Zeus, the European exhibition

Olympic Games Legacy

2024

Following its journey across the Seine during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, Zeus left the water for the squares, courtyards, and gardens of Europe. A monumental kinetic sculpture designed and created by blam, the articulated horse continued its gallop across seventeen stops, exhibited in castles, museums, city halls, and even on the rock of Mont Saint-Michel, offering new audiences the spectacle of its decomposed gallop each time. 

For each host city, Zeus was partially disassembled, packed, transported, and reassembled on-site by the studio's teams. Seventeen stops meant seventeen rounds of assembly and disassembly, with no compromise to the mechanics or aesthetics of the work. Each installation was accompanied by full maintenance during reassembly: mechanical and electrical checks, cleaning, surface verification, and minor touch-ups. Every location also imposed its own constraints regarding access, placement, and staging, often in heritage sites where nothing could be left to chance.

Among all the stops, the one at Mont-Saint-Michel required exceptional organization. Access to the abbey ruled out standard logistics: Zeus was transported there by helicopter for an installation worthy of this extraordinary site. 

Zeus was the result of an exceptional scenic commission, whose ephemeral nature was inherent to the event's stakes. This tour demonstrates that a monumental, articulated sculpture can be itinerant without losing any of its precision or presence.

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The tour stops in chronological order: 

Paris Paris City Hall

Versailles Marble Courtyard of the Palace of Versailles

Versailles Place d’Armes of the Palace of Versailles

Paris Porte Maillot

Montpellier Promenade du Peyrou

Lyon City Hall

Milan 5vie

Marseille MUCEM

Bordeaux Public garden

Rouen Agora Sequana

Mont Saint-Michel Mont Saint-Michel Abbey

Nantes Cour Cambronne

Gentilly Sanofi Headquarters

Strasbourg Rohan Palace

Paris Paris Longchamp, Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

Paris Champ de Mars Park, Longines Paris Eiffel Jumping

Paris Museum of Arts and Crafts

year

2024

client

Sanofi

dimensions

Horse

Withers: 1.75m

Height: 2.50m

Length: 3.80m

Width: 0.70m

role

Installation, Artwork Restoration, Maintenance

Helicopter airlift of Zeus for installation at Mont Saint-Michel © Marilu Parisi
Zeus installed on the terrace of the Mont Saint-Michel Abbey ©Camille Lemonnier
Zeus installed on the terrace of the Mont Saint-Michel Abbey ©Camille Lemonnier
Preparing Zeus for the helicopter airlift ©Camille Lemonnier
Zeus installed on the terrace of the Mont Saint-Michel Abbey ©Camille Lemonnier
https://player.vimeo.com/progressive_redirect/playback/1232047016/rendition/1080p/file.mp4%20%281080p%29.mp4?loc=external&signature=41adb8f8e36581183b07a71e03ad0bb1fb0d59ee1381f6c7f61a2e99b9090f95
Making-of the assembly of Zeus at Mont Saint-Michel ©Sanofi
Zeus exhibited at the Paris City Hall ©blam
Installation of Zeus on the roof of the Mucem in Marseille ©Schnepp Renou

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