Something for the Weekend (30th April – 2nd May)

With a mix of marches, guerilla gardening, poetry and hacking workshops, this weekend will be revolutionary! Nothing less should be expected for the 1st of May though.

If you have any events or activities you think should be promoted or which you would like to promote yourself, please add them in the comments. Let me know also if you have any events in the coming weekends you would like to promote.

May Day Marches
May Day in France is the fête du travail, and an opportunity for the worker to take to the streets. This year tensions are running high in the country, so expect big turnouts at the 284 scheduled marches around the country, including around a hundred thousand people in Paris.
Saturday 1st - 2pm
Place de la République

Guerilla Gardening
The 1st of May is also the opportunity for the French to offer bouquets of Muguet (Lily of the Valley) to each other. However, for the mysterious 'guerilla gardeners', this day has become synonymous with sunflowers. If you want to help out, meet at the Censier Daubenton Metro station at 2pm, and bring some seeds, some earth or some water. The group will then head out to some secret sites to do some planting!
Saturday 1st - 2pm
M° Censier Daubenton

http://guerilla-gardening-paris.blogspot.com/

Poesie is not Dead
To be honest, I'm not sure what to expect from this event which will supposedly mix multi-lingual poetry with music and video, but with poets from China, France, Colombia and the United States and an entrance price of just €2 (which also includes a drink!) it must be worth a look.
Sunday 2nd May, 6pm
Studios Campus
12 bis rue Froment 75011 (M° Bastille / Richard Lenoir)
http://revoesie.free.fr/?p=1033

Les Contorsions Technologiques
Described by organisers as "a mix of workshops, exhibitions, demonstrations and performance, in a setting favorable to discovery, experimentation and exchange", this event is an attempt to bring hackers out of their bedrooms and into a more social environment. I think even the organisers are not sure what will be happening, but they have very big objectives - "It’s an invitation to grab the tools and take the initiative back, to shatter norms and reshape our universe" they proudly claim!

A large part of the event will probably be no more spectacular than the sight of groups of young men hovering around computers, but the "front of a 7 story building" has been offered up to hackers as an exhibition medium. It could be interesting to see what they choose to do with it!
April 30th to May 2nd
La Suite
27 rue de la Glacière, 75013

http://www.contorsions-technologiques.org/

The New Zoo Project

Returning home after a few days away, I push open the door and see a giant gorilla in my kitchen. Ok, so not exactly inside the kitchen, but certainly filling the full frame of the window. I run to check the signature, but already there is no doubt. For as long as it lasts, I will now have a Zoo Project to look at when eating my breakfast in the morning.

The message is typical Zoo Project - a painting of a wild animal with a warning against wild humans (Gare aux Hommes), but if the words are a little tired, the gorilla itself is fantastic. Just as a little reminder, the artist(s?) behind the label works in complete anonymity, at speed and with brushes and paint, so to give the creature a mischievous glint in the eye and a wry smile - especially at this size - is little short of miraculous.

The patch of wasteland where this is situated is scheduled for development, with a five story building on its way, but how much happier I would be to look at this gorilla each morning and not somebody else's kitchen window.

Les Braves Soldats de 212 Rue Saint Maur

Alongside the lilac bushes and rusting bicycles of an unpolished Parisian courtyard is something much more surprising - a mysterious memorial plaque commemorating soldier victims of the First World War. Who put it here though and why?

The stretch of the Rue Saint Maur which cuts across the 10th arrondissement towards the Hopital Saint Louis is the domain of the worker. Apart from two or three solid Haussmannian properties, these are simple buildings with long, twisting courtyards spread out behind. The number 212 is a typical example.

Walk through the Porte Cochère and you enter a pastoral picture-book scene of 19th century Paris (if you can overlook the parked cars!). Here wispy bushes of lilac and fig push up against the crumbling stone walls and glass verandas of small workshops. Outside, rusting signposts give clues to the trades of previous owners.

Although several of these are now used by photographers or architects, the banging and whirring sounds from others show that some of these units are still used for manufacturing. Others sit empty, awaiting renovation into edgy, urban office space or loft-style apartment units.

The courtyard is dusty and decomposing, with an ivy-clad electricity substation to one side, but this is clearly an area undergoing gradual gentrification. How does it differ then from the place in 1914 that 25 men left and never returned to? Physically, the environment has not changed - the men could return today and still find their home or place of work. The changes have been more of a social nature, and it is surely the social balance at the time which helped to get the memorial plaque put in place.

What is the message on the plaque? “Ce marbre a été érigé par souscription des locataires et amis sous le patronage des propriétaires” A clear difference here is made between the locataires (those renting) and the propriétaires (the owners). The suggestion therefore is that the men killed were primarily workers, either living here in rented properties or working in the manufacturing units in the courtyard, and that the property and workshop owners felt compelled to commemorate the heavy price that had been paid by their men during the conflict.

What is not clear though is why this was done here and not elsewhere. Across Paris there must have been thousands of similar situations, but I have never seen such a plaque as this before. Does this suggest that here at least relations between the classes were exemplary? Regularly polished by the concierge who lives alongside, it remains in place today as an important reminder of sacrifices past. Perhaps she asks herself if such a monument would be put up here today.

Something for the Weekend (23rd – 26th April)

A Ronis retrospective, a history of prostitution and free books. These are just some of the things I will be missing this weekend as I head South for a few days, but there is no reason why you should too!

If you have any events or activities you think should be promoted or which you would like to promote yourself, please add them in the comments. Let me know also if you have any events in the coming weekends you would like to promote.

Les Lundis de Lutèce

After a brief musical hiatus, Sylvanie de Lutèce returns to the theme of Paris for her monthly historical investigation. The theme this Monday is ‘Maisons closes et la brigade mondaine’ – in other words, a look at the rich history of prostitution in Paris! The presentations are given in a joyous and friendly environment (a bar!) and are full of juicy anecdotes!
Monday 26th 8pm

Le Baron Samedi
12 Rue des Goncourt, 75011

Willy Ronis
Willy Ronis had already been working on this retrospective celebrating his 100th birthday before his death in September last year, and although he didn’t live to see the event, his iconic pictures will survive long into the future. This exhibition is a welcome opportunity to see a selection covering around 150 of the creations this essential photographer and humanist donated to the French state in 1983.
Until August 22nd
La Monnaie de Paris
11 Quai de Conti, 75006

La Fête de la librairie indépendant
This Saturday, if you purchase a book in one of the 450 independant bookstores across France taking part in this event you will be given a rose and a book celebrating the life of Adrienne Monnier, one of the pioneers of independant trading. Monnier owned "La Maison des Amis des Livres" a bookshop on the Rue de l'Odéon and is perhaps best known for editing and publishing James Joyce's Ulysses.
Click here for a full list of the bookstores taking part in the event.

Le Printemps de la Création
The people behind Paris par rues méconnues, an association who take groups on walks around lesser-known parts of Paris to meet artisans and creators in their workshops, also organise an annual Spring craft fair featuring the work of these artists. This year, the event is taking place at La Cartonnerie, a fascinating (half!)renovated paper workshop.
24th -25th April 10am - 7pm
La Cartonnerie
159 rue St Maur 75011

On the 8.52

On the 8.52 always the same faces
Leaving the train at the same places
Together once more when the sun starts to drop
Picking them up again, stop after stop

The world passes by in colours and sounds
Graffiti and adverts, miserable towns
Hiding our faces in papers and tales

Making sure life stays on parallel rails

The view from the window is starting to fade
The everyday scratching our eyes like a blade

A daily procession, this prosaic trip
We continue in silence, hip against hip