Villa Albertine Unveils Its 2027 Residency Cohort

Click here to learn more about the 2027 residents and their projects. 

New York, June 16, 2026 — Since 2021, Villa Albertine has offered a unique residency program beyond the confines of a traditional residency model, built around a founding principle: the freedom to explore. 

This freedom fosters encounters: immersed in the realities of the American landscape, artists engage in a wide range of exchanges and forge new collaborations. It also fuels inspiration. Over the past five years, Villa Albertine residencies have given rise to more than one hundred creative works—including novels, films, documentaries, immersive experiences, design and fine craft collections, exhibitions, musical and choreographic collaborations, and museum partnerships—strengthening cultural ties between France and the United States. 

A diverse cohort, the new group of residents will offer a wide range of perspectives on what defines America today. In Los Angeles, designer Wendy Andreu will rethink furniture production through a zero-waste approach. Across Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Euzhan Palcy will trace the legacy of Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman aviator. In Atlanta, writer and cultural critic Christelle Bakima Poundza will meet with children of the Black diaspora, whose dreams and aspirations will inform her next novel. From Atlanta to Washington, D.C., author Timothée Demeillers will investigate libertarian movements and sovereign citizens, examining contemporary understandings of citizenship and the relationship between individuals and the state. In Louisiana, filmmaker Sylvaine Dampierre will explore the archives of African American soldiers who fought in the Civil War, drawing on them to create an immersive installation that brings forgotten histories back into view. 

Driven by a spirit of experimentation, Villa Albertine’s artists will push the boundaries of creative practice. For the first time, Villa Albertine will open its doors to haute couture through fashion designer Clara Daguin’s exploration in California of the connections between embroidery and neuro-robotics. In parallel, four artists and thinkers will delve into creation in the age of artificial intelligence, from Romain de Becdelièvre’s immersive podcast project to Valentina Peri’s study of affective artificial intelligence, as well as Nelly Ben Hayoun Stépanian’s work exploring the intersections of literature, history, and immersive installations.

Framed by a spirit of dialogue and transmission, the 2027 residencies will encourage crossovers between disciplines, practices, and forms of expertise. In New York, cabinetmaker Jean-Brieuc Chevalier will collaborate with local artisans to enrich his practice of marquetry and wood embroidery, bridging tradition and innovation. Artists Raphaël-Bachir Osman and Candice Chemel will explore Louisiana’s plural culinary identity, seeking to dissolve the boundaries between cooking and artistic gesture through engagement with chefs, food producers, and distribution networks. In the Northeastern United States, violinist Alix Boivert will study American popular music traditions, shaped not only by Anglo-Scottish heritage but also by African and Indigenous influences, in order to develop a new musical program. From New York to Hawaii, visual artist Youssef Nabil will dedicate a film and photographic project to jazz and hula dance, bringing together these traditions as vectors of memory, identity, and cultural transmission. From New York to Chicago, musician and poet Nawel Ben Kraïem will draw on the legacy of Rachid Taha and local music scenes to create a dialogue between North African poetry and African American cultures. In Texas, writer Célia Houdart will explore the archives of the Karankawa Indigenous culture in an effort to reconstruct and preserve its memory. 

The 2027 cohort was selected by ten juries convened in the American metropolitan areas where Villa Albertine is present. Composed of nearly fifty leading figures from the U.S. cultural world, these juries then submitted their selections to an international final jury chaired by Glenn Lowry, David Rockefeller Director Emeritus of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA, New York). Discover here the composition of Villa Albertine’s 2027 juries. 

“Villa Albertine is today a community of more than 370 artists who are free to explore, create, and build lasting connections across the United States — with fellow artists, but also with schools, cultural centers, and communities from all walks of life. From these encounters emerge collaborations that shift perspectives and bring our societies closer together. It is this freedom—rooted in the diverse realities of the United States—that gives the friendship between our peoples its distinctive and living strength.” — Mohamed Bouabdallah, Cultural Counselor of the French Embassy in the United States and Director of Villa Albertine. 

