A Montreuilloise
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Post by A Montreuilloise on Sept 12, 2015 22:43:51 GMT
HI, I live nearby. It's actually a Catholic private school (primary and secondary school), there is no religious classes as it is associated with the State. I'm 22 and I always lived in Montreuil, this city has changed so much in so little time (in good and sometimes bad). Hope you enjoyed your trips there
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 19, 2019 11:52:27 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 19, 2019 11:56:54 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 19, 2019 12:27:28 GMT
So, here we are in February 2019. On Saturday I had signed up for an urban graffiti walk in Montreuil. The rendezvous was near the Robespierre métro station in all of its decaying art deco glory.
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There is no lack of ethnic food in Montreuil.
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I began my own little tour of wall art before the time of the appointment.
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Our group met next to a municipal library which had offered its side wall as a canvas for a local artist. This was in honour of great women.
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Our guide Félix explained all of the different terms concerning graffiti, particularly the names of all of the styles of lettering for tags -- balloon, vandal, splatter, stencil, floppy, etc. Most graffers choose a style and stick with it, but others evolve over time, especially as their expertise increases. Montreuil has lots of local artists because it is a graffiti-friendly city. Of course one of the reasons is that it has a lot of old buildings and walls in terrible condition, but the municipal authorities encourage a lot of the artists and sometimes participate in the expense of creation. Most graffers refuse to be tamed, though, and places where graffiti is forbidden are often considered the most desirable. For learning how to graf, the walls of empty lots are totally authorised and what is painted on them can change every week. Félix organizes (legal) graffiti workshops. Besides individuals and groups of friends, there are sometimes even "team building" corporate events. Here is my advertising plug for him: www.felixstreetart.fr
This was the newest official wall in town. It had just been completed this week.
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This delightful house was nearby, decorated by local artist "Espion."
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This was another work by Espion, but I could get a good shot, because an old man stopped dead in his tracks as we passed by and didn't move until we were gone.
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I already photographed this wall in 2015, but obviously everything on it has changed.
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Our guide deciphered a lot of the signatures for us. For example 3AD = triade. It is a group of Asian graffers.
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Post by lagatta on Feb 19, 2019 12:36:54 GMT
Demonym (gentilé)Montreuilloise, Montreuillois. Some of those buildings have attractive renovations, such as the yellow house, and the tiny one beside it with either a new or thoroughly renovated front room. Often those would have been some kind of workshop. I remember also being surprised at the relatively high prices for shabby hotels there; I'd assumed that they would have been cheaper than in the 20th. There is a Grande mosquée now, but not nearly as grand as the Paris one. www.lagrandemosqueedemontreuil.fr/fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89glise_Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul_de_Montreuil Here is a historic church, though it has undergone significant damage over the years There are several (small) synagogues as well. Haven't checked any other religions. I'm not remotely religious, but they are an important facet of life for many people.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 19, 2019 16:40:00 GMT
Montreuil-sous-Bois, which is the 5th largest city in the Paris metropolitan area, with a population above 100,000. I am putting it in the Paris section, because the Paris metro serves it completely with 3 stations and it is only 7.5 kilometres from Notre Dame, which is "point zero" for all distances in France. In other words, you can walk to the centre of Paris in no more than an hour. it is also one of the most godawful ugly suburbs of Paris, even if it is changing faster and faster. This is a great intimate look at the kind of place that usually gets overlooked when people think of the glamor of Paris. Nice as the new pictures are, it was illuminating to look at the unfolding of this report from the beginning. What mainly strikes me going through the pictures is how much Montreuil retains the feel of a self-contained village. Like many of us, I live in a city composed of areas that were once autonomous, back when seven and a half kilometers from the big city center seemed a much greater distance than it does now. Really, once I noticed the village aspect in the buildings and certain elements of the layout, the place did not seem "godawful ugly" to me. Of course you wrote those words almost five years ago, and it would seem your many voluntary repeat visits to Montreuil indicate that it has worked its homely charm on you. I certainly find the parks and the exuberant decoration charming, not to mention the care the residents lavish on parks and gardens. But the unabashed slightly run-down look of much of the area seems friendly rather than demoralized, adding to the sense of a thriving community.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 19, 2019 19:45:01 GMT
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Post by mossie on Feb 19, 2019 20:21:23 GMT
Very interesting, as a fan of street art there are some very good examples here. I am jealous of you having an expert explain them to you.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 19, 2019 20:27:19 GMT
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Post by fumobici on Feb 19, 2019 21:13:46 GMT
Nice update of a wonderful thread. Thank you.
