WHEN it comes to the biggest sports show on earth, many Parisians have reached the stage of begrudging acceptance. The level of disruption – and metro price hikes – to get the city ready for this summer’s Olympic Games hasn’t exactly endeared the event to locals, especially those who favour culture over sports.

“The Olympics are coming – whether we like it or not,” a curator from the Pompidou Centre, Linus Gratte, said as he introduced a performance there last weekend as part of the Hors Pistes festival. The audience chuckled.

Hors Pistes (meaning “Off-Piste”), a festival that the Pompidou Centre says is devoted to “moving images”, came with an Olympic-ready theme this year: The Rules of Sport. It is part of the Cultural Olympiad, the programme of arts events that is now a part of the Olympic experience in every host city.