–artist’s premier show at galerie allen–

Vivre Sa Vie

Season III • Visit 2 • Gallery
Hungarian-American Artist

RITA ACKERMANN

Thursday, 5th November 2026
19h – 20h

Guided Visit by Joseph Allen Shea
Gallery Director

Galerie Allen
6 passage Sainte-Avoye
75003 Paris
Access from 8, rue Rambuteau

M°11 Rambuteau

Limited to 20 dues paying CAAF members only. You are a dues paying member if you have paid your dues since December 2025. Want to join the visit but not yet a dues-paying member?

[ Renew or Become a dues paying member here ]

Due to the popularity of the visits, reservations will be honored on a first come first serve basis. You will receive a second email a week before the visit to confirm your place or state if you are on the waiting list.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / EXHIBITION

Rita Ackermann (b. 1968, Budapest) is a Hungarian-born, New York–based artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, drawing, sculpture, and installation. After studying at the University of Fine Arts in Budapest, she moved to New York in 1992, where she became part of the city’s vibrant downtown art scene. Her early drawings and paintings combined figurative imagery, fantasy, sexuality, and elements of popular and underground culture, while her later work has increasingly explored abstraction, gesture, repetition, and the physical possibilities of paint. Ackermann’s practice is characterized by an ongoing tension between figuration and abstraction, control and spontaneity, and the intimate and monumental. Her work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Whitney Museum of American Art; and Centre Pompidou, Paris.

The exhibition centers on a seminal, once-performed multimedia project, first realised in 1996. Vivre sa Vie was conceived as a live puppet performance engaging underground music, experimental cinema, and fashion, in collaboration with key figures of the 1990s Downtown New York scene.

An archival footage of the original 1996 performance is part of an installation in the round. The puppets are framed and mounted in ways that reveal both front and reverse, inviting viewers to look behind the scene and into the mechanics of animation.

A new work complete the exhibition. Ackermann developed a wall-based piece that was three-dimensionally scanned and sculpted from a two-dimensional collage.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Each visit includes a guided tour led by an artist, curator, or gallerist, followed by an engaging discussion at a Paris art gallery or artist atelier. It provides a unique opportunity for alumni, artists and galleries to connect, fostering meaningful relationships around the world of contemporary art.

Visits are free and exclusive to dues-paying CAAF members. It offers an intimate opportunity to engage with contemporary art and ask your pressing questions.

Find previous visits in the Gallery.

QUESTIONS

Any questions concerning this visit or the series contact:

Victor Schaub Wong ‘91 GSAPP
CAA France Board Member
email