Théo Mercier
Théo Mercier was born in Paris in 1984
He lives and works in Paris
Claiming formal freedom, Théo Mercier strives to deconstruct the mechanisms of history, objects and representations in which he goes back to harmonious contradictions. An explorer, collector and artist in turn, he carries out a reflection that is located at the intersection between anthropology, geopolitics and tourism. The result is a sprawling body of work populated by dystopian myths and iconoclastic sculptures in which past, present and future, life and death, artisanal and industrial, secular and sacred, real and fiction, clash in an orderly cacophony.
Théo Mercier has had personal exhibitions at the MONA, Tasmania (2025); Villa Medici, Rome (2023); the Conciergerie, Paris (2022); the LUMA Westbau, Zurich (2022); the Collection Lambert, Avignon (2021); Le Portique, Le Havre (2021); the 13th Havana Biennial, Cuba (2019); Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris (2019); Museo El Eco, Mexico City (2017); Musée de l’Homme, Paris (2017); Musée d’art Contemporain – MAC, Marseille (2016); Lieu Unique, Nantes (2013); and Tri Postal, Lille (2012), among others.
He also participated in many collective exhibitions such as the 3rd Diriyah Biennale, Saudi Arabia (2026); the Prague Quadriennale (2023); West Bund Museum, Shanghai (2021); Musée du Quai Branly, Paris (2021); Jameel Arts Center, Dubai (2019); Fonds Hélène et Edouard Leclerc, Landerneau (2019); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2018); Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City (2018); FRAC Bretagne, Rennes (2018); the Museum of the archaeological site of Baalbek, Lebanon (2016); MAC VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine (2015); and Centre Pompidou, Paris (2013).
Moving from a practice of the “white cube” to that of the “black box”, Théo Mercier directed several performances, which have been shown at Nanterre-Amandiers, the Festival d’Automne, the Ménagerie de verre, the Centre Pompidou (Paris), the Festival d’Avignon, and the Venice Biennale among others.
He was a resident at Villa Medicis in 2013, and nominated for the Marcel Duchamp Prize in 2014. In 2019, he won the Silver Lion at the Venice Dance Biennale.
