Ballroom Marfa is proud to present Gregoire Schaller: No Country for Old Fag as part of Villa Albertine post-residency program in partnership with Albertine Foundation and Maintenant Marfa.
Following his participation in the collective residency Inhabiting the Desert in Marfa, Texas, choreographer and visual artist Grégoire Schaller will return May 23, 2026 to present two projects developed from his fieldwork on ecological and migratory issues along the US–Mexico border. The first, a choreographic performance titled No Country for Old Fag, reimagines the myth of the cowboy through a queer, critical lens, contrasting the entertainment industry’s archetype of virile conquest with the lived realities of marginalized histories and bodies. Developed between Marfa, the Ballet National de Marseille, and the Ménagerie de Verre in Paris, the piece explores exhaustion and endurance as choreographic tools of resistance in the face of domination. In parallel, Schaller will present a visual arts exhibition at the gallery Maintenant Marfa, featuring screen-printed metal pieces created in collaboration with Celia Bouleisteix, alongside photographs taken during her first stay in Marfa and developed on textile.
Join us Saturday, May 23 for the performance. Bull Room grounds open at 6:30 PM, with the performance beginning at 7 PM. Following the performance, head to Maintenant Marfa to view Schaller’s recent works. All programs are free to attend.
7 PM: No Country for Old Fag
Bull Room, 43326 Ranch Rd 1112
7:30 PM: Exhibition Opening
Maintenant Marfa, 1825 Rabbits Rd
Generous support for this project provided by Villa Albertine.
Images
About the Artist
Grégoire Schaller is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice operates at the intersection of performance and visual arts. His projects explore the representation of the body, drawing on both archetypal figures—such as the bodybuilder, the matador, or the cowboy—and his intimate circle of family and close relations. Through his work, he examines our relationship to death and loss, the naturalization of power structures, and the construction of dominant narratives. His work has been presented at institutions such as the Centre Pompidou, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Palais de Tokyo, MAC VAL, La Ménagerie de Verre, and Villa Noailles.
Through a situated and contextual research approach, Grégoire Schaller develops projects rooted in specific territories and communities, within which he immerses himself over extended periods. These field investigations, conducted over several months, take the form of encounters, interviews, and the direct learning of embodied practices such as bodybuilding, bullfighting, or freediving—disciplines he experiences from within. This immersion is accompanied by photographic and video documentation, which constitutes the primary material of his work.
Between 2024 and 2026, he has been awarded several residency programs, notably at Villa Albertine (Marfa, Texas), Villa Kujoyama (Kyoto), and Fondation Fiminco (Romainville).
In 2024 and 2025, he was selected as a resident artist for programs at the Villa Albertine (Marfa, TX) and the Villa Kujoyama (Kyoto). He has also performed as an interpreter in works by Théo Mercier and Stéphanie Aflalo.
About Maintenant
Founded in 2020, MAINTENANT is an art and fighting laboratory with two gallery spaces–one of which also serves as an active boxing gym–set on 25 acres in the High Chihuahuan Desert, two miles east of town, overlooking Marfa. We focus on work created in Marfa, or made specifically for MAINTENANT’s particular spaces and surrounding land or ethos, and work made across the Chihuahuan Desert–including Chihuahua City, El Paso, and Juarez–as well as in France and Chicago. We champion those who are punching up. What Are You Fighting For?
About Villa Albertine
Villa Albertine, the French Institute for Culture and Education, is a division of the French Embassy in the United States.
Under the leadership of Mohamed Bouabdallah, Cultural Counselor of France and Director of Villa Albertine, we craft projects and programs aimed at making French language and culture accessible to US audiences and build partnerships between French and American higher education institutions. We have offices in ten cities across the country.
In the field of education, we work to ensure broad and equal access to French language programs for US-based learners of all ages. Offerings include support for instructors and schools and teaching resources. By collaborating with and forging connections between French and American higher education institutions, we facilitate transatlantic research projects and education abroad for US-based scholars and students. Our Campus France USA team manages all aspects of issuing education visas.
Since 2021, on the cultural front, we provide customized exploratory residencies across the US for global creators and thinkers. We also offer incubators and grants for French and American culture professionals; public events across creative disciplines; and a print magazine and podcast. Villa Albertine’s credo is that artists can contribute key insights to address society’s pressing questions, and that collaborating across borders deepens those insights.
Villa Albertine also encompasses Albertine, a bookshop within our New York headquarters that is dedicated to French-American exchange around the humanities, social sciences, and literature.