PROLOGUE | Opening Night
VENUE: Casino Display, 1, rue de la Loge, Luxembourg
Residency closing: Céleste Thouin
Stand your ground. Loyalty is not a political construct. It is an underlying condition of resistance and revolutionary movements. Whether in political, spiritual, cultural, communal, familial, historical, or contemporary contexts, loyalty plays a role. It embodies the flexibility and nuance that promise both continuity and constant adaptation.
In his research, Céleste Thouin sees loyalty as the need to question and confront his practice. Working with photos, videos, stories, archival writings, and traditional techniques, the artist compels us to question what continuity to hold on to in the face of what is not us, what is no longer us, and what it is that we aspire to be. In this context, loyalty, or fidelity, is therefore taken as a critical position to counter the risks of appropriation and liberal and reactionary recuperation.
The exhibition Fidèles, fidèls* is based on Occitan poems and songs, as well as objects like sentences made out of rust, red, brown, and ecru words. Through the creation of artisanal objects, Céleste Thouin traces the footsteps of a poetry that is somewhat dead, somewhat buried. His research at Casino Display is an exercise in attentiveness; first to the materials, then to their gradual transformation. Thouin engages in a multiplicity of working and manufacturing relationships: spinning large woolen tablecloths from fleeces purchased in the Pyrenees, collectively carded in Cantal, and then woven by Lily Weisgerber in Luxembourg; carving oak, sawing boxwood, and gluing spruce with Théophile Peris; and mixing manure and casting bronze with Alassane Dermé. All this as a strange way of sketching out the quest for a political and poetic position.
*The title of the exhibition is inspired by an Occitan poem by Ives Roqueta, “Rouergue, si” (1969).
Residency opening: Zohra Mrad
Diɇgest – with Catherine Guesde
Diɇgest is a cocoon that invites movement as a means of soothing and processing intense emotional experiences. Rather than projecting the audience into a virtual space, this immersive audiovisual installation encourages an embodied experience, grounded in the present moment. Inspired by recent research on trauma, neuroplasticity, and somatic methods, this generative and interactive installation is a playful space that highlights techniques for creating new neural pathways. The audience’s movements control the sounds and images, offering another way to sense their body and the world around them.
Zohra Mrad
Zohra Mrad is a multidisciplinary Tunisian-Luxembourgish artist and designer based in Luxembourg. They create immersive, interactive, and generative experiences. Their work fosters a dialogue between human experience and technology, encouraging audiences to shift from passive observers to active participants and co-creators. Their approach is collaborative, circular, and inclusive. Mrad’s practice draws inspiration from – and is sometimes closely tied to – kinesthesia, healing, chaos, and the experimental and/or extreme music scene. They explore how experiences can help us survive/live in the world around us. Mrad is a co-founder of the VIVID ECHOES artist residencies in Luxembourg, the magazine foehn, and the collectives Sirr al-’Asrâr, Zolei, and B-Saad. They are also an active member of Mooja and Grave Erreur.
Catherine Guesde
Catherine Guesde conducts both theoretical and creative research around sound. She develops a raw and experimental practice on the electric guitar, performing solo (as Cigvë) or through collaborations (with Richard Comte, Céleste Gatier, Hervé Boghossian, Kole Galbraith, among others). She recently conducted an orchestra of electric guitars and basses (Signal project at Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers). She has performed in numerous institutional venues, festivals, including La Muse enCircuit – Centre National de Création Musicale (CNCM), as well as in contemporary art centers and underground contexts, both in France and internationally. In addition, she engages in philosophical research and practice-based research exploring mythology and experiences of continuous sound. With Pauline Nadrigny, she co-authored The Most Beautiful Ugly Sound in the World: Listening to Noise (Éditions Musica Falsa,), edited the collected volume Penser avec le punk (Presses universitairesde France), and co-edited Croire au black metal with François Vesin (Audimat éditions).
Risodence: Milo Hatfield
Risodence is a format for short residencies. These one-week residencies provide artists, graphic designers, and illustrators with the opportunity to experiment with risograph and engage in research that pushes the boundaries of their creative practices.
Milo Hatfield is a multidisciplinary artist living and working between The Hague (NL) and Luxembourg. In his practice, Milo uses visual references and symbolism in an attempt to tackle the banalized injustices in today’s world. Exploring the witty and contradicting, he designs and constructs grotesque, surreal installations and paraphernalia. Dipped in a melancholic atmosphere, the bitter-sweetness of his work carries a sinister undertone. The perceiver is invited to take a moment of self-reflection and explore their own associations. The serious and pensive are no less important than the silly and naive.
Mentor: Ellen de Haan
périscope: Rari Matei
périscope is a diorama-like installation set within a small, near-ground-level window at Casino Display. It will be activated through in-situ creations, during which invited artists will develop a moving-image project. Based in Luxembourg, Rari Matei is a 25-year-old Romanian-Portuguese gender-queer filmmaker and visual artist. For the past two years, Rari Matei has held the position of artistic director for C’est Karma, where they contribute to shaping the artistʼscreative vision both in Luxembourg and internationally. During their time at Two Steps Twice, and in collaboration with producer Tun Biever, Rari Matei directed several music videos for artists such as MAZ, Francis of Delirium, and C’est Karma, all supported by the Film Fund Luxembourg. Although their background is rooted in visual communication, Rari Matei naturally gravitated toward cinema. With Two Steps Twice, they developed and directed their first short film, Oizys, in Berlin in 2023. The film premiered at the Luxembourg City Film Festival in March 2024, where it was selected for the Made in/with Luxembourg section. As part of this same collaboration, Rari Matei has recently completed Apartamentul 06, their second short film and first Carte Blanche project, which has just finished post-production and is now ready for distribution.
Mentor: Stephen Korytko
Stephen Korytko is a narrative and commercial director. His background in sound and experience as a commercial director of photography shape his meticulous approach to filmmaking – where atmosphere is as vital as composition. His past works includes the short film The Golden Record (2023), and his upcoming projects include his debut feature Dead Dad Girl, as well as an art installation created with musician Antoine Honorez, all slated for release in 2026.