French artist Marie-Caroline Locquet’s solo exhibition PANIC ROOM will be presented at A-Galerii from August 15 to September 13, 2025. The gallery’s historical walk-in metal VAULT will serve as the setting for an exploration of the boundary between protection and peril.
Locquet pushes materials such as wood and stone to their point of tension, their extreme limits, where opposing realities suddenly converge. The forms evoke both a desire for life and a fear of death, recalling defensive weapons and restraint devices. Each piece offers a unique wearing experience that investigates the interplay between fragility and strength, violence and delicacy. The works pose a challenge to viewers, sustaining a constant tension between social discomfort and the desire for care.
The exhibition was developed specifically for this site. As Loquet writes:
“There’s something that seems to link the VAULT and my work, something of the same nature – one doesn’t know if it’s a space of protection or suffocation. Is there danger in entering and in seeking safety? Where could this feeling of confinement lead us? This same doubt and duality is at the heart of my work.”
Marie-Caroline Locquet is a French visual artist. A former student of Monika Brugger and Terhi Tolvanen, she graduated with highest honours from ENSAD Limoges in 2021. During two research semesters at Hochschule Trier in Idar-Oberstein, she discovered stone carving, which sparked her ongoing exploration of material limits. Locquet is now based in Limoges, where she has established her studio and teaches in Brive-la-Gaillarde. Her first solo exhibition took place in February 2024 at the Institut Français in Munich. The project earned her the Institut Français and Nouvelle-Aquitaine Craft Prize, as well as support from the Francéclat committee. She has previously exhibited at Galerie Marzee (NL), Coherent Artist-run Space (BE), and Ar.c.o Centro de Arte (PT).
Exhibition is supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.