To accompany the 2018 World Cup, Magasins Généraux—a multi-use space near the Ourcq Canal in Pantin, Paris—devoted their inaugural summer season to the game of football, a welcome sight post-France’s World Cup victory.
It was great to check out an exhibit in the neighborhood, around the corner from the apartment I was staying in. From the outside, it’s hard to figure out exactly what Magasins Generaux is, especially given its name (which translates, in English, to General Stores). Some of the locals I talked to suggested the building was largely empty, although one of my film colleagues rents a shared office space inside along with a handful of other businesses.
“Par Amour du Jeu” exhibit at Magasins Généraux
Curated by Anna Labouze & Keimis Henni, “Par amour du jeu” (“For love of the game”) comprised performances, screenings, conferences, street football tournaments, freestyle football, foosball, and an art exhibit of 38 international artists, from 20- to 80-years-old, highlighting football as a major social phenomenon in the last twenty years. From the description:
On July 12th, 1998, the French national team won its first World Cup—the last of the 20th century. This victory triggered a historical outpouring of joy across a country. But it also generated expectations, hope and a mythology that football would have the power to unite a nation. Twenty years later, what results?
Football is more than a game. Because of its popularity and its symbolic scope, it has gone beyond the reach of a cultural fact, an instrument of power and prestige, which focuses the attention of the media. This game unites people as much as it creates debate. The cult of performance, the quest for sensationalism, celebrity, marketing, new technologies, social division and cohesion, issues of gender and identity, violence, political schism or commodification, football is a reflection of the state of our societies.
The art exhibit—featuring works including paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs, videos, installations, and performances—presented with poetry and humor some of the great issues of our time seen through the lens of “the beautiful game.”
“Bedwork/Antihero” by Soufiane Ababri (2018)
“The Nightmare of the White Elephant” by Hank Willis Thomas (2017)
“Perseverance” by Hank Willis Thomas (2017)
“Roger Milla” by Gareth Nyandoro (2017)
“Observe and Reverse” by Dario Escobar (2010)
“Idrissa Ndiaye” by Kehinde Wiley (2012)
Artists participating in the exhibit included: Soufiane Ababri – Bianca Argimon – Gregoire Beil – Neïl Beloufa – Cédric Brandilly – Mohamed Bourouissa – Guillaume Bresson – Hazel Brill – Antoine Carbonne – Petra Cortright – Ben Elliot – Dario Escobar – Louis Granet – Fabrice Gygi – Taro Izumi – Julie Joubert – Aurore Le Duc – Claude Lévêque – Sarah Lucas – Boris Mikhailov – Gareth Nyandoro – PAÏEN – Stéphane Pencréac’h – Alexandre Perigot – Nelson Pernisco – Pierre and Gilles – Hervé Priou – Robin Rhode – Amélie Scotta – Juergen Teller – Romain Vicari – Kehinde Wiley – Hank Willis Thomas – Auranne Brunet – Manquat and Erwin Wurm.