The Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris Welcomes Ari Marcopoulos
The Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris is giving free rein to artist Ari Marcopoulos, a photographer and iconic filmmaker from the underground New York scene, whose work casts a new light on the skateboarding world. His work Brown Bag is presented at the museum for the first time with a specific installation, curated by Olivia Gaultier-Jeanroy. In the same way that he looks at his subjects from both an insider’s and artist’s perspective, Ari Marcopoulos also offers a new reading of certain works in the MAM collection through the prisms of countercultures with which he is so familiar.
As well as being a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, the Palais de Tokyo site – and more specifically its esplanade – is also a world-class skate park. Starting in the 90’s, this place, also known as the “Dome”, quickly gained popularity among the skaters of the Parisian and international scene for its architectural specificities and its surface. The Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris thus wishes to honour this discipline, which it works with on a daily basis, and which is being highlighted by the organization of the 2024 Olympics in Paris. After becoming a “new sport” during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, skateboarding is now part of the four additional sports events that will take place this summer in Paris. During this inauguration, we crossed paths with personalities such as Lucas Foster, Michael Dupouy, Kara Walker, Ugo Deslandes, Frank Elbaz, Guillaumé Houzé, Jérémy Égry, and many more.
Photos: Michael Huard
