Since 2009 in Paris, more precisely in the 9th arrondissement, in the Pigalle district, has been located the colorful Pigalle Duperré Court.
The project, to date curated by Stéphane Ashpool, founder of the Pigalle brand, Nike and the creative studio ILL Studio, was born from the citizens’ desire to have a place where children could play, right there in the middle of two buildings characterized by the classic and charming Parisian style.
So it was that all the inhabitants of the neighborhood and the players of the local basketball teams started painting the first court alongside the French-Asian artist Yué “Nyno”, born from the ashes of an old abandoned parking lot.
Also present at the inauguration were Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Spike Lee and LeBron James, protagonists of one of the four walls.
In 2012, on the occasion of the launch of the new collection, Ashpool commissioned the new design to ILL Studio, famous for having already worked with brands such as Louis Vuitton, Converse, and Supreme.
The result was a basketball court characterized by shapes and colors never seen before, but above all the beginning of what would become a globally recognized project.
Moreover, on this occasion, the design of the basketball court was also reproduced inside the stadium where the new collection was presented.
Always ILL Studio, first in 2015 and then in 2017, was responsible for giving a new look to the Pigalle Duperré Court.
In the first case, inspired by the colors and geometries of Kazimir Malevic’s painting “Sportsmen”, in the second one, instead, giving life to what, according to them, could be the future aesthetics of a basketball court, characterized by bright colors.
Through this basketball court we try to explore the relationship between sport, art and culture and what comes out is a powerful socio-cultural indicator of our time. ILL Studio
This brings us to the last court, the one inaugurated at the beginning of 2020, always made by the same dream team.
The colors remain strong and iridescent but what changes is the source of inspiration that, perfectly in trend, moves on the gaming world, with signs, symbols and numbers that decorate all the walls of the field.
“The Power of Sport to Move the World”, this is the motto of a project that does not hint at putting down the brush, on the contrary, the goal seems to be to take it around the world.
In September 2019, in fact, the project arrived in Beijing, where a new basketball court was built for girls and young people in the Chinese capital, made with Nike Grind, a material created from recycled shoes and scrap.
This too was designed by ILL Studio and, according to Ashpool, marked the beginning of something new and bigger.
And a few months later, in December, two more courts were opened in Mexico City at the Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, former Olympic site and home of the basketball team Capitanes de Ciudad de México.
But going back to our Pigalle Duperré Court, if you are one of the few who have not yet made two shots at one of the most famous baskets in the world, this awaits you at number 22 of Rue Duperré, between the Moulin Rouge and Montmartre.
