The Palais de Tokyo in Paris, built for the 1937 International Exhibition of Arts and Technology, is an icon of French Art Deco architecture. Located prominently on the northern bank of the Seine near the Eiffel Tower, the vast complex is a hotspot of modern and contemporary art in the French capital. In addition to having housed the city’s own Modern Art Museum for nearly eighty years, the Palais de Tokyo in itself is a piece of art. And, just as art changes over time, so has the Palais de Tokyo. In the years leading to its grand reopening in October 2019, Paris-based h2o Architectes, in collaboration with design firm Studio GGSV, directed major reconstruction work of the Palais’s eastern wing. 

Modern Modern documents the creation of the new Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris. Alongside essays and a conversation with h2o architectes’ founding partners, Jean-Jacques Hubert and Antoine Santiard, plans and historic photographs illustrate the changing face of the museum. Modern Modern makes the reconstruction process tangible through a photo essay and photographic features that capture the changes of the museum from multifarious angles.