The Pavillon Populaire presents the exhibition "First Times / First Photos" curated by the French photography specialist Luce LEBART, Independent Artistic Director responsible for the 2026-2027 programming of the Pavillon Populaire. An invitation to a playful and scholarly journey through 200 years of innovations and experiments in photography.
The exhibition brings together a selection of "first times" that are technical, aesthetic, scientific, and societal, from the initial attempts of inventors to recent images of galaxy births, including the first photographs transmitted remotely, the first performed image, the first photography book, not to mention the first day of school, or even the first "bug" in the history of photography.
Iconic photographers are also given a voice as they share in images "Their First Times" and through them, their encounter with photography. Visitors will discover the first attempts and images of Henri Cartier Bresson, Bernard Plossu, Martin Parr, and Boris Mikhaïlhov.
The exhibition highlights the connections between contemporary innovations and past experiments, but it also narrates the economic and industrial stakes that underpin the inventors' research and their strategies to ensure recognition and legacy through the protection of their intellectual and commercial property. From the "photocyclist" to the "phototrap," the ingenious patents and quirky brands will delight and surprise visitors. The exhibition will also unveil the hidden side of inventions through the controversies that arose in the race for innovation: the stakes of authorship in the invention of color or the grid, for example. There is also a significant focus on tests and trials, not forgetting the inventions that went nowhere.
"Try again, fail again, fail better": these famous words from Samuel Beckett are a recurring theme of the exhibition, whose journey through the multiple inventions of photography is viewed through the lens of experimentation. There is certainly not one invention but multiple inventions of photography.
In the background of the exhibition, 4 contemporary works resonate with images from the past while several photographic "first times" related to the history of the city of Montpellier and its region punctuate the journey.
The exhibition is accompanied by an eponymous catalog published by Spector Books (June 2026).
From July 1 to August 30: Tuesday to Sunday 11am-1pm and 2pm-7pm.
From September 1 to November 1: Tuesday to Sunday 10am-1pm and 2pm-6pm.
Free admission.
