For the Paris stop of the SLS Championship Tour, held on October 3, 2026 at Roland-Garros, artist Rom av.JC was invited to present Street League Archaeology, an exhibition telling the story of the contest… two thousand years before it was created.
It all starts with a fictional find. During preventive excavations carried out as part of the Roland-Garros expansion works, archaeologists supposedly unearthed a collection of 1st-century Greco-Roman vessels. They depict athletes practising Ars Scatoria, the art of skateboarding. The scenes identify the Sacred Games of the Foedus Varium, the Ancient Street League, held in honour of Thrashus, god of the hammer and of fast, committed skating. Proof, if any were needed, that the Skatores were already competing back then.
Set up in Le 1928 lounge, right in the heart of the event, the exhibition takes the form of a large museum display unit. Its lit showcases hold vessels, kylikes, helmets and fragments, all reconstructed from broken skateboards. Bilingual panels tell the story of this imaginary civilisation, while part of the installation goes behind the scenes: studio work, brand collaborations and “bespoke archaeology” projects. A few pieces on plinths also greet visitors along the central aisle, including a kylix framed by a laurel wreath.
Two thousand years later, the Foedus Varium has returned to where it all began. As the Rom av.JC exhibition puts it: history does not need to be true to be right.
