Under the Grande Arche de la Défense, the new Extatiques 2026 exhibition takes over a space that is usually inaccessible to offer an immersive experience on the theme of the marine depths and their mysteries.
From April 3 to 26, 2026 in the Salle des Colonnes, a vast space buried under the Grande Arche de La Défense, Les Extatiques are deploying an unusual immersive journey dedicated to the ocean depths. Equipped with headphones and a flashlight, visitors are invited to wander through the darkness, guided by a story written by Mariette Navarro and carried by the voice of Emily Loizeau. Entitled “Under the Horizon”, the exhibition is designed as a true sensory journey to discover a universe that is both original and largely unknown.
“Under the horizon”: a unique exhibition under the Grande Arche
Since its creation in 2018, the Extatiques festival has become a moment of celebration of contemporary art, both for amateurs and for workers in the La Défense district. Imagined as a truly plural artistic season, this 2026 edition invites you to explore “Other worlds“. The first exhibition in this series, entitled “Under the Horizon”, takes the time to delve into a poetic and sensitive universe, which contrasts with the rhythm of the most attractive business district in Europe. A suspended moment, outside of time, which offers an unexpected parenthesis.
Ugo Schiavi, Installation The Midnight Zone (2025-2026), Les Extatiques 2026 exhibition “Under the horizon” ©Photo: ADetienne
Many people are unaware that a vast room of more than 1,000 m2 is located just below the Grande Arche! Usually closed to the public, it is in this space that the teams chose to present the first exhibition of the season.
An exploration of underwater worlds
Source of all life on Earth, the ocean nevertheless remains largely inaccessible to view. Covering more than 70% of the earth’s surface, it regulates the climate and produces an essential part of the oxygen we breathe but still remains largely unexplored. It is this gap between omnipresence and invisibility that the exhibition highlights, inviting the visitor to penetrate a buried world, governed by fragile balances and often unsuspected forms of life. Conceived as a cycle, the exhibition takes the visitor on a slow descent towards the abyssal depths, before sketching the opposite movement, an ascent towards the surface, guided by light.
Ugo Schiavi, Installation The Midnight Zone (2025-2026), Les Extatiques 2026 exhibition “Under the horizon” ©Photo: Connaissance des Arts / Léana Da Silva
At the invisible origins of life
The route opens with the works of Antoine Bertin and the sounds of the ocean microbiome, this set of microorganisms essential to the functioning of marine ecosystems. Very quickly, the experience becomes more physical with AÂ fish heart (2025), the visitor perceives the beating of a fish’s heart before sinking into ever darker areas.
Antoine Bertin, A Fish Heart (2025), installation Sentiment OcéaniqueLes Extatiques 2026 exhibition “Under the horizon” © Photo: Klara Hlavata
The Midnight Zone and the perpetual darkness of the abyss
With The Midnight Zone (2025-2026) by Ugo Schiavi, the light disappears completely, giving way to hybrid and mutating forms, evoking abyssal creatures. Through his installation, the artist shows the deep seas still unexplored and immersed in a perpetual darkness. Sculptures of varying dimensions populate the space, creating an almost disturbing climate.
Ugo Schiavi, Installation The Midnight Zone (2025-2026), Les Extatiques 2026 exhibition “Under the horizon” ©Photo: Connaissance des Arts / Léana Da Silva
Bas-reliefs with an astonishing assemblage of fossils and electronic elements question the mark of man on depths which are nevertheless inaccessible to him.
Ugo Schiavi, Bas-reliefs (2025-2026), Les Extatiques 2026 exhibition “Under the horizon” ©Photo: Connaissance des Arts / Léana Da Silva
First steps in the “Under the Horizon” exhibition at the heart of Defense
Light as a manifestation of life
Further on, Jérémie Brugidou’s installations explore the phenomena of bioluminescence, where light emanates directly from living things. Between sculpture, sound and image, the journey thus composes a progressive, almost dizzying descent into a universe where the usual landmarks gradually fade away.ANT-2200 (2024-2026) is a fascinating living installation which allows the public to closely observe bioluminescent bacteria (photobacterium phosphoreum) which react to movement by producing their own light source.
Jérémie Brugidou, installation ANT-2200 (2024-2026), Les Extatiques 2026 exhibition “Under the horizon” ©Photo: Connaissance des Arts / Léana Da Silva
His other multisensory installationLuminescent planets (2024-2026) envelops us, it makes our bearings waver, erasing all notion of high and low, as in the depths.
Jérémie Brugidou, installation Luminescent planets (2024-2026), Les Extatiques 2026 exhibition “Under the horizon” ©Photo: Connaissance des Arts / Léana Da Silva
A space of contemplation
This journey ends with an installation entitled From the comfort of water, from the brightness of the stars, you will find the way (2026) by the artist Shivay La Multiple, designed as a sacred cave and dedicated to Yémaya, mother goddess of the oceans in the Yoruba religion. Conceived as a space of contemplation, this latter part introduces a symbolic and spiritual dimension, thus offering a counterpoint to the scientific approach of the beginning of the exhibition.
Shivay La Multiple, installation From the comfort of water, from the brightness of the stars you will find the way (2026), Les Extatiques 2026 exhibition “Under the horizon” ©Photo: Connaissance des Arts / Léana Da Silva
Deprived of his usual visual cues, guided by sound and light, the visitor physically experiences the depth and strangeness of the marine world. A sensitive way of reminding us that, beneath the surface, a still largely unknown universe unfolds on which the balance of the planet depends!
The Ecstatics “Under the Horizon”
Hall of Columns – Great Arch of Defense
1, Parvis de la Défense, Puteaux 92800
from April 3 to 26, 2026
