Graphic art exhibit in Aubervilliers - In Situ

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Most of my excursions to Aubervilliers are on the western side of the city, otherwise known as the "Chinese" side due to the huge community working in the import-export business there. However, the eastern side of the city should not be ignored, and it even has the advantage of having a direct metro line to go there. So on Saturday, I went to the opening of the "In Situ" urban art festival at Fort d'Aubervilliers. The fort was abandoned long ago by the military and in recent years has been mostly an auto junkyard, a vehicle impoundment facility and also the location of the world famous Zingaro equestrian theatre. It's all going to be redeveloped soon into a new "éco quartier" which is what the French now call environmentally friendly housing developments of the 21st century.

However, the old junkyard has long been a playground of urban artists, or at least a place where they tried to perfect their techniques because what they did there was generally not visible to the general public. Once the area was mostly cleaned up, the urban art community had an idea. Inspired by the huge success of the Tour 13 event last year, they decided that the fort of Aubervilliers would be the perfect place for a new free art event with the added bonus of not having to wait in line this time. It will be open on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays until 13 July 2014, and then it will be gone forever. Depending on the success of the event, I imagine that they will extending the opening to other days of the week, but it is too soon to tell since it just started on May 17th.

Anyway, you enter the space by walking up a long gritty road leading off avenue Jean Jaurès...











Things are quite spread out at first, which gives one more of feeling of exploring rather than being directed to anything specific.





This egg will probably wait a long time to hatch in its nest.









Finally there are indications of the previous vocation of the area.

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There is even an ephemeral café serving refreshments.



























Not everyone felt restricted by the pre-existing frames.

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Ah, another parking lot!



Children are always fascinated, especially when there are no restrictions about touching the stuff!











It was easy to recognise artwork by some of the famous Parisian graphic artists.

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[bjd]

I'm always impressed by how gifted some of these painters are.

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The wild vegetation all around was just as interesting as the art.



It was not at all crowded, but I was far from alone on the site.





This old van was irresistible. I kept returning to it.





It never thought it would become famous one day.

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With all of this space, there will certainly be all sorts of additional events here once the summer holidays have begun.











I had to play a little with the settings on my camera.

























The Cyclops posts led the way back out. Special thanks to fumobici for accompanying me on this expedition.

[htmb]

Some really interesting paintings, and what a great space for a display. The portraits are particularly amazing.

[mossie]

These artists never cease to amaze me, they have some really strange imagination and can produce thought provoking images. Another place to add to the list.

[lagatta]

A Kerouac-fumobici collaboration! Wonderful. This was splendid - of course there were pieces I liked far more than others, that were a bit graffiti-artist-cliché - but it was thought and dream-provoking.

I always wonder what the criteria are for placing subjects set in the suburbs in "France" or "Paris".

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I have put some of my suburban reports in "France" rather than "Paris" but I have decided that henceforth, any place where the Paris metro goes will qualify as Paris.

[lagatta]

I think that is a good criterion. Obviously not every place in Île-de-France, or the RER, but the métro, yes. How about the tramlines?

fortaubervilliers.fr At some point I'll at least skim the pdf presentation of the projet.

www.plainecommune.fr/les-projets/projets-urbains/ecoquartier-du-fort-daubervilliers/#.U3o6AS8fy8o

I do hope you fellows had a good time!

[fumobici]

It was a wonderful show-- far more interesting and impressive to me for instance than the huge corporate sponsored show I saw at the Grand Palais. Thanks are due to K2 for turning me onto this event, I would never have wound up there to see it otherwise. I took 140 some photos and most are unsurprisingly very similar to these you see above. K captured some things I missed and probably vice versa. I can post some more photos of what I captured if K doesn't mind but I probably don't have a ton of fresh material to add.

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Obviously I welcome any additions with open arms -- including from anybody else who might go there in the coming months, because I'm sure there will be some new items of some sort or other appearing.

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I am going to be obliged to return (yay!) because I saw a report today on TV about this exhibition which said that the work of a Cuban artist there was the absolutely largest painting ever created on asphalt (there have been larger portraits out in fields and such) -- and I didn't see it! It is the portrait of a totally ordinary social worker from Aubervilliers, and it is sensational, although the only way to see it properly is by using an aerial drone. (I would post a link but I have not yet found one, even though I'm sure it will appear very soon.)

I am not completely certain, but I think that a hint of the portrait can be seen on the ground in the 9th photo of reply #1.

[lugg]

Fantastic, I enjoyed this as much as your Tour 13 report, I imagine that it was a relief to not have to queue for hours. I was drawn to the old van with its sculpture too although some of other art is quite staggering. Great that you an Fumobici met up and enjoyed it together. A thread that I am sure I will come back to often.

[lugg]

I wonder if this shows the large painting you referred to in your last post ?

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Yes, that's the one!

[lugg]

Pretty amazing - looking forward to seeing your photos of it which I guess will be quite a challenge

[htmb]

Yes....amazing!!!!!!

[mossie]

Takes street art to a whole new level.

[tod2]

Another huge thank you to both Kerouac and Fumobici for showing us this most interesting layout of art.

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I actually returned there yesterday and have some new photos, but give me a day or two to finally post them.

[fumobici]

A few of my images of the show. You will be forgiven if they look the same as K2's, they mostly do to me as well.



























These darling kids were trying to figure out how to take Pooh home with them.

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Your photos are just as good or even better than mine, fumobici.

Anyway, as I wrote, I returned over the weekend to try to see the giant painting on the ground.

The decorated posts on the entrance alley are an excellent idea, because many people might wonder "where the hell are we going?" if there were nothing at all to see.



There are more visitors now, but it is still not crowded.



New artworks are still being added.





It was warm and sunny and the bar was more popular than ever, particularly for the large beers.



There was actually a big sign for the horizontal artwork by Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada, but it was along the back wall of the "parking lot" which is why I had not seen it the first time.

Unfortunately, I must confirm that there is no way to see it from ground level. They would have to build a viewing tower or something to be able to appreciate it. However, I am quite certain that the people in the apartment blocks surrounding the fort must love it.

Oh well. At least I have seen the reports about it.



To console myself, I still wandered around to see some of the things I had liked the first time.



Simple motifs can sometimes be striking through their simplicity.









It's hard for me not to wonder how many different things happened in the buildings that will be demolished.









Non human artists have also been at work.



Time to start working my way back to the exit.



Compared to the stations in Paris, the metro entrances in the suburbs sometimes release you into a totally different world.