To mark the launch of the 2024 Olympics, Nike has teamed up with one of the most storied landmarks in Paris, the Centre Pompidou, for a two-week celebration of sport and culture.

Following on from the brand’s recent campaign showing the resilience of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team, the Art of Victory exhibition will retrace the history of one of Nike’s most decorated innovations, Air, and its impact on the world of sport.

“I think the message of this partnership, for me, is to go ahead and be bold when you have a good idea,” says Nike designer Tinker Hatfield, who credits the Pompidou’s inside-out architecture as the inspiration for the visible Air cushioning technology he integrated into the Air Max 1, which was first released in 1987.

“Go ahead and take a risk. Be at least a little disruptive so people notice what you’re doing. I think that’s true for the building as well as the Air Max 1. The technology is important, but it’s the act of boldness and being disruptive that made everybody pay attention.”

 

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Alongside the exhibition, Nike will turn the museum’s instantly recognisable façade into a canvas that will host a series of immersive sport experiences, including videos and animations highlighting famous athletes and some of the masterpieces preserved within the museum’s walls.

Meanwhile, French artist Raphael Zarka and architect Jean-Benoît Vétillard’s skateable sculpture Cycloid Piazza has been commissioned by the museum with the support of Nike, inviting the public to engage with a less traditional Olympic sport that has gained a huge amount of attention since its debut in Tokyo three years ago.

Art of Victory is at the Centre Pompidou from July 24 to August 11; centrepompidou.fr