Pauline Ghersi

Pauline Ghersi (b. 1989, France) develops a practice combining films, video installations, sculptures, and performances. Through narratives tinged with humour and derision, she examines power dynamics and crisis situations within contexts of precariousness. Her work has been shown at Le Trou in Geneva, Art-O-Rama in Marseille, Le Confort Moderne in Poitiers, Secession in Vienna, Glassbox and the Fondation Ricard in Paris. She has undertaken several artist residencies, including Triangle – Astérides in Marseille (2017), Fugitif in Leipzig (2019) and Les Capucins in Embrun (2025). Her work is held in the collections of FRAC Occitanie – Montpellier, which acquired one of her works in 2024.

During her residency at Villa Medici, Pauline Ghersi will work on part of her docu-fiction project J’adore le Tango. Through Bernardo Bertolucci’s film Last Tango in Paris (1972), she creates a tension between her fascination with the work and her total rejection of the sexual violence endured by Maria Schneider during filming. This ambivalence highlights the power of an aesthetic that incorporates violence against women while concealing it. In Rome, she will investigate the film’s history in Italy, from its censorship to its contemporary reinterpretation. Through her journey, Pauline Ghersi reappropriates the work, attempting to reclaim its imagery.