india mahdavi and crosby studios invite players to a game of ping pong in paris

india mahdavi and crosby studios invite players to a game of ping pong in paris

art 134 shares connections: +300

match point lands in the project room space in paris

 

Ahead of the Summer Olympic Games, French-Iranian architect India Mahdavi invites multidisciplinary artist Harry Nuriev from Crosby Studios to imagine a ping-pong installation at her Project Room space in Paris. The collaboration, titled Match Point (a.k.a. Project Room #14), offers a new setting that expands the space’s continuum of domestic experimentation by revising the idea of play and exercise as a common aspect of being at home. Visitors are welcome to play a game of ping pong for free anytime between 2pm and 7pm from Monday to Saturday on a first-come/first-serve basis. 

india mahdavi ping pong
all images © Benoit Florençon 

 

 

Harry Nuriev & india mahdavi revisit the essence of ping pong

 

As a game or as a sport, in private or in public, ping-pong is played by all age groups and has a unique ability to connect humans. Not only does it convene physical activity, leisure, and design, but it also triggers childhood memories of joy, fun, and competitiveness. With that in mind, Match Point acts as a modern-day parlor and addresses table tennis bothspatially and socially; it reconnects with the game’s origin by devoting an interior (domestic) space to physical activity while inviting the outside to play indoors. Harry Nuriev manifests this opposition with a bold and effective gesture — covering India Mahdavi’s entire Project Room, from the walls down to the table and rackets, in reflective silver surfaces to evoke a spatial mirroring from interior to exterior and vice versa. ‘One of my favorite parts of the project is that it has no color. Everything is grey and silver – and reflects everything happening around and outside the Project Room,’ the designer shares. 

india mahdavi ping pong
Match Point is a ping pong installation by Harry Nuriev / Crosby Studios

 

 

exploring playfulness and domesticity with ‘match point’

 

Reflecting on this collaboration, India Mahdavi adds: ‘I was interested to see how Harry would appropriate the space as he stands at the crossroads of many different disciplines – and I believe my practice embodies this very principle too. There’s a sense of playfulness and domesticity in both our practices; in a way, we’re both athletes in our fields.‘ Project Room is programmed by Mahdavi and conceived for free expression and collaboration. It invites, produces, and exhibits, merging talents and crafts and instigating conversations with designers from across the spectrum in the form of installations, décors, models, screenings, performances, lectures, and meetings. Project Room is regenerated four times a year, with free access. If you’re in Paris, go check out Match Point / Project Room #14, which will be open to the public until August 2nd, 2024. 

india mahdavi ping pong
the project takes shape at India Mahdavi’s Project Room space in Paris

india mahdavi and crosby studios invite players to a game of ping pong in paris
Match Point explores the idea of play in the familiar context of a home

match-point-designboom-full

india mahdavi and crosby studios invite players to a game of ping pong in paris
visitors are invited to play a game of ping pong for free on a first-come, first-serve basis

india mahdavi and crosby studios invite players to a game of ping pong in paris
Harry Nuriev covers the entire surface of the Project Room in reflective silver

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