Lívia Melzi (b. 1985, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil; lives and works in Arles and Paris, France)

Laboratory for a Museum of the Future (2026)

For more than a decade, Lívia Melzi has explored the intersections of photography, archives and ethnographic collections. Through a practice combining photography, textiles, sculpture, publishing and installation, she examines the role of images in the production and transmission of institutional narratives.

Laboratory for a Museum of the Future (2026) continues Livia Melzi’s ongoing exploration of decoloniality and her questioning of museum institutions, their archives, and the power dynamics associated with images. Four monumental tapestries are based on engravings by Théodore de Bry, the 16th century Belgian engraver renowned for his depictions of the European expeditions to the Americas based on descriptions explorers shared — he did not himself travel there. Exhibited with the reverse-side forward, the tapestries expose the fabric of their making and attempt to shift the viewer’s perspective on colonial imagery. A research table brings together photographs of some of the few objects rescued from a fire that devastated the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro in 2018, which destroyed 90% of the museum’s 20 million artifacts. Ceramic sculptures developed from memory drawings made by a witness to the disaster extend this reflection on loss, reconstruction and transmission. By moving images from one medium to another, the installation sketches the contours of a museum of the future, conceived as a space for research, transmission and new forms of representation.

Selected group exhibitions include Palais de Tokyo (2022), the Musée de Grenoble (2023), the Maison de l’Amérique latine (2025). Melzi’s works are held in collections including the Fonds d’art contemporain de la Ville de Paris, the Musée de Grenoble, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the Museu Nacional de Rio de Janeiro.

The Salon/H Gallery, founded by Yaël Halberthal and Philippe Zagouri, defines itself as a 21st-century salon, an intimate space dedicated to all forms of visual expression. Committed to both emerging and established Brazilian artists, it champions practices questioning ecology, memory, gender issues, and the transmission of knowledge.
Between Paris and Rio, with the creation of the Villa Ladeira residency in 2024, Salon/H acts as a true cultural bridge, affirming its vocation as a platform for reflection and international outreach. The gallery takes part in major events such as Paris Photo and Art Paris, while supporting its artists in the production, mediation, and internationalisation of their careers.