400 artists are threatened by the destruction of an inventive middle in Pantin | EUROtoday

On Mar 17, 2025

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DIn the Sept-Arpent district, in Pantin, on March 13, 2025, they’re just a few dozen artists on the conflict foot. Almost all closed the door of their workshops earlier than the passage of Soreqa, a neighborhood public planning firm that got here to take the measures of the constructing that homes them.

By 2028, the city corridor plans to destroy this area of 4,500 sq. meters, current for thirty-five years within the Pantinois panorama, which homes the theater of Loges, the Center for Musical and Artistic Creation The Belly of the Whale, in addition to 80 dwellings deemed unsanitary by the Town Hall. The complete factor ought to be fully shaved for 2030 to settle a sq. of 1,900 sq. meters by 2030, in addition to 80 new housing models. In whole, greater than 400 artists of various nationalities and origins are threatened to lose their office for this city renovation mission.

“I learned it like that on the street,” laments the proprietor of the premises, Thibaut Sablé. “The facades were posted posters announcing a land recycling operation, and a visit to all the locals, within four days. I received a letter, maybe a week later. Already, the connection was not very good. »»

In the realization of the project, the town hall of Pantin has advanced an unstoppable argument: the existence of “old, degraded buildings, and very intertwined in this very dense urban area”, which create a “real heat island on the territory. “The accommodation is not unsanitary,” defends Thibaut Sablé. The town hall will do what it wants, and the inhabitants will be relocated. For the rest of the building, the style of the corridors is a bit trashy, but there is no danger. It’s been thirty years that it has been running, without ever a fire, without ever a concern. “He recognizes that the building is not up to current standards – absence of parking, failing insulation – but recalls the primary vocation of the premises:” These are workshops. The artists do not look for the same comfort as an apartment. »»

“We will never find something of this magnitude”

Faced with the high probability of destruction, the artists of the whale belly make up the revolt on their scale, worried about the fate that the municipality has in store for them. “It is a lot of people who will find themselves overnight without a workplace, saddens Corélia Roché, painter and visual artist, whose paintings have lived in the walls of the site for two decades. The town hall of Pantin has always put us forward when it arranged it, to promote the city’s cultural activities. But from the moment they decided to make their urban renovation, suddenly, you become “unsanitary”. It makes no sense. And then, you have to eject everyone. »»

Some artists have become members of Collective for the safeguarding of activities of whale belly artists And require the renunciation of the destruction of this space which they consider “vital for the independent artistic scene”. “The town hall of Pantin and the community of communes is together must become aware of the devastating impact that this demolition would have on the artists who work there daily and who bring creativity to life in the heart of the city,” they said in a press release. The collective also denounces “the loss of a cultural heritage, but also the eviction of many talents, while the gentrification of Paris makes the search for new spaces impossible”.

“We pay around 350 euros for 70 square meters,” explains William Raynaud, guitarist for ten years in the semi-professional group Rest in Gale, and tenant of the premises. The value for money is unbeatable compared to what can be found in Paris. If we aligned ourselves with rental prices at the time in Paris, it would simply be impossible to manage. We will never find something of this magnitude in the Paris region. It’s a treasure, this thing. »»

Located at 22 rue du Pré-Saint-Gervais, the belly of the whale is an old industrial building belonging to the family of Thibaut Sablé for three generations. His grandfather had installed a train holding plant there, before going bankrupt, and that the space was reinvested, in the mid-1990s, by a handful of musicians, with the agreement of the owner of the time, the father of Thibaut. Over the years, space is growing, until it becomes a place recognized to have all styles of plastic art (paint, sculpture, installation, plastic artist, photographer), and musical (jazz, reggae, rock, metal, blues …).

Inside, art is expressed on the dilapidated walls of the biscornus corridors of the basement which lead to the multiple music studios as well as to the workshops. “We all have our workshop, our music studio where we work. We arrive in the morning, we work, we leave in the evening, so there is no question of unsanitary housing, ”explains William Raynaud. Our studio is an actual music studio that was introduced again from Marseille. The partitions have been studied acoustically, we’ve got modified the locks ourselves … We maintain it, and we maintain it ourselves. Why destroy music studios which can be fully operational, the place musicians come to work and document daily? »»

No assist from town to relocate artists

For its half, town of Pantin assured that it will greatest accompany residents. “We have started a cabinet to dialogue with the artists and we strongly invite them to answer,” explains Charline Nicolas, deputy mayor delegated to tradition. This will permit us to supply them an answer tailored to their wants. However, in the meanwhile, nothing has been set as much as permit artists to learn from an alternate. “They will offer rehousing solutions that the tenants of the 80 dwellings will accept or accept,” says Thibaut Sablé. On the opposite hand, for all the things associated to the inventive half, due to this fact skilled premises, there isn’t any proposed answer. »»

To defend the safeguarding of the cultural place, the collective first created a web based petition, then a prize pool, with a goal of 4 thousand euros, to finance a press secretary. They then approached the French groups of France 3 for a tv report, earlier than hiring Mr. Peru, the lawyer who had dealt in 2020 with the rescue in extremis earlier than the courts of the hands-of-àeuvres collective in St-Ouen, confronted with an expulsion process initiated by the city corridor.

On Thursday, March 13, 2025, when the Soreqa, mandated by the native authority, involves take measures within the constructing, the artists even arrest the members of the group of consultants. “They did not respond,” says the proprietor with a contact of satisfaction in his voice. “They made a low profile, as a result of they know it’s a delicate topic. »»

Pantin, the Eldorado of Indés artists

A delicate topic, sure. Because, for ten years, Pantin has carved out a picture of Eldorado for musicians wishing to settle in giant areas for not too costly. The municipality has notably seen the overall shops, a former industrial constructing deserted for the reason that late Nineties, be transformed to the cultural place by the promoting company BETC and the architect Frédéric Jung, in 2017. It additionally reinvested the wasteland of the Fertile Cité, the previous SNCF items station, in 2018, to create a third-Lieu welcoming an considerable cultural life. In January 2025, it was the opening of the Mia Mao membership, put in within the coronary heart of a disused industrial corridor, which testifies to the cultural metamorphosis of town.

To uncover

The kangaroo of the day

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But this obvious idyll reveals its hidden face, as Corélia rocks rooted with bitter irony: “They hunt the inhabitants which they initially attempt to draw: semi-frames, bohemian creators. In the stomach of the whale, we aren’t engaging, as a result of we don’t create occasions, we solely hire areas of creation. It would not convey them visibility. »»

Contacted on a number of events, the city corridor of Pantin didn’t reply to our requests. If Paris retains its worldwide aura as a cultural model, it’s nevertheless on the outskirts that the guts of latest creation now beats. In this inventive constellation of Grand Paris, Pantin continues to shine like a serious star – a star which, paradoxically, appears to extinguish his authentic inventive houses.

https://www.lepoint.fr/culture/400-artistes-sont-menaces-par-la-destruction-d-un-centre-artistique-a-pantin-17-03-2025-2584956_3.php