The Centre Pompidou in Paris has officially closed its doors for five years — but not without a spectacular send-off. Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang bid farewell to the celebrated building with Le Dernier Carnaval, a pyrotechnic mural ignited across the museum’s façade: an explosion of light, fire, and color blending tradition, technology, and a meditation on the future of artistic creation.
Cai Guo-Qiang, The Last Carnival, 2025. Realized at the Centre Pompidou, Paris. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio.
September 22, 2025, marked the beginning of the ambitious renovation and modernization of the landmark building designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers and inaugurated in 1977. With its nine levels and 120,000 square meters, the Pompidou houses one of the world’s most significant collections of modern and contemporary art, rivaling New York’s MoMA. During the works, the permanent collections will travel to temporary locations across France and abroad, while the Bibliothèque publique d’information (BPI) will relocate to provisional spaces.
Cai Guo-Qiang, The Last Carnival, 2025. Realized at the Centre Pompidou, Paris. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio.
The Final Performance: Fire, Artificial Intelligence, and Collective Memory
The daytime pyrotechnic performance was conceived by Cai Guo-Qiang in collaboration with his proprietary AI model, cAI™, developed to explore the frontier between human and artificial creativity. Le Dernier Carnaval unfolded in three acts — The Banquet, The Awakening of Artificial Intelligence, and The Last Carnival — narrating the museum’s past, present, and future through the universal language of fire.
Cai Guo-Qiang, The Last Carnival, 2025. Realized at the Centre Pompidou, Paris. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio.
Curator Jérôme Neutres explained: “For the first time in its history, the Centre Pompidou’s iconic façade became a monumental canvas. Cai Guo-Qiang painted upon it his final work of fire and light — arguably the most intimate and complex of his career.”
Cai Guo-Qiang, The Last Carnival, 2025. Realized at the Centre Pompidou, Paris. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio.
Produced in collaboration with Groupe F, the renowned French pyrotechnic collective, the piece offers a poetic reflection on the dialogue between man and machine, between control and chaos, destruction and rebirth. Gunpowder — an ancient Chinese invention and a recurring medium in Cai’s practice — becomes here a tool for meditating on the evolution of the creative gesture in the digital age.
Cai Guo-Qiang, The Last Carnival, 2025. Realized at the Centre Pompidou, Paris. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio.
A Festive Farewell Before a 2030 Rebirth
Ahead of its closure, the Centre Pompidou hosted *Because Beaubourg* (October 24–25), a weekend of free events celebrating the museum’s history and spirit, with performances, talks, and public workshops. It served as a final farewell before the architectural “machine” designed by Piano and Rogers powers down — only to reignite in 2030, more sustainable and open than ever.
Cai Guo-Qiang, The Last Carnival, 2025. Realized at the Centre Pompidou, Paris. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio.
The Centre Pompidou 2030 Project: A Greener, More Inclusive, and Connected Pompidou
The extensive renovation, led by architecture studios Moreau Kusunoki Architectes, Frida Escobedo Studio, and AIA Life Designers, aims to preserve the Pompidou’s architectural identity — its colorful pipes and exposed structures — while transforming it into a more energy-efficient, accessible, and welcoming space.
The plan includes a full overhaul of the building’s technical systems and steel framework; the creation of new public areas and gathering spaces for young people and families; and improved connectivity between the museum’s diverse components — from the library to the research labs and artist residencies.
As architects Moreau and Kusunoki describe it, “the new Pompidou will be a living place rather than a mere museum — where culture becomes a shared, participatory experience.”
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Cover image: Cai Guo-Qiang, The Last Carnival, 2025. Realized at the Centre Pompidou, Paris. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio.
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