Raphaël Zarka

Raphaël Zarka was born in Montpellier in 1977 and lives and works in Paris. 

Raphaël Zarka is a photographer, sculptor, filmmaker, and author of books on skateboarding. His practice draws on science, industry, philosophy, and popular culture. A collector of forms, he appreciates geometric and architectural motifs, often removed from their original contexts, to create connections across different periods, disciplines, and uses. Some forms come from sites he investigates almost archaeologically, leading to extensive research into their histories. He brings together references as varied as Galileo’s instruments, skateboard components, Archimedes’ screw, and the twisted chimneys of sixteenth-century Britain. Reinterpreted through series of sculptures such as Les Prismatiques, made up of 36 wooden chassis keys, these forms demonstrate how a single geometric idea can move across centuries and connect Renaissance humanism with contemporary urban culture. 

At Atelier Calder, Zarka approached the studio as a space for experimentation rather than simply a place of production. During his residency, he developed a series of modular works inspired by the research of a German mathematician and crystallographer Arthur Schönflies (1853–1928). These experiments led to a series of stone sculptures, the first of which was presented at the end of his residency.