“What strikes me about this cohort is the breadth of possibilities it embodies. Artists and thinkers who are transforming the world, each in their own way, from places as diverse as Louisiana, Hawaii, or California. This is precisely what makes the strength of this program: it creates the conditions for a rare form of freedom, one in which creation can truly take risks.” — Glenn D. Lowry, Director Emeritus of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Chair of the jury.

Villa Albertine is an institution of the French Embassy in the United States, supported by the French government and the Albertine Foundation. It operates under the authority of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, with the support of the Ministry of Culture. 

Villa Albertine would like to thank the Societe Generale Foundation, major patron of Villa Albertine’s residencies. This 2027 season of Villa Albertine, developed in partnership with Albertine Foundation, benefits from the generous support of the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller as founding patron of the Craft & Design residences, Fidji Simo, the Ford Foundation, the Recanati-Kaplan Foundation, the Florence Gould Endowment for Literary Exchange,  the Fonds de Dotation Transatlantique, GRoW @ Annenberg, Catherine and Mamadou-Abou Sarr, Judith and Leah Pisar, Esther Chui-Chao and Andrea Chao-Kharma, ADIAF, and the Ministry of Culture. 

Architecture 

• Stéphane Degoutin & Juliette Terreaux — Chicago

Arts in the Age of AI 

• Cécile Di Giovanni — Los Angeles
• Jeff Guess — Los Angeles
• Mete Kutlu — Atlanta 
• César Augusto Ramírez — New York

Cinema

• Bertrand Amiot & Julien Gaurichon — Washington, D.C.
• Lou Jeunet — Los Angeles, San Francisco
• Maisha Maene — San Francisco
• Euzhan Palcy — Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles  
• Louis Pierre-Lacouture — Miami 
• Simon Rouby — Miami 
• Lucia Sanchez — New York

Classical Music

• Alix Boivert — Boston, New York, Washington D.C.
• Salomé Gasselin — New York 
• Benoît Sitzia — New York

Craft & Design

• Jean-Brieuc Chevalier — New York 
• Clara Daguin — Los Angeles, San Francisco
• Elia Pradel — New York
• Clémence Althabegoïty — Los Angeles
• Wendy Andreu — Los Angeles

Culinary Arts

• Candice Chemel & Raphael-Bachir Osman — New Orleans 

Literature

• Christelle Bakima Poundza — Atlanta
• Célia Houdart — Houston
• Jean Daniélou & Camille El Bacha — Houston
• Timothée Demeillers — Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington
• Asya Djoulaït — New York
• Romain Weber — Chicago

Museums and Heritage

• Louise Contant — Houston
• Binkady-Emmanuel Hié — Chicago 
• Martin Hiltenbrand — Boston
• James Horton & Pascaline Morincôme — New York

Music

• Harry Allouche — Los Angeles
• Nawel Ben Kraïem — Chicago, New York
• Lunel Gabon & Lunyse Gabon — New Orleans
• Pauline Gouablin & Melia Roger — San Francisco

New Media

• Romain de Becdelièvre — Atlanta
• Sylvaine Dampierre — New Orleans
• Nelly Ben Hayoun Stepanian — San Francisco
• Valentina Peri — Boston

Performing Arts

• Philippe Almeida — New York 
• Vir Andres Hera — Los Angeles 
• Myriam Rabah-Konaté — Durham, New York

Visual Arts

• Marie de Brugerolle — Los Angeles
• Garance Früh — Boston
• Anton Hirschfeld — New York
• Youssef Nabil — Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Honolulu
• mountaincutters — Houston
• Adeline Rapon — Miami
• Louis-Cyprien Rials — Washington, D.C.
• TILT — Atlanta
• Mickaël Vis — Chicago
• Xie Lei — San Francisco