During the week of Art Basel Paris, the Mondriaan Fund and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Paris present The Space between Breaths. An exhibition of Dutch contemporary artists curated by Julia Geerlings. The exhibition takes place at Atelier Néerlandais. The Mondriaan Fund aims to strengthen the visibility of Dutch contemporary visual artists within an international context. With this exhibition, Geerlings shows a selection of artists who recently received support through the Artist Basic Grant.
About The Space between Breaths
Breathing is a universal act, yet the conditions in which we live determine how freely we are able to breathe. Climate change and air pollution affect our health. The pressure of an ever-accelerating society leaves little room to catch our breath. And not everyone experiences the same freedom, safety, or access to healthcare and a healthy environment. In The Space between Breaths, breath is approached not only as a physical reality but also as a social and political one. The works demonstrate how breathing can function as a metaphor for connection, care, migration, ecology, identity, memory, and imagination. From diverse perspectives, the artists explore what breath can tell us about our relationship with one another, our environment, and the future.
About the artists
The exhibition includes installations, sculptures, sound works, video, painting, textile works and performance by a selection of artists: Femke Herregraven, Mandy Franca, Chaim van Luit, Nasrin Tabatabai & Babak Afrassiabi, Annabelle Binnerts, Daniel Godínez-Nivón, Iriée Zamblé, Fiona Lutjenhuis and Mette Sterre.
The exhibition brings together works that engage with themes such as climate, health, inclusion, vulnerability, and resilience. In Labour Lung, Nasrin Tabatabai and Babak Affrasiabi explore how breathing is not only a biological function, but also a site where labour, exploitation, addiction and technological control converge. Femke Herregraven examines in The Murmur of the Dying how breathing, sighs and murmurs can carry meaning beyond the limits of language, while Annabelle Binnerts uses language and breath to make the physicality of words visible. Other artists focus on wind, air currents, exhaustion, the sea, dreams, activism, or the relationship between body and environment.
Dates 22-25 October 2026 | Opening hours 11am – 6pm | Opening reception Thursday 22 October, 6:00pm-9:00pm | Location Atelier Néerlandais – 22 Avenue Victoria, 75001 Paris | Organised by the Mondriaan Fund and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Paris
About the curator
Julia Geerlings is a curator, writer and advisor. Through her multidisciplinary practice, she connects contemporary art to social, political, and ecological issues. Her work is characterized by a strong interest in site-responsive modes of presentation, in which the history and social environment of a location play an active role in the exhibition development process. Geerlings is known for her interdisciplinary approach and her interest in artists who explore the boundaries between different media and societal questions.
About Atelier Néerlandais
Atelier Néerlandais is a platform of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Paris, dedicated to Dutch design, arts, and literature, in the heart of Paris
Cultural entrepreneurs, institutions and independent professionals in the creative industries use Atelier Néerlandais for meetings, product presentations, fashion shows, courses and conferences. The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands also uses Atelier Néerlandais for public-facing activities such as lectures, debates, exhibitions and networking events, usually in collaboration with Dutch and French partners.
The Mondriaan Fund
The Mondriaan Fund is the public funding and stimulation organisation for the visual arts and cultural heritage sector in the Netherlands and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. We are one of the six national cultural funds that invest, on behalf of society, in cultural makers, institutions and projects.