Miu Miu unveils Helen Marten’s “30 Blizzards.” at Palais d’Iéna for Art Basel Paris 2025

Emma Hodgson   |   22-10-2025

Miu Miu has inaugurated “30 Blizzards.”, a new multidisciplinary project by British artist Helen Marten, as part of Art Basel Paris’s Public Program, for which the brand serves as Official Partner for the second consecutive year.

The large-scale installation and performance opens to the public today at the Palais d’Iéna, running until the 26th of October.

Conceived at the invitation of Miuccia Prada, the work marks Marten’s first expansion into live performance. Known for her complex practice across sculpture, painting, video and writing, Marten has created an environment that merges multiple disciplines into a single theatrical composition. The project comprises five sculptural platforms and five newly conceived videos, each referencing stages of life, from childhood to older age, through themes of community, sexuality, interiority and loss.

The title refers to the work’s thirty performers, each embodying their own “emotional weather.” They occupy the Palais d’Iéna’s hypostyle hall through speech, song and movement, in a choreographed performance co-directed with theatre and opera director Fabio Cherstich. Music and sound are composed by Beatrice Dillon, while animation is by Adam Sinclair. Each performer carries a symbolic “tool” and interacts with a circular mechanical track looping through the space, linking the project’s physical and metaphorical framework.

Marten describes “30 Blizzards.” as both a meditation on human interrelation and an exploration of how narrative, material and gesture form a shared language. The work transforms the Palais d’Iéna, home to France’s Economic, Social and Environmental Council, into a hybrid civic stage where body and material together become grammar.

Today also sees the first instalment of Miu Miu’s accompanying public conversations programme, Pleasure Image, Pleasure Text, curated by Marten. The sessions, held at the Palais d’Iéna at 3 pm and 5.30 pm, gather writers and thinkers including Bhanu Kapil, Preti Taneja, Simone White, Nuar Alsadir, Rachael Allen and Vanessa Onwuemezi, moderated by Juliet Jacques. The discussions address the intersections between language, image and meaning, examining writing as a creative and political act in a digital age.

“30 Blizzards.” continues Miu Miu’s commitment to supporting contemporary culture and female artistic voices. Free registration for guided tours and talks is available via miumiu.com.

“30 Blizzards.” by Helen Marten runs from the 22nd until the 26th of October 2025 at Palais d’Iéna, Paris.

Miumiu.com

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