The Fun Palace Installation
The Fun Palace Installation
Studio Ossidiana
ARCHITECTS
Studio Ossidiana
HOST
Centre Pompidou
STUDIO OSSIDIANA TEAM
Alessandra Covini, Giovanni Bellotti And Klaas Van Der Molen With Viktoria Bacheva, Pedro Daniel Pantaleone, Anna Halek, Ruth Gonzalez, Mariagiulia Pistonese
VIDEO GAME DESIGNER
Alice Bucknell
PRODUCER OF THE SOFT PALACE
Luigi D’oro Studio, Arguzia Srl
CURATORS
Jean-max Colard, Joséphine Huppert, Alice Pialoux, Assisted By Daphné Carreras
CURATORS OF THE ASSEMBLY OF OBJECTS
Olivier Zeitoun, Iris Carton Eldin
HEAD OF DESIGN AND INDUSTRIAL PROSPECTIVE
Marie-ange Brayer
COLLECTION ATTACHÉE, DESIGN DEPARTMENT
Mathilde Vallée
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Barbara Kugler
SCENEOGRAPHER
Celine Coffin
SPACE MANAGER
Charlotte Cochelin
ARTWORKS MANAGER
Nina Genonceau
AUDIOVISUAL MANAGEMENT
Alexandre Lebugle
STAGE MANAGEMENT
François Pegalajar, Robin Vieville, Fabrice Pleynet
INTERPRETERS
Marguerite Capelle, Caroline Ferrard, Adèle Hattemer, Yves Tixier
PARTNERSHIP COORDINATION
Anaïs Izard, Camille Gorret
PHOTOGRAPHS
Riccardo De Vecchi
YEAR
2025
LOCATION
Paris, France
CATEGORY
Installation
Text description provided by architect.
Last summer, as the Pompidou was preparing to close its doors to the public, we began to imagine a nomadic embassy for the museum, which could travel and host its people, art, and events during the Beaubourg's renovation. Its first destination, the Salon d'Honneur within the Grand Palais.
We thought of this place as a soft palace, an address for big and small assemblies, events, exhibitions, where to be together, play, discuss, listen, but also where one could hide, have a nap, choose to be alone, and find the intimacy of a shelter a few steps away from a public assembly or a performance.
We designed the Soft Palace as a vast textile surface, a carpet folded and rolled onto itself to become a gigantic garment, of which every crease and fold could be explored, and every pocket inhabited.
Once we step on it, we can move barefoot, lie or sit anywhere, take a stroll between exhibitions, performances, and games, participate in the collective choreography of its movements and events, or peek from the sheltered privacy of a side pocket.
Within the Soft Palace, any place can become the stage for an assembly, an event, or a performance, and we hope that every visitor will be both actor and spectator in the collective choreography of their day-to-day life.
The Soft Palace is an installation developed as part of the Fun Palace, an initiative of Centre Pompidou x GrandPalaisRmn.
The project is hosting the video game Nightcrawlers by artist Alice Bucknell, and a selection of design pieces from the Centre Pompidou's collection curated by Olivier Zeitoun and Marie-Ange Brayer.
The Fun Palace is developed in collaboration with philosopher Emanuele Coccia and curated by Jean-Max Colard, Joséphine Huppert and Alice Pialoux.
The Fun Palace is a co-production of the Centre Pompidou and GrandPalaisRmn with the support of the Chanel Culture Fund.
