New Media artist Sandrine Deumier on view at Gray Area  

Recipient of the Villa Albertine 2026 French Immersion Exhibition grant, Gray Area and Villa Albertine presents the U.S. premiere of Unnatural – Of Humus & Artifact, a solo exhibition of interactive fiction work by French artist Sandrine Deumier.

This work invites users to immerse themselves in a speculative world where distinctions between biological life (humus) and artificial creation (artifact) blur, exploring questions of spirituality, ecology, knowledge transmission, and the redefinition of “life” in an age of technological synthesis. The viewer becomes an active participant, navigating a space of transient identities and ambiguous ecosystems where human presence dissolves into digital.

Sandrine Deumier is a multidisciplinary artist working in the fields of performance, poetry and video art whose work investigates post-futurist themes through the development of aesthetic forms related to digital imaginaries.

Passionate about digital storytelling and immersive artistic experiences, she has been working for several years to develop poetic and visual fictions centred on the imaginary world of the living. Ecological concerns and speculative futures are at the heart of her research. Her work focuses on imagining new ways of inhabiting the world using new technologies from an animist perspective, where the preservation of natural balances takes precedence over that of predation, accumulation and unlimited growth.

Gray Area is a pioneering San Francisco–based cultural and educational nonprofit that operates at the intersection of art, technology, and social progress. It serves as both a creative incubator and public center dedicated to fostering innovation through digital and immersive media, presenting immersive exhibitions, performances, and workshops that support experimental media and uplift underrepresented voices. In 2025, with support from the French Immersion Exhibition Grant, Gray Area exhibited The Siren, an interactive video game by French artist Mélanie Courtinat.

Located in the Mission District, Gray Area confronts the inequities of digital technology by broadening access, nurturing critical dialogue, and advancing digital equity within the mixed-income, immigrant, and Latino communities.