With the 2024 Paris Olympic Games taking place in one of the world’s greatest art capitals, it was only fitting that talented young filmmaker, multidisciplinary artist and designer Zakea Page took the opportunity to showcase his latest work.

The New Zealander has strong ties to the Olympic movement, having won the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) global competition to design the medals for the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne. He then performed at the opening ceremony, brilliantly creating his own medal design using a hockey stick and a ball covered in paint.

During the first week of the 2024 Paris Olympics, Zakea hosted his exhibition “Hockey in Motion” in central Paris. Using a hockey stick and a ball, he paints in virtual reality, using the movements of field hockey to create incredible digital sculptures. A hockey player and the Eiffel Tower are just two of many wonderful examples.

The exhibition featured a live VR performance painting, where visitors could use virtual reality headsets to immerse themselves in the artwork immediately after it was created by Zakea.

We accepted Zakea’s kind invitation to the one-day exhibition and met him to learn more about his work and his deep passion for the ideals of the Olympic Games.

^{©Zakea Page. Used with permission}

Hello Zakea, thank you for inviting us to your exhibition and for taking the time to talk to us. Can you please tell us a little about yourself?

Zakea page: “My name is Zakea Page. I am an artist, filmmaker and designer. Right now I am in Paris during the Olympics for my solo exhibition “Hockey in Motion” which is about using hockey and the movements of hockey to create works of art. So it’s about sport and art and the relationship between sport and art, especially during the Olympics where the father of the Olympics (Pierre de Coubertin, a Parisian) expressed the importance of art and sport as a fundamental part of the Olympics. It’s also not just about sport, it’s also about France as the host country. So we’re also celebrating a little bit of French culture. And we’re also celebrating the host country.”

And what is your connection to hockey?

TP: “I’m a former field hockey player. I played for about eight years. I played on the Vietnam national team and in local clubs in New Zealand, like Harbour City Hockey Club (in Wellington). It’s been a big passion my whole life. And it’s given me a lot of great memories and taken me to some great communities. So it’s been a very special part of my life.”

And of course we are here in Paris because of the Olympic Games. You yourself have a connection with the Youth Olympic Games. Can you please tell us a bit more about that?

ZP: “My dream was to play hockey for New Zealand and win an Olympic medal, but little by little I started creating artwork and using field hockey in my performance work. My goal changed when I started focusing on art and wanted to perform at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games and use field hockey to create art. And I had the opportunity to perform at the opening ceremony of the 2020 Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne. And it was a painting of the medal that I designed for the 2020 Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, as I had won an international design competition. The medal was called ‘Beauty and Diversity’ and was inspired by a quote by the American poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou. She talked about the importance of diversity bringing nations and people from different places together, and that’s what the Olympic Games and the Youth Olympic Games are all about.”

Finally, you plan to go to the Yves du Manoir hockey stadium in the next few days to watch the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Are you excited yet?

TP: “I’m really excited. I’ve never been to an Olympic field hockey event before. I’ve been to the Youth Olympic Games, but not on the big stage, so I’m really looking forward to watching it. And the fact that it’s in a historic stadium, the same stadium that hosted the opening ceremony of the Olympics last time, in 1924, so I’m really looking forward to just being there, being a part of it and watching it all.”

To learn more about Zakea Page’s art, Click here.

For more information about the fantastic Olympic hockey competitions taking place in Paris in 2024, visit Olympic Games.Hockey.

#IceHockey
#Paris2024