MATCH. Design and Sport - A Story Looking to the Future
AKQA features in the prestigious exhibition Match: Design and Sport – a history looking to the future commissioned by the French Senate and hosted at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris.
Originally an initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, cultural events have accompanied each Olympic Games for over a hundred years creating the Cultural Olympiad. For the 2024 Paris Olympics The Musée du Luxembourg has brought two disciplines together: sport and design. The exhibition explores the role that design plays in sports performance through a curated selection of installations and objects at the forefront of design seeking to uncover the symbiotic relationship between innovation and sports craft and how they propel each other forward.
AKQA presents four ground-breaking pieces of work for the exhibition. Each one showcases a dedication to pushing the possibilities of technology to further human progress. Tennis Australia’s Action Audio, Nike Never done Evolving featuring Serena Williams, ai.io app aiScout and AKQA’s Speedgate all feature within the Virtual and Big Data area of the exhibition.
Chief Curator and exhibition designer Konstantin Grcic who studied at the Royal College of Art said: “One of the key pieces is Speedgate and is included in the exhibition to show how design is also about the design of the rules and regulations of a game.”
Speedgate which closes the show to demonstrate where the future is heading within sport is exhibited alongside significant cultural sporting objects, including the original Olympic logo design from 1913 and the striking orange and black Refugee Olympic Flag.
AKQA were also invited to feature within the official exhibition catalogue a hybrid, playful and inclusive book-object where readers are invited to explore the links between design and sport. The publication interweaves thought leadership by designers, athletes, academics and prosthetists along with full-page images. Bound by a repositionable elastic band, the sheets can be detached and displayed. Contributing an article exploring the use of AI and co-design to cultivate social frisson through the use of Tennis Australia’s Action Audio. AKQA demonstrate how the ubiquity of the ball monitoring computer vision systems at tournaments worldwide has created an opportunity to open access for millions of visually impaired people, convening a more diverse set of fans to professional sports.
The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have access to the practice of sport, without discrimination. The Olympic spirit requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.
Match. Sport and Design – a history looking to the future is on view from March 13 to August 11 2024 and has been awarded the Olympiade Culturelle label.
You can read more about the exhibition here.
Exhibition Design Konstantin Grcic. Carousel photos Sarah Vervisch for GrandPalaisRmn 2024
