Raphaël Zarka—Geometry, Time and Skateboarding

The practice of a contemporary French artist working fluidly across diverse fields—including the history of science, art history, and street culture—through photography, sculpture, video, and writing.

Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art will present the exhibition, Raphaël Zarka—Geometry, Time and Skateboarding, the first major solo exhibition in Japan by Paris-based artist Raphaël Zarka (1977-). While working across diverse fields including geometry, mathematics, sculpture, architecture, and skateboarding, Zarka has explored the relationships between form and space, and between movement and time. By researching geometric forms and principles found in the history of art, mathematics and science, and reinterpreting them from his own unique perspective, he develops these concepts into a wide variety of works such as sculpture, photography, video, drawing, and writing.

In Zarka’s practice, skateboarding is a crucial theme that originated from his personal experience. Through physical engagement with urban and architectural spaces via skateboarding, he draws attention to geometric forms embedded in steps, slopes, curved surfaces, and other structures, reinterpreting existing spaces in ways that differ from their intended use. This approach raises questions not only about the relationship between bodily movement and space, but also about access to public space and how it is used.
In addition to key works from his career to date, this exhibition will feature a new body of work created during Zarka’s residency and production period in Kyoto. Through sculpture, photography, video, drawing, and maquettes, it offers an overview of his practice, grounded in the discovery of forms and their transformation into artworks through research and reflection.

Throughout his career, Zarka has developed his work through an ongoing dialogue with forms and artworks created in the past, spanning different eras and locations. This exhibition traces the trajectory of this ongoing research and dialogue, while showcasing works that have emerged from his encounter with Kyoto as a new site of exploration.