Our mission
Genius Loci spotlights hidden or little-known architectural treasures, offering exceptional opportunities to visit private venues that are normally closed to the public.
Founded in Paris in 2021 by the curator Marion Vignal, Genius Loci is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting historic architecture and contemporary creation.
Founded in Paris in 2021 by the curator Marion Vignal, Genius Loci is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting historic architecture and contemporary creation.
Allowing these sites to be discovered and more widely known, the organization’s events create a dialogue between architecture and contemporary art and design, revealing each venue’s artistic resonance and revitalizing its intrinsic spirit.
Through its program of exhibitions in rare architectural creations of historic significance, Genius Loci pays tribute to outstanding artists and designers, taking a human, personal approach to their work and their creative development.
Breaking down barriers between artistic genres and forging links between past and present, heritage and modernity, each exhibition unites artists from various creative disciplines, ranging from painting and sculpture to olfactory design, music and digital art.
In its experiential exhibitions, Genius Loci strives to bring architecture to life through a sensation-oriented approach, the better to reveal the inner identity of a masterpiece.
These events are open to the general public, by reservation, and aim to reach the widest possible audience.
Experiential exhibitions
Genius Loci is a unique program of immersive exhibitions that create a dialogue between architecture, design and contemporary art.
Each edition takes visitors inside a historic site of exceptional artistic value, revealing its distinctive nature through special commissions and works inspired by the essence of the place and the personality of its creator.
Conceived as a sensation-oriented trajectory, a Genius Loci event ushers the public into a here and now that elicits all the senses – an intimate experience incorporating sight, sound and olfaction, drawing impetus from the architecture and its animate thought.
Genius Loci is an international traveling project developed by Marion Vignal and managed by the non-profit organization of the same name.
Support Us
Genius Loci is a Paris-based non-profit organization dedicated to promoting historic architecture and contemporary creation.
By supporting Genius Loci, you take part in the preservation of architectural heritage and the promotion of contemporary creation. Your contribution helps increase public awareness of architectural history as well as contemporary art and design. Join us in a program of original, unique experiences backed by an approach that favors greater sustainability, outreach and sharing.
The team
Marion Vignal
President
Marion Vignal is a curator and author. An expert in contemporary art and design, she promotes and supports young international creative talents through exhibitions and special commissions or projects. She studied literature and art history and is the author of several works on the history of design (Women Designers, a century of creation), interior architecture (Charles Zana, intérieurs) and olfactive art (Chanel, Les Editions de Parfum Frédéric Malle: the first twenty years).
President of ida M., an editorial and artistic advisory studio, which she founded in Paris in 2015, she leads the Genius Loci association, established in 2021. She authored the Genius Loci exhibition at L’Ange Volant by Gio Ponti, in Garches in October 2021, gathering over twenty artists invited to engage in a dialogue with the spirit of the place.
Bénédicte Hurel
Secretary
Trained in the management of luxury industries and at the Ecole du Louvre, Bénédicte Hurel works as a consultant in fashion and contemporary art. She led several assignments to design growth strategies for creative brands in New York and Paris. More recently, she has focused on advising private clients and corporate customers as well as personalities. A regular partner with the ida M. consultancy, since 2017, she co-founded the Genius Loci association in 2021.She heads the production of the Genius Loci series of experiential exhibitions. From 2008 to 2014, she was a board member of Make-A-Wish® France.