Pu__ing our spiked heel down, 2025
Steel, plastic, wood
126 x 19 x 20 cm, 49.61 x 7.48 x 7.87 in. (dustpan)
126 x 16 x 6 cm , 49.61 x 6.3 x 2.36 in. (broom)

About the work (see also:https://www.kunsthallezurich.ch/de/akademie/10126-reading-ramistrasse-177-anja-segmuller-on-vincent-grange-at-galerie-fabian-lang and https://fabianlang.ch/s/Vincent-Grange_Kunstbulletin_January-2026_Barbara-Ruf.pdf):

In June 1969, the police raided the Stonewall Inn - one of the few refuges for New York’s queer community. What was meant to be a routine act of intimidation instead ignited two nights of resistance led by trans women, drag queens, and gay men who refused to disappear. Days later, the New York Daily News mocked the uprising with the headline “Homo Nest Raided, Queen Bees Are Stinging Mad.” Reporter Jerry Lisker caricatured the rioters as “Madwomen of Chaillot,” hysterical and absurd — insults meant to shame them, yet unwittingly capturing the spark and fury of a movement being born.

The exhibition in which this work was shown imagined a girl group reclaimed from those very slurs: The Madwomen of Chaillot — three fictional figures named Molly, Lilly, and Dorothy. Dorothy, first introduced in Grange’s The House of Dorothy (2025), returns here with two new bandmates. Together, they extend the artist’s ongoing exploration of queer history and the lived reality of queerness today. Through this evolving narrative, Grange traces a continuum of queer resistance — from the rebellion at Stonewall to the renewed threats against LGBTQIA+ rights around the world.

The Madwomen’s presence unfolds across three sculptural works — a left-to-right storyline of defiance:

· A shopping trolley filled with lace Molotov cocktails, a tribute to Stonewall and those who fought back.

· A heeled dustpan sweeping up broken glass, the shimmering debris of rebellion

· A vacuum cleaner with a bag full of glitter appears to have just collected the remnants of a party that took place last night at Dorothy’s house. This eccentric sculpture evokes the vacuum cleaner used by Freddie Mercury in drag in the Queen’s I Want to Break Free video, which became an icon of subverting expectations around gender identity. A playful monument to challenging gender stereotypes and rebelling against domestic labour, the vacuum cleaner, upon closer inspection, also suggests a darker reference. The colours of the glitter match the trans flag, and the cleaning it has undergone might allude to an attempt to erase the rights of the community. Glitter, a material often considered frivolous and linked to celebration and fun, transforms into a symbol of resistance and a reminder to stick together in the face of threats of our time.

These works appear as if extracted from long-lost music videos by this girl group of the late 60s and 70s — a way of “re-exposing” their legacy to show how urgently their message still resonates. They stand as a refusal to accept the rollback of our rights under far-right governments.

Finally, the artwork titles appear without the letter T — a direct response to the Trump administration’s removal of “T” from the LGBT acronym on U.S. governmental websites, an complete erasure of the trans community. By intentionally omitting the letter, the exhibition amplifies the absurdity and violence of that act — and refuses its intended erasure.

About the artist: Drawing on LGBTQIA+ histories, queer identities, and speculative storytelling, Vincent Grange builds worlds populated by fictional characters and symbolic artefacts that question societal norms and power structures. The architecture, artefacts and different sculptures he creates, invite visitors to interpret each decision he takes, and decipher the often absurd and camp story he is writing. Across his exhibitions, Grange writes a continuous, evolving story - each show developing from the previous one. Charactors reappear, objects resurface, and spaces interconnect, forming a growing universe that unfolds across time and place.

After gaining his Master’s in Space and Communication at HEAD – Genève (Haute École d’Art et Design), Grange co-founded and is part of Collectif Kimera, in charge of Espace Dukat, a new contemporary art space based in Geneva. Additionally, he co-founded Souplex Atelier with his colleague and friend Tanguy Troubat, where he works as a scenographer and art director for institutions like Istituto Svizzero, HEAD Genève, and emerging artists.

His work has been featured in The Madwomen of Chaillot, Galerie Fabian Lang, Zurich, CH in 2025 (solo show), Eyes Open, I Breath Again, Alice Amati Gallery, London, UK in 2025 (group show), The House of Dorothy, Istituto Svizzero, Milan, IT in 2025 (solo show) and Dorothy's House, Printemps Carougeois, Geneva, CH in 2024 (solo show).

In 2023, he received the Déliée Grant from the Fonds Cantonal d’Art Contemporain, and in 2024, he was awarded the Kiefer Hablitzel Göhner Prize at the Swiss Art Awards.

Represented by Galerie Fabian Lang, Zurich. For further inquiries please write to Fabian Lang at info@fabianlang.ch.