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This place I've walked by on one trip, and gone by in a bus on another. I was told it's an "art squat" and it didn't appear to be open so I could look around. I saw a reference to times it was open to the public, to view the art inside, but then I lost it. So, when I got home, I consulted an old issue of Metropole magazine and found a little more detail.
I find that beginning artists are sometimes self-taught and they can't always support themselves until they "make it" but how can they "make it" when they can't support themselves yet. It's a double bind, and why I quit art school. It turns out art school is a good place to make contacts, but not essential.
How to survive? Rents can be high in Paris. It turns out that art and artists are highly regarded enough there, that well-heeled customers actually consider the working situations of self-financed artists. There are still "art colonies" - somehow.
France's Ministry of Culture is supportive but does not have bottomless pockets, given the monuments and museums that have to be maintained (more than 60 just in Paris!) So some of the rich telephone companies, banks etc. like to buy up old buildings, with the hopes that they will be turned into boutiques, phone shops etc. And in the meantime .. they sometimes leave the building empty!
People are getting tired of TV so it's possible "art" will stage a comeback. These "squats" are technically illegal but this one is still used as an atelier and has been for quite some time. It's not the only one but it's the most famous one. It has five or six crazy floors and there are not too many rules. It's not a gallery or a museum but a collection of work spaces. They are rent free. Music from different radio stations is playing simultaneously in the building. Guitarists tune up. Visitors tramp through and avoid fresh paint.
I guess once in awhile someone from the Ministry of Culture comes over to count heads. That's about all, for this unsanctioned "art squat" that no one has done anything about for a number of years. It's still illegal in France to evict tenants, legal or not, in the winter (any time before March 15th). It's unlikely these artists will be evicted, because they fill a culture void in that sector of the city - for free!
HERE is an article on MORE "art squats" and cool stuff, some of which I missed because of not finding this article til now, but Palais de Tokyo is definitely recommended, and this photo is from along Canal St. Martin.
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