Vit à : Vitry-sur-Seine , France
Born in 1998 in Arras (Hauts-de-France), Thomas Lemire is a curator, art critic, and researcher. His practice is rooted in a sensitive and contextual curatorial approach, at the intersection of everyday narratives and social critique, with a focus on affect, vernacular forms, and the politics of the everyday. He creates exhibitions that engage with marginal and queer aesthetics, intimate stories, and local contexts to question systems of gendered, class-based, and moral representation. His participatory and situated approach aims to offer audiences immersive, reflective experiences, where exhibitions become tools for popular education.
His critical and theoretical work explores mechanisms of normalization and social control, shedding light on resistance, counter-narratives, and potential subversions.
A graduate in curatorial studies from the Sorbonne and co-founder of the collective soap, he regularly collaborates with the temporary exhibitions department of MAC VAL – Museum of Contemporary Art in Val-de-Marne. Since 2024, he has been engaged in a three-year curatorial residency at the Jean-Collet Municipal Gallery in Vitry-sur-Seine.
His current research focuses on contemporary hygienism and its representations, particularly the way minoritized bodies are relegated to the category of the “unclean” based on colonial, class-based, and gendered logics. Through an ongoing cycle of exhibitions (The Washers, Coco Sour), critical texts, and documentary work, he examines how these imaginaries shape domestic and public spaces, influencing social representations and cultural practices.
In parallel, he conducts action-research on ethics, responsibility, and alternative economies in the art field. He contributes to the “Ethical Practices” working group within C-E-A, where he is involved in the collective writing of a curatorial and critical code of ethics, as well as in the volunteer-led editing and distribution of a Survival Guide for Artist-Authors.
Thomas Lemire (b. 1998, Arras) is a curator, art critic, and researcher whose work explores vernacular aesthetics, social critique, and affect-based curating. A graduate of the Sorbonne and co-founder of soap, he collaborates with MAC VAL and is in residence at Jean-Collet Gallery (Vitry-sur-Seine). His research addresses hygienism, social control, and ethical practices in art. He is part of C-E-A’s “Ethical Practices” group, contributing to a curatorial code of ethics and co-editing a Survival Guide for Artist-Authors.
The Washers, 26 Avril to 29 June 2025, Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine.
With Kenny Dunkan, Margot Bernard & Rose Bourdon, Marie Preston, Nato Bosc-Ducros, Nina Azoulay, Roxanne Maillet, Sacha Collin Rivière, Victor Andrea Gonzalez.
Coco Sour, 14 February to 6 April 2025, Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine.
With Victoire Gonzalvez.
Des galaxies dans des bols de lait, 12 September to 27 octobre 2024, Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine.
With Georges Juliette Ayrault and Louis Chaumier
Folklore, petrichor, inaugural curatorial residency exhibition, 17 May to 7 July 2024, Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine.
With Aëla Maï Cabel, Ferruel & Guedon, Frederik Exner, Low Lov, Rose-Mahé Cabel, Youri Johnson
HUMAIN AUTONOME : ACCROCHAGE
a selection of works from the MAC VAL collection in conjunction with the forthcoming exhibition HUMAIN AUTONOME : DEROUTES (25 April to 22 September 2024), curated by Frank Lamy, assisted by Thomas Lemire, MAC VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine.
With Carole Benzaken, Elisabeth Ballet, Eric Dubuc, Eric Hattan, ERRÓ, Etienne Bossut, Jean Dewasne, Michel de Broin, NØNE FUTBOL CLUB, Peter Klasen, Peter Stämpfli, Pierre Ardouvin, Pierre Buraglio, Raymond Hains and Véronique Boudier.
Semblable à un petit os de seiche, curated by soap collective, 22-30 July 2023, Bétonsalon – Centre d’art et de recherche.
With Anna Giner, Audrey Prédhumeau, Claire Gitton, Hélène Janicot, Juliette Ayrault, Marine Ducroux-Gazio, Michelle Feeley, Nicole, Nina Azoulay, Victor Gonzalez
– “Aquatic Figures and Washerwomen”, talk between Rose Mahé Cabel and Thomas Lemire, Thursday 20th of March 2025, SOMA, research center, Marseille, France.
– “Histoires vraies” – Focus: Virginie Barré”, Sunday April 2, 2023, MAC-VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine, France.
