OCTOBER 25, 2025 — The Palais de Tokyo in Paris has taken down Cameron Rowland’s installation Replacement (2025), just days after its unveiling as part of “ECHO DELAY REVERB,” an exhibition featuring American artists shaped by French theory, says ARTnews.
In Replacement, Rowland replaced the French flag atop the museum’s entrance with the newly adopted Martinican flag, an emblem with red, black, and green coloured bands and a red triangle.
According to the artist’s accompanying caption, Martinique has been tied to France since colonization in 1635, functioning as an overseas department, with France maintaining reliance on the territory. “Black Martinicans have pursued the end of French rule for 390 years,” the text details.
Rowland’s conceptual gesture also included a quotation from the Mouvement Indépendantiste Martiniquais, which advocates for the territory’s independence. In the caption, the group’s statement declares: “Martinique remains a politically dominated territory, economically exploited, militarily occupied, culturally alienated and fettered by the European free-trade agenda, which prohibits any idea of lasting protection for our island economy.”
On Thursday, the New York gallery Maxwell Graham, representing Rowland, announced on Instagram on Thursday that Replacement had been removed from the exhibition.
The gallery shared an image of new wall text installed at the Palais de Tokyo, reading: “Palais de Tokyo has determined that Cameron Rowland’s artwork could be considered illegal. As a result it is no longer included in the exhibition.” Museum officials and Rowland’s representatives have so far declined further comment, and it remains unclear what specific legal grounds prompted the removal.
“ECHO DELAY REVERB” is curated by Naomi Beckwith, deputy director and chief curator of the Guggenheim Museum and artistic director of Documenta 16, and opened recently with Rowland’s work as a centrepiece.
