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PARIS 2000

HAPPENINGText: Julien Villaret

Usually in Paris, July is a month of summer, sun, light-dresses and vacations. The town is getting really pleasant to live in and that is the best time to go for a stroll in the city. Unfortunately, the weather is terrible this year and you really have to be motivated to go outside… but anyway, I have decided to boycott my television, so…

As I was still stunned by the two main art exhibitions of the summer in France (“La Beaute” in Avignon and the “Biennale of Lyon”), I wanted to prove myself (as a natural born Parisian) that the capital was the place for artistic creation. So I took the metro in a quest of something that could be original…

Step One: with two friends of mine, Emilie and Eric, we are going to search some artists. In the south-east of Paris, near the new National Library, a district that is being renovated, stand the frigos, some kind of big industrial buildings which were used in the past as refrigerated warehouses.


They are now squatted by artists and musicians. The place is said to be a hot spot for graffiti and wall paintings. So we enter in one of the buildings and meet the concierge. Unfortunately, he announces that most of the occupants are on vacation. We decide to explore the place anyway.

It is so crowded with paintings that it is almost impossible to find a virgin corner. We can really feel a lot of energy and creativity in that place. Several rooms are converted into studios by artists, photographs or dance companies. There are also five recording studios for musicians and one floor, decorated in a kitsch Greco-Roman style. It is totally dedicated to welcome some of the trendiest parties of Paris. So we can say that this place is really underground and interesting.

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