In old Paris side streets, it’s common to find the building line stepping in and out, leaving blank-walled alcoves around wide parts of the pavement. These odd spaces are sometimes large enough for a tree, sometimes they are ‘greened’ by a sorry looking shrub in a box, sometimes the blank walls are brightened by street art.
This alcove in rue Chapon is the entrance to the studio of Radio Marais, an independent, community radio station which actively promotes local street art. In the spring and early summer, the mural on this wall changed each week, as guest artists were invited to talk on the Urban Safari programme and then to demonstrate their style in action.
After a summer break, the programme came back on air in September, when Un Gars dans la Rue and Daria Aleks were the guest artists. You can see them at work here. The mural hasn’t changed since. Perhaps Urban Safari only runs in fine weather.
The alcoves that provide handy blank walls for street art are a side effect of changing building codes over the centuries. From the late eighteenth century, the city authorities tried to modernise the medieval pattern of narrow, winding streets, by drawing up plans showing the approved building line, often a metre or two back from the actual line of the buildings. Owners weren’t obliged to rebuild to fit the new plan but any new buildings had to do so. Those streets which escaped the redevelopment of the Haussmann era still follow the medieval lines, with later variations.
This post is linked to Thursday Doors, a weekly collection of doors around the world.
December 17, 2015 at 11:23 am
I am really enjoying your exposure of the street art scene in Paris.
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December 17, 2015 at 11:30 am
Thanks for your comment. Street art brightens up some dull winter days!
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December 17, 2015 at 4:11 pm
Wonderful street art! Thanks for sharing this Judith 🙂
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December 17, 2015 at 7:02 pm
Sorry the door doesn’t take pride of place for Thursday Doors!
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December 17, 2015 at 9:45 pm
A Parisian scene you don’t always see! Thanks!
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December 17, 2015 at 11:32 pm
I see a nice door surrounded by a large canvas for very talented artists. 🙂
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December 18, 2015 at 3:39 am
I enjoyed the visit. How cool that they’re providing a place for alternative art to be seen.
janet
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