Can We Act as if Nothing Happened? is Fabienne Audéoud’s first large-scale solo exhibition in a French institution. On this occasion, the artist is showing more than 150 paintings made in the last quarter century, some of which were never exhibited before. These works come from different series, including Maman, Praying, Hummus, Beatrix Potter, No, Brown Paintings, Oysters & Goats, Cookies, and Thinness, among yet others. The paintings touch upon a series of questions that have long occupied the artist, such as our relationship to language (What is said and what remains unsaid?), beliefs (Can we discuss them at all?), her experiences as a woman (To identify or to disidentify?), and power dynamics and the norm (Who or what makes laws?). With humour and references to art history and popular culture, painting’s suitability as a medium for exploring these questions is also examined.

The exhibition steps away from the expected format of a retrospective to embrace a more openly questioning form that asks us whether we can act as if nothing happened. Before even addressing the audience, Audéoud integrates this question into the way she is hanging the works. She decides to keep her answer in suspense by presenting her canvases on the ground, atop simple wedges, as one might in the studio, awaiting a decision or a turning point. The canvases, their edges touching, form a long line against the art centre’s walls, their motifs, words, and registers unfolding in a continuous stream. This proximity yields contradictions and dissonances: an experience of difference and differend*, or perhaps of making do. How should we respond?

On the occasion of this exhibition, CRAC Alsace and Ness Books are compiling the first monograph of this artist’s entire oeuvre, spanning from the 1990s until the present day. The book will be published in early 2027.

Curator: Elsa Vettier

* The term différend refers here to a situation of conflict that cannot be resolved fairly in the absence of a rule of judgement shared by the parties. This concept was theorised by the French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard (1924-1998) in The Differend: Phrases in Dispute (1983).

 

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Can We Act As If Nothing Happened? by Fabienne Audéoud will be held alongside Ouija by Michael Van den Abeele. 
On Thursday, October 8, 2026, from 6 pm, CRAC Alsace is pleased to invite you to the opening of these two solo exhibitions. On this occasion, a free shuttle will leave from Basel (Meret Oppenheim Strasse) at 6 pm. It will return to Basel at 10 pm. Information and RSVP: s.menu@cracalsace.com