Out With a Bang: Street Artists Take Over Soon-to-Be-Demolished Building for One Last Month of Art

Don't be too careful u could hurt urself

Don't be too careful u could hurt urself

To help a building make one last stand before its impending demolition date, a group of street artists have converted a 10-story concrete and brick tower in Paris into an art gallery open to the public.

When renovations for a former low-income housing project in Paris were deemed too expensive and the building was set to be destroyed, Mehdi Ben Cheikh, director of the Galerie Itinerrance, conceived of a unique art initiative to take advantage of all the building had to offer before it parted ways with Paris. After eight months of negotiations to obtain the necessary permissions to start the project, Galerie Itinerrance invited artists from around the world to create temporary installations in the Habitat de la Sablière, as the building was called, before it is destroyed. Street artists started jumping onboard and, just like that, la Tour Paris 2013 was born.

By the project’s debut, over 4,500 square meters of street art had been created on building walls and in 36 former apartments. A whopping 100 street artists from 16 countries collaborated on the project.

The exhibition appears to have won instant fame. Here are some of the best fan pics of the show on Instagram right now:

La Tour Paris 2013 will be open through October 31 and is free and open to the public. Watch a teaser video below, and hopefully you can make it to the exhibit in person!

If you could celebrate any building before it is demolished, which building would you choose and what would you do?

Featured image via apefive. Via Untapped Cities

Lauren Mobertz

By Lauren Mobertz

Lauren is the former managing editor for DashBurst. One part geek, one part urban nomad, she is constantly scouting for the latest tech and world news. In the evenings you'll find Lauren running in strange places or attempting to dance salsa.

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