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Post by lagatta on Feb 19, 2019 22:09:19 GMT
I loved the dear baby at the end. I thoroughly enjoyed my two weeks in Montreuil, though I was participating in an event at Nanterre, so a long but fairly direct commute. But I was in an area close to the Mairie-de-Montreuil métro station, and there were lots of cute streets that had already been renovated quite a bit.
This was during the heroic period of Social Forums. I interpreted for some very well-known people.
I was mightily pissed-off, upon my return, to have my lovely goat cheese from Croix-de-Chavaux (sp?) market confiscated by idiotic border guards at the airport here, though I had checked before that French cheese was authorised.
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Post by bjd on Feb 20, 2019 6:49:44 GMT
In Canada you can only bring in "hard" cheese, not soft cheese like camembert. I guess goat cheese falls into the latter category.
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Post by lagatta on Feb 20, 2019 9:46:12 GMT
At least some of it was hard cheese. Some was soft, but not the unripened goat known as "chèvre" in English-speaking places. I'd have no reason to bring that back as it is no different from unripened goat made here.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 20, 2019 12:04:39 GMT
I loved the dear baby at the end. Whenever you see wall portraits like that, it is almost always the children of the artist, copied from a favourite photograph.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 20, 2019 12:21:42 GMT
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Post by lagatta on Feb 20, 2019 14:51:53 GMT
That is almost like a wilded version of the famous Hofs in Viennese social housing; a central green where working-class families could enjoy peace and quiet - or games - and a bit of greenery.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 20, 2019 17:19:58 GMT
And I'm sure that the area looks much more appealing in July than in February. This building houses a hard rock venue about which there were a lot of noise complaints, but most of them did not understand that it was a concert hall. The city of Montreuil fixed this by asking for artwork that would make it very clear that it was a place for loud music. This solved the problem with the neighbours. I doubt that very many cities use this kind of reasoning to settle disputes. One of our last stops was the Studio de l'Albatros, a former movie studio. In fact it was originally the Pathé film studio which opened in 1904 and created more than 1200 films up to 1929 and the arrival of talkies. It was then used to make the famous Pathé newsreels and was later used by exiled Russian filmmakers who created the Albatros studios. They invited directors like Jean Renoir, Abel Gance and others to make movies, including the incredible Napoléon. But cinema moved elsewhere, and it became a tin factory. In 1997 the building was saved when it became a registered historical building. It was purchased for one million euros in 2001 by Lucien Chemla after it had been abandoned for almost 3 years. He turned it into an arts centre in honour of his son Michaël Chemla who died (murdered?) at age 30. He was an actor and director. He still watches over the studio, which is open to all for performances, workshops, classes and just about any of the freeform art of Montreuil.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 20, 2019 17:28:03 GMT
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Post by lagatta on Feb 20, 2019 18:59:46 GMT
You have no idea what a relief your February photo is. We are buried in fooking snieuw...
Your footie players in t-shirts are even more of a relief! Of course they are exercising, but even those looking on are not especially warmly dressed.
But I certainly hope all of Montreuil doesn't turn into a sterile office-building district. That looks like fooking Brussels; the Europe district.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 20, 2019 19:10:10 GMT
It was something like 14° on Saturday. The "normal" temperature would have been 8°.
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Post by lagatta on Feb 20, 2019 19:38:17 GMT
That is a beautiful, dynamic composition, by the way, especially clicking on the whole photo. I also like the old building in the background that seems to be a workshop or small factory, with the slanted skylights typical of such places.
The spectators draw us in to the match...
Athletic young men are also eye candy for an old babe. I'm Mossie's junior by quite a bit, but have reached they age where I can say such things with impunity.
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Post by mossie on Feb 21, 2019 15:50:19 GMT
If that is the future I am very pleased that I am not going to see much of it.
Anyway, that is a super set of street art, as well as Mesnager I notice the style of a couple of others from the 19th walls
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 21, 2019 15:52:53 GMT
Yes, there were some works by Da Cruz and also that guy who does the creepy Hindu eyes.
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