– “Salt Water is Bitter”: the 14th edition of Istanbul Biennal”, symposium with Radhia Bouboune as part of a study day organized by Sorbonne University, Saturday, January 28, 2023, Fondation Pernod-Ricard, Paris, France.
– “The Sonamou Adventure. Sonamou ou Séoul à Paris, Korean Artists between France and Korea”, debate with Amélie Adamo, Aurélia Antoni, Pierre Cambon, Henri-François Debailleux and Thomas Lemire, Friday October 21, 2022, Korean Cultural Center, Paris, France.
– Masterclass Arts and Medias by Ingrid Luquet-Gad, organized by the Youth Arts Club (YAC), Wednesday, October 24, 2021, Espace Quand les fleurs nous sauvent, Paris, France.
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
Halfway between Reached Hands : Solidarity, Class Struggle, Vulnerabilities and Responsibility Among Art Workers, thesis in Curatorial Studies, thesis with high honors, under the direction of Alessandro Gallicchio and Clément Dirié, Sorbonne University, 2023.
The Death of Photography ? Imaginaries and Counter-narratives of Obsolescence in the Post-photographic Age, thesis in Philosophy and Art History with high honors, under the direction of Pauline Nadrigny and Michel Poivert, Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University, 2022
PRESS
« NILS-UDO », interview, Artension Magazine, n°177, January-February 2023.
« Mettre au monde », revue d’exposition, Artension Magazine, n°175, September-October 2022.
« Sèves photographiques » dans dossier “Art & Végétal”, Artension Magazine, n°173, May-June 2022.
« Sabrina Vitali, chercheuse d’étincelles », Artension Magazine, n°172, March-April 2022.
« Klee des champs », compte-rendu d’exposition, Artension Magazine, n°171, January-February 2022.
ESSAYS
Essays, “Des yeux plein les poches”, Villa Belleville, du 12 au 17 décembre 2024, avec Léna Aboukrat, Parisa Babaei & Lovy Bumma, Lucile Boutin, Vincent Burger, Marianne Dupain, Tessa Hollman-Gustin, Nina Jayasuriya, Mohamed Abdelmoumene, Andrea Marcellier, Samya Moineaud, Nina Azoulay, Antoine Conde, WEI Libo et Naomi Feigelson, résidente du Laboratoire Culinaire.
La Ponte, curated by Jean-Louis Bâ Pouillès & Nàto Bosc-Ducros, Espace nonono, Montreuil avril 2024. With Nina Azoulay ; Tatiana Da Silva Vaz ; Jean-Louis Bâ Pouillès ; Mona Cara ; Colombine Coissard ; Nora Freynet ; Maceo Goy-Clairet ; Philippine Joyeux ; Abbey Maya ; Thomas Lemire ; Aurelie Mathigot ; Matthias Valigny Sabbagha ; Beatrix Johnstone Khünert ; Isabelle Arnardi & Charlotte Arnardi
«Les Lavandières : An Autobiographical Ghost Story on Washing Machines, Transgenerational Trauma, French Folktales and Greywater», essai autothéorique, in “Semblable à un petit os de seiche”, soap (éd.), Paris, juillet 2023.
Sonamou, exhibition catalogue, 2022.
– “BAEK Seungsoo”, p. 26-27.
– “KIM Hyeong Jun”, p. 56-57.
– “CHO Sun Young”, p. 114-115.
– “KIM Mona Young Eun”, p. 126-127.
«Against the Blind Seeing : la culture visuelle du chaos selon Ellis Laurens», Opium Philosophie n°10, revue papier, 2022.
«Vestige(s) photographique(s)», L’être-lieu n°14, revue papier, 2022, p. 14-17.
«Penser après le viol», Opium Philosophie, webrevue, 1 févr. 2021.
«Dialectique du virtuel», L’être-lieu n°12, revue papier, 2020, p. 61-65.
«Sabrina Vitali. Performance et vêtement : une expérience intérieure», L’être-lieu n°11, revue papier, 2019, p. 46-47.
OTHER WRITINGS
Survival Guide for the Art Workers, self-published, 2023.
2024/2025 : ArTeC + inter-university diploma in Creative Research, Université Paris Nanterre and Paris 8.
2022/2023 : Master Degree in Contemporary Art and Curating, Sorbonne Université, with highest honors.
2020/2022 : Master Degree of Arts (M.A) in Philosophy and Art History, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, with highest honors.
2017/2020 : Bachelor’s degree of Arts (B.A) in Art History and Archeology, Université de Lille, with highest honors.