"Estranges Exhibitions" (often associated with the cultural dynamics of the Lausanne scene, specifically the "L'Estrange" micro-festival or exhibition series) was a niche event dedicated to alternative and subversive art. The festival typically focused on "strange" or marginal aesthetics, showcasing artists who worked outside the traditional gallery system. The 2002 edition continued this tradition of highlighting independent, illustrative, and counterculture art forms prevalent in the Francophone alternative scene of the early 2000s.

The second of the Etranges Exhibitions traveled to a disused textile warehouse in the Croix-Rousse district of Lyon. Here, Beaulieu abandoned psychological minimalism for baroque chaos.

The space was divided into nine booths, each manned by a performer wearing a porcelain mask of Beaulieu’s own face. These performers did not speak. They did not move. They simply held glass jars containing what appeared to be human teeth suspended in formaldehyde, though later analysis (conducted by a curious forensic student who attended) suggested the teeth were actually carved from bovine bone and coated in caramel.

The centerpiece, however, was a machine Beaulieu called L’Automate à Regret. It was a crank-operated diorama. For two Euros, visitors could turn a brass wheel. Inside a mahogany box, tiny mechanical figures would reenact a memory—not a universal one, but a specific memory drawn from Beaulieu’s own childhood: a dog hit by a snowplow, a mother crying at a kitchen table, a birthday cake melting in the rain.

The horror was that patrons reported seeing their own memories in the box.

One visitor, a textile worker named Gaspard Morel, later wrote in a blog post (now lost to Geocities archives): "I saw my father leaving when I was seven. I paid two euros to see my father leave. I turned the crank again. He left again. I did this nineteen times. I couldn't stop. That is the power of Beaulieu's strange exhibitions."

The Lyon show closed after two weeks. Four attendees reportedly sought psychiatric help for "intrusive nostalgia." Beaulieu vanished again, leaving behind the porcelain masks in a trash bin behind the warehouse.

1. "Circuit Végétal" (Vegetal Circuit) The centerpiece of the exhibition is a large-format photograph depicting a tangle of rusted copper wires intertwined with living ivy. Shot in the industrial wastelands of the Parisian outskirts, the image blurs the line between technology and nature. The rust looks like dried blood; the leaves look like green circuit boards. It is a visual metaphor for the sci-fi themes explored in this year’s film lineup.

2. "Porcelain Trauma" A deeply unsettling portrait of a cracked doll’s head, discovered in a flea market in Montmartre. Beaulieu lights the subject not with the softness of nostalgia, but with the harsh, forensic clarity of a crime scene investigator. The cracks in the porcelain resemble fractures in human bone, forcing the viewer to confront the "uncanny valley" that genre cinema often exploits.

3. "Polaroid No. 4" Part of his ongoing series on expired film stock, this piece is a testament to the "happy accidents" of analog photography. The chemical burns on the film create a ghostly aura around a nondescript street lamp, turning a banal object into a hovering UFO. It is a nod to the low-budget special effects of the 1950s B-movies that the festival celebrates.

Étranges Exhibitions received almost no mainstream press. The only major mention was a half-paragraph in Libération’s “Sortir” section, which called it “pretentious but admirably moist.” However, in artist-run forums and early art blogs (now lost to GeoCities shutdowns), the show became a legend.

One anonymous attendee wrote:

"I walked in at 3 PM. I walked out at 7 PM. I do not remember seeing any art. I remember smelling burnt sugar and hearing a child’s cough from behind a wall. There was no child. There was no wall. I think I loved it."

Another, on a now-defunct LiveJournal:

"Beaulieu is either a genius or a con man who accidentally summoned something. His artist statement said: ‘These exhibitions are étranges because they exhibit you.’ I felt naked. Not metaphorically. My coat was still on."

