented alongside other textile works, most of which were realised in the tufting technique consisting of inserting threads parallel and continuously through a piece of fabric. These suspended works act as hybrid creatures blending the carnival spirit, anthropomorphism and science fiction, and are presented alongside dozens of ceramics as well as other materials.
Regularly exhibited in Europe and represented in prestigious collections, Caroline Achaintre is a distinctive artist. At La Verrière, she adopts the idea of an “Extrazimmer” – German for “extra room” – to unfold her singular universe, tinged with humour and various references. The title of the exhibition refers to a space free of constraints, where anything is possible, echoing Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. It also resonates with the principle of hospitality dear to curator Joël Riff, who invites the artist here for their eighth collaboration since 2016.
For his 11th exhibition at La Verrière, Joël Riff continues the idea of the augmented solo exhibition that allows the public to discover works that resonate with those of Caroline Achaintre, such as the drawings and cut-outs by Czech artist Anna Zemánková. Several pieces of sculptural furniture by Brussels-based artist Régis Jocteur Monrozier inhabit the space, welcoming the artist’s works. In parallel, an invitation has been extended to Alsatian journalist and author Simone Morgenthaler to write an original piece.
“EXTRAZIMMER”
Caroline Achaintre extravagues. She walks off the beaten track, whilst simply clearing her own free way. For the past twenty years, her work has roamed the realm of sculpture, cherishing those areas often or long deemed suspect, if not forbidden, as decorative, artisanal or humorous. The result is an exponential family of faces from another world, literally extraterrestrial. Her eccentric characters are friendly and reminiscent of legends in which the initial fear of their appearance quickly gives way to affection, perhaps even protection. They follow us like shadows, whispering in our ears, coming to life when we turn our backs; enjoying striking poses and pausing for the rest of the time. Known for tufting wool, modelling clay and drawing with ink, her work also incorporates other materials whose malleability allows her flights of fancy. Fibres are always involved, their structure blurred. The palette blends like watercolours, in strands, in enamel, on paper. Whatever the medium, a stature emerges in the contrast between nebulousness and clear-cut choices.
Caroline Achaintre extracts things to reveal them, here and elsewhere. In this sense, she is the sole intermediary between the beyond and us. Diving in and out of parallel strata, she continues to be presented as “emerging” despite a quarter of a century of experimentation, which shows the extent to which she embodies otherness. Rather than a curse, she approaches this constant emergence as a compliment, with the discomfort of knowing she is a constant stranger. Her biography forces us to break out of our automatisms, as it is not so easy to assign her a nationality. This emphasises the layers and turmoil that shape an identity. Being extraordinary also means having to be a monster. So faces grimace without embarrassment, while masks display their truth. An alien everywhere, the artist navigates the interstices, taming matter into a home – a haven that provides a foundation. This necessary home remains hospitable to others, as long as we accept the quality of differences, making the bizarre indispensable, and deviance a power that is truly rococo, precisely queer.
The exhibition “Extrazimmer” takes its title from the “extra room” found in German houses. It can be a guest room, a spare office, a leisure area, or simply a place of chaos for everything that doesn’t fit elsewhere. Its defining feature is that it can hold anything. Its strength lies in its versatility, in not being limited to a single function – a contrast to rooms where functions are set in stone. The versatility of this space for hospitality means that anything can be done there. It is one of those famous safe spaces that are necessary for mental well-being. It is a room of one’s own. This spatial outlet could find its temporal equivalent in a carnival, a break from the rationalist calendar during which the world is turned upside down and anything is possible. It is a time outside of time, a room freed from domestic pressures. In the private sphere, it is intimate. For the artist, of course, it is the studio, unless everything is overturned and the whole world becomes this outside “extra” area. It is interesting to note that the Latin prefix extra affirms both intensity and exteriority.
Caroline Achaintre defies. By engaging with peripheral areas, she reminds us that the heart is where we choose to place it. This shift reveals a crucial vulnerability. The key is to always know how to be in the middles. And her new London workshop allows her to give even greater scope to the nuclei she places in our orbits. Here we find antediluvian machines, armoured against obsolescence and fiercely efficient. Hand dyed green curtains divide the space according to need. The sectors follow the techniques, which are incompatible, so the clay, which can crack during firing if intruders disturb its composition, is located opposite the balls of wool. And if working with clay resembles cooking, working with wool is akin to hairdressing. It is a large Rabelaisian laboratory. With a firm hand, a certain brutality is exercised to make an impression, whether good or bad, peppering the canvas with threads, kneading the clay and leaving imprints. The amplitude of her extended tufting frame increases the dimensions of her textile surfaces, to the point of simply creating superlatives.
The exhibition “Extrazimmer” showcases a huge tapestry as its centrepiece. Displayed for six days one year ago at an art fair, it is now back in the spotlight for an unprecedented public viewing. At its edge are a dozen fresh woollen pieces, most of which were made for the occasion. While the walls are reserved for soft materials, it would have been a shame not to include some ceramics. And, on the margins of the margins, and therefore in the centre, are the furnishings of Régis Jocteur Monrozier, the words of Simone Morgenthaler, and the drawings of Anna Zemánková. From their own spaces, these personalities bring about powerful transformations that explore usage, orality and ornamentation. They, too, have the courage to always listen to themselves. It goes without saying that you have to know how to do as you please. The title rings out like an infinitive verb, the best of all tenses, open to any conjugation. This verb form is an invitation to be open and flexible, so that there is always room to offer.
Joël Riff
Caroline Achaintre was born in Toulouse in 1969 and grew up in Germany. Trained in the art of metalwork, she studied at the Kunsthochschule in Halle – where she has been teaching since 2018 – before moving to the United Kingdom in 1998. She continued her studies at Chelsea College of Art & Design and Goldsmiths College in London, graduating in 2003. Her work is featured in numerous public collections in France (CAPC Bordeaux, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, CNAP, Centre Pompidou, FRAC Aquitaine, FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, etc.) and Europe (Tate London, Neues Museum in Nuremberg, etc.). Caroline Achaintre has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Künstlerhaus in Marktoberdorf in 2025, at Visual in Carlow in 2023, at the Kunstmuseum in Ravensburg in 2021, at the Fondation Thalie in 2020, as well as an ambitious traveling monographic exhibition with the collaboration of Vincent Honoré in cooperation with Belvedere 21 in Vienna, the MO.CO. Panacée in Montpellier, the Fondazione Giuliani in Rome, and the CAPC in Bordeaux. In 2019, she participated in the Skills Academy dedicated to textiles at the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès. Caroline Achaintre is represented by the Art : Concept gallery in Paris and the von Bartha gallery in Basel and Copenhagen.
