French-American Duo Lucas Roxo and Takashi Shallow Win Villa Albertine × Fondation Fiminco Creative Residency
Each year, Villa Albertine hosts research and exploratory residencies designed to inspire creation and strengthen collaborations between France and the United States. In 2026, Villa Albertine is launching a new partnership with Fondation Fiminco to offer, after these residencies, a dedicated creative space for artistic collaborations born from a creative stay in the United States.
Each year, this program will support a French-American artistic collaboration originating from a Villa Albertine residency, giving a former resident the opportunity to host an American partner in the studios and exhibition spaces of Fondation Fiminco, a resource center for artists from around the world, located just outside Paris. The duo will also receive a €5,000 grant.
The 2026 Laureates
In his documentaries, French-Portuguese filmmaker Lucas Roxo highlights stories and voices that explore disappearance and collective memory. His work includes the short film Je sens ton absence, which revisits a family’s history marked by exile, and the photographic documentary Aucun homme n’est né pour être piétiné, centered on a social bandit in northern Brazil and his influence on anti-Bolsonaro activists.
American, Chicago-based transdisciplinary artist Takashi Shallow explores social dynamics through a practice that combines music, video, performance, and design. His work has been presented at Links Hall, Elastic Arts, Homeroom Chicago, and the Chicago International Film Festival.
The Project: Steel, A Tale of Two Cities, a Documentary Film Set Between France and the United States
Lucas Roxo met Takashi Shallow during his Villa Albertine residency in Chicago in 2024, dedicated to the project Steel, a Tale of Two Cities. Set between Chicago and Dunkirk, this documentary mirrors the realities of deindustrialization, migration journeys, and working-class life on both sides of the Atlantic.
In Chicago, the duo gathered more than 3,000 photographs, conducted 22 interviews, collected numerous archival documents, and worked on the factory’s soundscape.
“Continuing this work feels like the natural next step in our artistic collaboration. (…) Born in Chicago and himself from an immigrant background, Takashi is both deeply moved by the subject and interested in creating from the sound material collected on site.” — Lucas Roxo
Takashi Shallow’s residency in France will support the development and research into the film’s musical composition, utilizing the space, resources, and guidance offered by Fondation Fiminco.