Bordeaux: Five contemporary art exhibitions to discover in October

Bordeaux. Does dromology mean anything to you? This concept, coined by French philosopher and urban planner Paul Virilio (1932-2018) from the Greek words dromos (race, path) and logos (discourse, study), refers to the analysis of speed and its effects on society, politics, culture, and even the organization of space.

For Axel Amiaud, a member of the Acte collective, this reflection resonates particularly strongly. Coming from a family passionate about motorsport, he has drawn from it a fertile source of inspiration that informs his artistic work—as we discovered in the summer of 2024 at the Confort Moderne.

Invited today by the Kimono association, the Poitevin visual artist is stopping off in Bordeaux with an exhibition that combines vector drawings, paintings, models, and assemblages. A poetic reading of this mechanical heritage: between fantasized freedom and prosaic constraints, between the utopianism of progress and the stigmata of its failures. Opening Thursday, October 9, starting at 6 p.m.

“Dromologies.” From October 10 to November 30, Maison Bourbon, 79 rue Bourbon, Bordeaux. kimonoproduction.fr

Bordeaux. Fans of comics that stray from the beaten track, this exhibition is for you. At the helm: Victor Hussenot, a French author, illustrator, and visual artist born in 1985 in Paris, who rose to prominence with "La Casa" (2011, Warum), and whose subsequent ten publications unfold bold and inventive stories. "La Brigade" (2024, Casterman), for example, tells the story of Merlin's quest for lost fame in 324 pages, blending humor and epic battles, while his latest project, the leporello "Les Pupilles" (Façades collection, Éditions Polystyrène), invites you to play by modifying the heads of a face-building, like an exquisite corpse.

His playful and experimental world is also revealed at the Tentö gallery through a series of watercolors in intimate formats, where graphic experimentation blends with abstraction and visual imagination.

Until November 8, at Galerie Tentö, 30 rue Bouffard, Bordeaux. Free admission from Wednesday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. www.tento-art.com

Bordeaux. Echoing the exhibition "Aïta, Poetic Fragments of a Moroccan Scene" (on view until January 4, 2026), the Frac MÉCA is partnering with the FIFIB to offer a program exploring the intersections between visual arts and cinema, where memory, territory, identity, and fiction intertwine.

Join us on Friday, October 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Utopia Bordeaux cinema for a selection of short films directed by Hicham Gardaf, Abdessamad El Montassir, and Meriem Bennani. The latter, a multimedia artist, will be present for a discussion after the screening of "Bouchra" (2025) at 8:30 p.m., a 3D feature film co-directed with Orian Barki. This hybrid film, blending documentary and fiction, follows the long-distance relationship between Bouchra, a Moroccan filmmaker in New York, and her mother in Casablanca, exploring identity and cultural tensions through animated anthropomorphic characters. Meriem Bennani will also be present on Saturday, October 11 at 2:30 p.m. at the UGC Bordeaux for a new screening of "Bouchra" followed by a discussion.

Prints at the Eponyme gallery

Bordeaux. Exploring footprints—human or natural—questioning our ecological impact and imagining new narratives: this is the invitation of the new exhibition presented at the Eponyme gallery, which brings together six artists. Arina Essipowitsch, whose work was discovered during the last edition of Itinéraires des photographes voyageurs, plays with photography to create modular volumes where the human figure blends into the landscape. Julie Calbert shapes unstable territories from photosensitive paper, altered then reactivated like a living material.

Caroline Le Méhauté experiments with a screen print made with volcanic rock powder. Coline Jourdan explores the presence of toxic substances in our environments, while Lou Motin transforms construction debris into visual fictions. Finally, Anne-Valérie Gasc uses devastation as a visual language, placing destruction, demolition, and disappearance at the heart of her work to challenge our perception of reality. Opening Thursday, October 9, starting at 6 p.m.

"Permanence of the Elements." From October 9 to December 24, 3 rue Cornac, Bordeaux. Free admission from Wednesday to Saturday, 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., and by appointment. www.eponymegalerie.com

Multidisciplinary

Pessac. “Hwessi (n) – Royales”, by the Résonance Company, directed by Perrine Fifadji, a choreographer and singer with Beninese roots, pays homage to the powerful female figures of Benin: queens, Amazons, voodoo priestesses…

The creation embraces multidisciplinarity, blending music, dance, song, and visual arts. Dominique Zinkpè, an internationally renowned Beninese artist, designed the set and scenography, which revolves around seven large canvases, each measuring 5.40 m.

Echoing the show, Catherine Bosch's "Féminin Pluriel" exhibition is being held from October 7 to 31 at the Jacques Ellul Media Library. A guided tour and a meeting with the artist are scheduled for Tuesday, October 7 at 6:30 p.m. Free admission, no reservation required.