- Championing emerging and established artistic talent from Petra Cortright to Juergen Teller, exploring football as a social phenomenon
- Entire exhibit spreads over 3000 sqm², including fully functioning football pitch and curated programme of events
- Inaugural exhibition marks the first season of the Magasins généraux as a cultural destination for Greater Paris
Par amour du jeu 1998-2018 inaugurates the cultural programming of Magasins généraux - the new hub for creativity and culture founded by BETC and located in Pantin at the bubbling heart of Greater Paris. The celebration also coincides with the twentieth anniversary of France’s victory at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, and the 2018 tournament in Russia.
Par amour du jeu 1998-2018 is curated by Anna Labouze and Keimis Henni, Magasins généraux’s in-house curatorial team which was appointed in Decembre 2017. For their first exhibition at Magasins généraux’s 1000 sqm² exhibition space, the young curators tackle the theme of football as a reflection of today’s society. Visitors to Par amour du jeu 1998-2018 can appreciate poetic and humorous works exploring the game’s relationship with a diverse range of modern-day subjects such as the division of power, performance, celebrity, gender and fanaticism.
“Celebrating football and contemporary culture is both a pertinent and timely choice to kick-off Magasins généraux’s cultural season. Football is a uniting and accessible theme, allowing Magasins généraux, Greater Paris’ new cultural centre, to engage and connect with local life and communities”, comment curators Anna and Keimis.
The curators have selected eighty works from thirty-eight international emerging and established contemporary artists, aged between twenty and eighty years old. The exhibition draws on loans from renowned cultural institutions, art galleries and private collections from all over the world.
Eleven young artists were selected to create pieces specifically for Par amour du jeu 1998 -2018, two of which, Ben Elliot and Aurore Le Duc, participated in Magasins généraux’s first artist residency. Eight out of these eleven young artists are from Greater Paris.
Additionally, and to ensure Par amour du jeu 1998-2018 becomes Greater Paris’ must-attend event during this summer’s World Cup, Magasins généraux has curated a 2000 sqm² summer zone adjacent to the rehabilitated grain warehouse. The summer zone is a space to relax and socialise, with a fully-functioning football pitch and a giant screen airing live football matches from this year’s tournament. The space will host Par amour du jeu 1998-2018 ’s programme of events, from 9 June to 15 July 2018, as well as Simulation - a series of video art screenings and performances choreographed by guest curators. Workshops, talks, football games, dining, concerts and parties are also in the pipeline.
“We are unlike other cultural centres,” states Rémi Babinet, BETC’s founder. “As an advertising agency, we believe in different models for production and the diffusion of culture.
The boundaries between art, society and business are much more permeable than people think.”
