Admirez les tous ! Une exposition hommage à Pokémon

Musée en herbe

What better place than the Musée en Herbe — a playful, joyful and intergenerational venue — to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Pokémon? Equipped with a treasure hunt and wearing Pokémon masks, children (and grown-up children too!) begin their visit with a return to the origins of the saga. Destination 1996: the birth of a global phenomenon, a genuine Pokémania that, for nearly thirty years, has brought together all generations. The first part of the exhibition unfolds like an immersive time capsule, plunging visitors into the 1990s. Here one discovers the portrait of its creator, Satoshi Tajiri, the very first Japanese and French cards, preliminary drawings from the animated series, as well as vintage boosters and goodies that have become cult objects. Giant Game Boys will even allow visitors to replay the very first Pokémon games. The exhibition then explores the profound influence of Japanese culture on the Pokémon universe. Yōkai masks, prints and sculptures will engage in dialogue with their equivalents from the game, revealing the close links between folklore, spirituality and contemporary imagination. Visitors will thus be able to enjoy the resemblances between Ludicolo and the Kappa, Barbicha and the Namazu, or Tengalice and the Tengu. Nods to art history also punctuate the exhibition: Alphonse Mucha, Piet Mondrian, Edvard Munch and Vincent van Gogh have been subtly reinterpreted by Pokémon card illustrators. Their works will engage in dialogue with these mischievous creatures in an unexpected play of mirrors. The exhibition will also spotlight contemporary artists who pay tribute to Japanese pop culture and the Pokémon universe, highlighting how porous the boundaries between art, video games and popular culture have become. Takashi Murakami is one of the most emblematic examples; Jean-Michel Basquiat was already paying tribute to Gigantor in the early 1980s. Finally, the exhibition concludes with a selection of works showing how the Pokémon imagination continues to inspire contemporary creation. Daniel Arsham, Katherine Bernhardt, Brusk, Hervé Di Rosa, Erró, David Heo, Thimothée Humbert, Mwoaa, Onemizer and Speedy Graphito offer these legendary characters a new artistic evolution.

Source: Paris Open Data ↗