The exhibition Intérieurs at ColAAb, in Paris brings together artists and designers who blur the boundaries between art and everyday objects. Presented in the context of ColAAb’s mission to produce “usable artworks,” the show features furniture, lighting, textiles and wall pieces that transform familiar interior elements into spaces of reflection and creativity. By placing functional design alongside artworks that resist utility, Intérieurs asks visitors to reconsider the role of art in daily life and how objects within our interiors can shape thought, atmosphere and experience.
Within this exhibition, Moroccan artist Mounir Fatmi presents Calligraphy of the Unknown , a series of works on paper created between 2018 and 2020. Fatmi is known for exploring themes of language, memory and cultural identity through a wide range of media, often incorporating calligraphy, obsolete technologies and architectural forms. In this piece, he strips calligraphy of its legibility, leaving behind abstract marks that look like fragments of script. The result is a surface that suggests communication but withholds meaning, encouraging viewers to think about what is lost and what is carried through when language breaks down. In the context of Intérieurs, Fatmi’s work stands as a counterpoint to the functional objects on display, reminding us that interiors are not only spaces we inhabit physically but also mentally—places shaped by memory, silence and the unknown. Learn More.