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Etranges Exhibitions 2002 Benjamin Beaulieu [FRESH]

"Estranges Exhibitions" (often associated with the cultural dynamics of the Lausanne scene, specifically the "L'Estrange" micro-festival or exhibition series) was a niche event dedicated to alternative and subversive art. The festival typically focused on "strange" or marginal aesthetics, showcasing artists who worked outside the traditional gallery system. The 2002 edition continued this tradition of highlighting independent, illustrative, and counterculture art forms prevalent in the Francophone alternative scene of the early 2000s.

The second of the Etranges Exhibitions traveled to a disused textile warehouse in the Croix-Rousse district of Lyon. Here, Beaulieu abandoned psychological minimalism for baroque chaos.

The space was divided into nine booths, each manned by a performer wearing a porcelain mask of Beaulieu’s own face. These performers did not speak. They did not move. They simply held glass jars containing what appeared to be human teeth suspended in formaldehyde, though later analysis (conducted by a curious forensic student who attended) suggested the teeth were actually carved from bovine bone and coated in caramel.

The centerpiece, however, was a machine Beaulieu called L’Automate à Regret. It was a crank-operated diorama. For two Euros, visitors could turn a brass wheel. Inside a mahogany box, tiny mechanical figures would reenact a memory—not a universal one, but a specific memory drawn from Beaulieu’s own childhood: a dog hit by a snowplow, a mother crying at a kitchen table, a birthday cake melting in the rain.

The horror was that patrons reported seeing their own memories in the box. etranges exhibitions 2002 benjamin beaulieu

One visitor, a textile worker named Gaspard Morel, later wrote in a blog post (now lost to Geocities archives): "I saw my father leaving when I was seven. I paid two euros to see my father leave. I turned the crank again. He left again. I did this nineteen times. I couldn't stop. That is the power of Beaulieu's strange exhibitions."

The Lyon show closed after two weeks. Four attendees reportedly sought psychiatric help for "intrusive nostalgia." Beaulieu vanished again, leaving behind the porcelain masks in a trash bin behind the warehouse.

1. "Circuit Végétal" (Vegetal Circuit) The centerpiece of the exhibition is a large-format photograph depicting a tangle of rusted copper wires intertwined with living ivy. Shot in the industrial wastelands of the Parisian outskirts, the image blurs the line between technology and nature. The rust looks like dried blood; the leaves look like green circuit boards. It is a visual metaphor for the sci-fi themes explored in this year’s film lineup.

2. "Porcelain Trauma" A deeply unsettling portrait of a cracked doll’s head, discovered in a flea market in Montmartre. Beaulieu lights the subject not with the softness of nostalgia, but with the harsh, forensic clarity of a crime scene investigator. The cracks in the porcelain resemble fractures in human bone, forcing the viewer to confront the "uncanny valley" that genre cinema often exploits. "I walked in at 3 PM

3. "Polaroid No. 4" Part of his ongoing series on expired film stock, this piece is a testament to the "happy accidents" of analog photography. The chemical burns on the film create a ghostly aura around a nondescript street lamp, turning a banal object into a hovering UFO. It is a nod to the low-budget special effects of the 1950s B-movies that the festival celebrates.

Étranges Exhibitions received almost no mainstream press. The only major mention was a half-paragraph in Libération’s “Sortir” section, which called it “pretentious but admirably moist.” However, in artist-run forums and early art blogs (now lost to GeoCities shutdowns), the show became a legend.

One anonymous attendee wrote:

"I walked in at 3 PM. I walked out at 7 PM. I do not remember seeing any art. I remember smelling burnt sugar and hearing a child’s cough from behind a wall. There was no child. There was no wall. I think I loved it." Another, on a now-defunct LiveJournal:

Another, on a now-defunct LiveJournal:

"Beaulieu is either a genius or a con man who accidentally summoned something. His artist statement said: ‘These exhibitions are étranges because they exhibit you.’ I felt naked. Not metaphorically. My coat was still on."

The Cabinet of Digital Curiosities