kerouac

The "Tour Paris 13" along the quai d'Austerlitz (metro Quai de la Gare) is one of those 1960's style apartment blocks that has outlived all utility and is scheduled to be demolished at the end of the year.

However, it has been taken over by street artists (with the blessing of the authorities) for a temporary operation making it the largest display of street art ever seen at one location. All ten floors and even the basement were carefully prepared over several months, in total secrecy.

The building opened to the public on October 1st and will close forever on October 31st. It is all completely free, but you have to pay with your person -- waiting time is in all cases more than 5 hours to get in, because only 49 people can be in the building at any one time and it takes at least an hour to visit all of the floors.

Well, I paid my dues yesterday, and here is my report: http://tinyurl.com/ocm9u5u

TPAYT

You certainly did pay your dues and to our advantage.
Amazing art, only to be torn down.

I'm drawn to the close up faces and eyes, especially the eyes of the artwork just before your saying "Three hours later, I rounded the corner into the garden."

Thanks for your wonderful photos of something only a few will see before its gone.

TDudette

Amazing is right, kerouac. I'm pained and enthralled.

paris1953

Oh thank you soooo much! I read about this online, but that story only had a handful of photos!

Cathinjoetown

Excellent photographs, thank you so much.

Could not take it all in in one go, am glad it's here to come back to.

kerouac

I passed by there again today, and the lines have become truly incredible.

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/q...r%2013/027.jpg

Nikki

Good grief! There is just about nothing I will wait five hours in line to see. Thank you for doing it for us all.

LSky

How could anyone have gotten through that in an hour?

It would take an hour to recover from an explosion of art.

Thanks so much for taking us on the journey.

kerouac

I would have liked to stay longer, but there were one or two 'attendants' to prod people to move along if they were staying too long. There was one particular school group of 21 people who were pretty much forced out of the building, because they had entered as 3 groups of 7, but the first two groups felt that they could stay as long as the last group, which was unacceptable with so many hundreds of people waiting outside.

kerouac

Today's paper says that the lines to get in now start at 4 a.m. There are only 7 days left and it is confirmed that demolition will begin immediately after October 31st. However there is the hint of some sort of distribution of mementos once the work gets underway.

ssander

Thanks so much much K...there was a MUCH smaller abandoned factory in Berkeley, CA, in which the same thing was done a little less than a year ago, if memory serves.

SS

opaldog

Wow! We were there the first weekend of October, but didn't know about this. Although the wait times would have been tough as we had such a limited time in Paris. I moved on from Paris and saw some great graffiti art in Lisbon.

welltraveledbrit

Thank you SO much for the fabulous photos, I only wish there were more pictures of the hipsters waiting in line! Perhaps then we'd have fewer questions about what to wear in Paris.

I really enjoyed this, it was like a walk through with you. We saw the paint dripping down the building earlier in the year and wondered what it was so I was fascinated to read your report.

Following on from Opaldog's remarks above we saw some interesting and similar large scale street art installations on the outside of some abandoned building in Lisbon, anyway it's great to see art among the detritus. If anyone is interested here are some pictures...

http://somuchmoretosee.blogspot.com/...in-lisbon.html

Thanks again.

kerouac

Those are great, wtb, but it is scandalous if those buildings in Lisbon are scheduled for demolition.

kerouac

I fear that my flashdrive inspired a former colleague's two teenage daughters to join the predawn queue tomorrow. Actually, the former colleague is clearly tempted as well, but being a responsible working mother, she will have to crush her urge.