The Ideal School: What If We Reinvented Primary Education?
At Magasins Généraux, the group exhibition “The Ideal School” asks a simple, yet far-reaching, question: what would a primary school look like if we truly redesigned it for today?
Running from June 21 to October 12, 2025, this free exhibition invites both adults and children to explore architectural, educational, and sensory alternatives to a model that has changed surprisingly little for over a century.
Conceived and produced by Magasins Généraux, in co-production with the Pavillon de l’Arsenal, the exhibition brings together architects, artists, and designers around a shared ambition: to imagine new ways of learning, moving, playing, and living together - ultimately, new ways of doing school.
An Immersive Experience, Designed at a Child’s Eye Level
This isn’t an exhibition you simply “visit”—it’s one you experience. School becomes a space for exploration: immersive, tactile, and intentionally designed at a child’s eye level.
Through a selection of remarkable schools—spanning the Greater Paris area and locations around the world - and a series of interactive artistic installations, “The Ideal School” expands our collective imagination. What if school weren’t necessarily a standardized building, a paved playground, and rows of identical desks?
The exhibition suggests tangible, sometimes poetic, sometimes highly practical possibilities:
- a classroom that can be endlessly reconfigured
- schools outdoors, or even in the forest
- furniture, spaces, and school games entirely rethought
- a playground transformed into a garden… or a farm
Together, these proposals open up new possibilities and raise an essential question: what does a truly desirable school look like—for children, and for society as a whole?
Extended Programming: Talks, Workshops, and Events
“The Ideal School” continues beyond the works on display. Throughout the exhibition, a program of talks and events brings together artists, thinkers, researchers, and activists through performances, conversations, and debates - building on the exhibition’s ideas and pushing further the vision of tomorrow’s school.
Guided tours, creative workshops for all ages, and a bookshop area complete the experience.
Curatorship and Research
The exhibition is curated by L’Atelier Senzu,** Anna Labouze**, and Keimis Henni, with research initiated within the framework of FAIRE Paris.
Practical Information
The Ideal School
📍 Magasins Généraux
📅 June 21 — October 12, 2025
🕒 Wednesday to Sunday, 2pm — 7pm
🎟️ Free admission
Guided Tours
📅 June 21 — October 12, 2025
🕒 2:30pm — 3:30pm
