The opening of Hatch’s permanent space at 40 rue Mazarine, in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, marks the occasion of an inaugural group exhibition titled 1, 2, Glissade et Changement. Bringing together the gallery’s artists alongside new voices joining its programme, the exhibition features works by Maria Appleton, Kara Chin, Ayla Tavares, Felipe Romero Beltrán, Laila Tara H, as well as Abul Hisham, Nada Elkalaawy and Romain Sarrot. Together, their practices outline a transversal landscape where perspectives from Latin America, the Middle East, Europe and Asia intersect, affirming the gallery’s international and plural identity.

Conceived as a choreography, 1, 2, Glissade et Changement approaches the notion of the instruction as a generative principle. Its title borrows from the vocabulary of classical ballet: a count, a sliding step, followed by a jump in which the feet exchange positions. “1, 2” establishes the measure; “glissade” initiates the transition; “changement” performs the reversal. The exhibition does not present itself as a fixed statement, but rather as the opening of a score in the making, a first movement anticipating motion and transformation.

At its centre, Felipe Romero Beltrán’s video Instruction (2022–2024) explores the physical and mental experience of crossing the Spanish border, translated into the language of the body through a collaboration between trained dancers and marginalised migrants. Around this work, the practices of Maria Appleton, Kara Chin, Nada Elkalaawy, Abul Hisham and Romain Sarrot extend and shift this reflection. Through painting, sculpture, textile and ceramics, their works explore different ways of activating memory, transforming inherited frameworks and inscribing narratives into matter.

Throughout the exhibition, the instruction is neither fixed nor neutral. It operates as a point of departure that each artist interprets and transforms. Starting from material, historical or cultural frameworks, the works explore different ways of shifting forms, gestures and narratives.

The instruction circulates.
It is interpreted.
It becomes movement.
The protocol becomes language.