ÉPICENTRE PARIS: WHY THIS EXHIBITION MATTERS TO ALL OF US
Written by Samantha Bache
Some stories deserve to travel. And the story of Embarcadero Plaza, the concrete expanse in San Francisco that quietly changed the course of street skateboarding forever, is one of them.
This week, photographer and filmmaker Jacob Rosenberg brings his acclaimed exhibition ÉPICENTRE Paris to the heart of the Marais district in Paris, running from June 24 to 28 at Galerie Arquebusiers. Presented in partnership with adidas Skateboarding, the show brings 70 photographs and video installations to Paris, the city that perhaps more than anywhere else in the world, first understood what EMB meant.
The story behind the spot
Between 1990 and 1993, a teenage Rosenberg was skipping school in Palo Alto to drive daily to San Francisco, Canon 8mm camcorder and 35mm camera in hand. What he found at Embarcadero Plaza was something electric, a community of skaters pushing each other to redefine what was possible on a board. Mike Carroll, Jovontae Turner, Henry Sanchez, James Kelch, Chico Brenes, names that went on to shape skateboarding culture globally, were all there, on those bricks, every day.
Rosenberg documented it all. And when American magazines were still trying to figure out what EMB even was, it was Paris-based No Way Magazine that got there first. With Rosenberg as their SF Correspondent, the magazine published his photography and writing across multiple spreads, including a cover featuring Aaron Curry. He was 17 years old.
Thirty-five years later, he is bringing it back to the city that believed in him first.
Why it matters right now
The Vaillancourt Fountain, the iconic landmark at the heart of Embarcadero Plaza, is currently being dismantled. The plaza is being redesigned and the physical space that launched modern plaza street skateboarding will no longer exist. Rosenberg's photographs are not just art. They are a record of something that happened, something real, something that changed everything and something that is now being erased.
As Mike Carroll put it, EMB was home. A family. A place where people pushed each other without any idea of where it would lead. And crucially, a place where people came to feel included. That is a feeling every single one of us in the skating community understands.
What's on
The exhibition runs June 24 to 28 at 13bis rue Arquebusiers, 75003 Paris, with free entry Thursday to Sunday 11am to 6pm. Alongside the photographs and video installations, the show also features paintings by Lee Smith and Eric Merrell, and coincides with the launch of the second edition of Rosenberg's monograph EPICENTER, a 284 page hardcover art book documenting this pivotal moment in skate history.
Girl Skate Mag will be there
We covered EPICENTER when it ran in San Francisco, and now we are going to Paris to see it in person. We will be at the Press and VIP preview, and we will be sitting down with Jacob Rosenberg himself for an exclusive interview, asking the questions that matter to our community. Watch this space.
ÉPICENTRE Paris. June 24 to 28. Free entry. Go if you can.
📍 13bis rue Arquebusiers, 75003 Paris
🕚 Thursday to Sunday, 11am to 6pm
🎟️ Free entry