Centre Pompidou Unveils Vibrant Skatepark in Anticipation of Olympic Games
Created by artist Raphael Zarka in collaboration with architect Jean-Benoît Vétillard.
Skateboarding continues to nestle its presence at the Olympics four years on from its debut in Tokyo. In anticipation of the upcoming 2024 Summer Games in Paris, Centre Pompidou worked with artist Raphael Zarka and architect Jean-Benoît Vétillard to create a unique skatepark called Cycloïd Piazza.
Part sculpture, part functioning skate grounds, the colorful mini ramp, half-pipe and stairs look like an artwork that jumped straight out of the sketchbooks of Italian architect and designer Alessandro Mendini. Cycloïd Piazza “invites us to re-experiment with these curves, studied in classical mechanics, through the practice and spectacle of skateboarding’, said the institution in a statement.
Zarka, who has skated since childhood, believes “skateboarding has the particular ability to indelibly mark the way you apprehend shapes and spaces,” adding, “The word Piazza suggests a change of scale: my sculpture was designed as a space, an area within an area, a piazza on a piazza.” Cycloïd Piazza is created in partnership with Nike and is Zarka’s fourth such project, which will be open to the public in front of the Centre Pompidou until September 15, 2024. Meanwhile, the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris officially start on July 26 and run through August 11, 2024.
Centre Pompidou
Place Georges-Pompidou,
75004 Paris, France
