Thursday, April 2 at 7:00 PM

Lecture / Meeting with Justinien Tribillon

Justinien Tribillon is a writer, researcher, editor, and curator, trained as an urban planner. He studied social sciences, urban planning, and public policy at Sciences Po (École Urbaine) and the London School of Economics (LSE Cities), before earning a PhD in urban planning at University College London (The Bartlett). Defended in December 2022, his thesis, The Boulevard Périphérique, anonymous œuvre of the Parisian technocracy, offers a critical reading of the Paris ring road as a design process at the intersection of technical reasoning, social imagination, and political decision-making.

A resident at the Villa Medici in 2023–2024, he is developing research focused on the subversive practice of the “perruque.” He collaborates with museums and cultural institutions in France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and across Europe, as well as with public and private actors (including the Mayor of London, Transport for London, We Made That, Architecture 00, and TVK). Former Associate Director for Europe at Theatrum Mundi, he has been teaching History, Theory, and Criticism at the École des Arts Décoratifs Paris — PSL since October 2024 and regularly contributes as a lecturer and guest critic at several European and North American universities.

His editorial and curatorial practice, rooted in social sciences and design, aims to create connections across discourses, disciplines, geographies, and media. His research focuses in particular on the sociology of plants, migration, the politics of technical artifacts, invisible forms of labor, and food. In 2025, he will publish La Zone: An Alternative History of Paris (B42), a counter-history of the city’s territory. He has also edited the volumes Rudéral: Identités liquides (Éditions deux-cent-cinq) and Visible upon Breakdown (Spector Books). Co-founder and editor-in-chief of Migrant Journal, he has collaborated as an editor or guest writer with Flaneur and Atelier Luma, and contributed to media such as The Architectural Review, AOC, and Vittles. His work has been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Triennale di Milano (French section), and the Design Museum in London; Migrant Journal has been acquired by the collection of the Centre National des Arts Plastiques.

In 2026, he is an artist-researcher in residence at the Ateliers Médicis, where his research will focus on collecting recipes and stories related to food—its preparation, transmission, and consumption—in the territory of Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis).

Justinien Tribillon will speak about his research on the rich and complex practice of the “perruque,” which he is pursuing at the Villa Medici in preparation for an exhibition dedicated to this phenomenon. This unique term refers to the activity in which a worker uses the company’s tools and materials during working hours to make objects or carry out repairs for personal purposes.

A discreet practice, sometimes tolerated by management but most often hidden and potentially punishable up to dismissal, the perruque is widespread while remaining little studied and rarely documented.

Practical information

Thursday, April 2 – 7:00 PM
Auditorium of the Lambert Collection
Free admission, subject to availability