The first of three monumental track and field sculptures being temporarily installed in Paris and Strasbourg went on public display 14 May as part of the celebrations of the Cultural Olympiad of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, World Athletics Heritage and the Museum of World Athletics (MOWA) announced in a press release.
MOWA has commissioned French sculptor Pierre Larauza to produce the three artworks. Lauraza has previously been engaged by the museum to produce the sculpture depicting the world long jump record set by American Mike Powell in 1991 titled “30 aout 1991, Tokyo”.
As part of this year’s Cultural Olympiad – Paris 2024, which explores the links between art and sport, a temporary reproduction of Larauza’s long jump artwork was inaugurated yesterday in Zenith Paris La Villette, attended by 1500 children from across Paris in a one-day Olympic cultural festival.
In the coming weeks, two more track and field sculptures by Larauza will be displayed in celebration of notable achievements in the sport.
One is “20 octobre 1968, Mexico” (high jump gold, 1968 Olympic, 2.24m) – a tribute to the late Dick Fosbury. The artwork measures 1.8m x 1.6m x 2.5m and is created in wood, concrete and plaster and demonstrates the height crossed by the American athlete, against which our body can be measured.
The work represents the physical or mental wall that we may have been confronted with in our lives, are currently confronted with or will be confronted with one day. What strategy should we choose to break free of it? Fosbury surpassed his wall with the invention of the Fosbury Flop technique.
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The third artwork is the “13 juillet 1985, Paris” (pole vault world record, 6.00m, Ukraine’s Sergey Bubka) – which represents the world’s first ever six metres vault, which took place in the Jean Bouin Stadium, Paris, in 1985. The 20m x 4m x 6m installation is a reproduction of Bubka’s vault, immortalising a life-size historical movement in sculpture.
This work of art, which is constructed from concrete, steel, stainless steel and foam materials, takes a poetic and documentary look at this exceptional movement by faithfully reproducing the trajectory of the pole.
The exhibition of “13 juillet 1985, Paris” will take place at Carreau du Temple in the centre of Paris, from 26 to 30 June 2024.