5th Floor Scholar Series Festival
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5th Floor Scholar Series
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Festival
The second edition of this festival dedicated to FEU scholars
For this second edition, the four artists will take turns presenting exclusive performances in the iconic Grand Salon of the FEU, from April 29 to June 5, 2026. All of them are talented artists, most of whom will be presenting their work in Paris for the first time.
Discover the program and each artist’s biography below.
Katya Vaz
EXHIBITION
La goutte qui fait déborder le vase
→ April 29 to May 15
✷ Open Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
La goutte qui déborde du vase, or The drop that overflows the vase, takes its name from the French idiom, La goutte d’eau qui fait déborder le vase, which is equivalent to the English, The straw that broke the camel’s back. This body of work investigates the role of a river in an urban setting, specifically, the Parisian Seine, exploring our relationship to the built environment. It questions our own notions of comfort and livability within a city, but also the unintended consequences of the very infrastructures that make urban life possible. By controlling the Seine’s natural functions, areas of Paris become vulnerable to flooding.
This body of work draws on pivotal texts and dialogues. Geographer Élisée Reclus’, Histoire d’un ruisseau, serves as a primary inspiration for this body of work, while Gaston Bachelard’s L’eau et les Rêves informs the introspective dimension, particularly how fleeting and changing encounters with bodies of water reveal insights about ourselves and our environmental relationships, especially in the face of industrialization…
Vernissage Wednesday, April 29 at 7 p.m
Lily Stern
CONCERT
Empathy Through Music
→ May 7 – 7 p.m
✷ duration – 1h
This concert highlights the lives and cello works of Marie Jaëll, Rita Strohl, Nadia Boulanger, and Betsy Jolas, tracing the experiences of French female composers from the late 19th century to present day. Stern will utilize techniques of audience engagement and emphasize the psychological role of empathy in order to build conduits of understanding between listener and composer; music is a shared way into the stories of unfamiliar individuals, a direct entrance into another’s inner world.
“Together we will dive into each composer’s unique life story and musical expression through an evening of conversation, storytelling, and performance.”
Katie Faust
EXHIBITION
Out of Bounds
→ May 20 to June 5
✷ Open Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Out of Bounds is a body of work that celebrates the queer soccer players of Contre-Attaque, a trans-feminist and inclusive football team based in Paris. Through a series of oil-painted portraits, the project explores how sport can become a space of joy, self-expression, and community-building, particularly for those navigating gender and sexuality outside of traditional norms.
Vernissage Wednesday, May 20 at 7 p.m
Jas Ogiste
CONCERT
Within Us : Musique Classique Noire
→ May 28 – 7 p.m
✷ duration : 1h
A celebration of classical music by composers of the African diaspora throughout history.
This concert of music for solo piano, chamber ensemble, and voice offers an opportunity to become familiar with the rich and vibrant musical language of composers Joseph Bologne – Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Florence Price, Duke Ellington, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and Adolphus Hailstork.
