Paris street-art extravaganza scheduled for demolition —
You'd better make a beeline for Paris if you want to catch what organizers claim to be the largest street-art show ever held. Unlike most exhibitions, the works on view at Paris 13 Tower aren't just due to be packed away at the end of its short run.
La Tour Paris 13
Paris street-art extravaganza scheduled for demolition —
Along with the derelict 13th arrondissement tower block (pictured) housing them, they're to be turned into rubble after the show finishes at the end of this month.
La Tour Paris 13
Paris street-art extravaganza scheduled for demolition —
If that sounds like an embattled affair, with artists behind barricades fighting to keep the bulldozers out, it's not. The street art project, in which 100 international artists were invited to decorate the building inside and out, had the support of the local city hall and the building's landlord.
La Tour Paris 13
Paris street-art extravaganza scheduled for demolition —
Condemned buildings are often sad, albeit evocative, places, waiting to be put down. But the show's creator, the Paris gallerist Mehdi Ben Cheikh, found that atmosphere inspiring.
La Tour Paris 13
Paris street-art extravaganza scheduled for demolition —
He wanted to bring the 10-story tower, emptied of its inhabitants, "back to life, before it disappeared," he said.
La Tour Paris 13
Paris street-art extravaganza scheduled for demolition —
Street artists from 16 countries responded to his call to work, for free, on this huge concrete canvas -- 4,500 square meters of ground space over nine floors.
La Tour Paris 13
Paris street-art show headed for wrecking ball —
Equipped with spray cans and tools, practitioners such as "2mil" (Brazil), "Alone" (Iran), "Cope 2" (the U.S.) and "Honda" (France) took seven months to fill the 36 abandoned apartments -- some still furnished -- with paintings and installations. The building's exterior also got a radical paint job.
La Tour Paris 13
Paris street-art extravaganza scheduled for demolition —
"Although I'm a gallery owner, it made no sense to stick street art in a gallery just to sell on," Ben Cheikh said. "But this project did make sense."
La Tour Paris 13
Paris street-art extravaganza scheduled for demolition —
What he created, though, he's not sure. "It's not a museum, it's not a squat ... it's a mix of all that."
La Tour Paris 13
Paris street-art show headed for wrecking ball —
Tour Paris 13: 5 rue Fulton, 13th arrondissement, Paris. Open October 1 - 31, Tuesday-Sunday, noon - 8 p.m.; entry is free but restricted to 49 people at a time.
