My wonderful, brilliant and beautiful 15 year old daughter recently shared some of these articles with me. (And came up with the title!) Thanks Holly, you make your old Papa proud! This stuff makes one want to get out and do something creatively badass.First, the Pantheon clock. In November of 2005 a group of "cultural guerillas" called the Untergunther clandestinely entered the Pantheon in Paris, where for a year they hid behind a wall of fake crates and painstakingly restored the massive and decaying 1850 Wagner clock.
For all their hard work (which included the labor of Master clockmaker Jean Baptiste Viot and the fabrication of many new parts from scratch) they were dragged before the Court of Justice , but even the prosecutor called the charges "stupid", and the Untergunther were free to begin their next clandestine project.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/nov/26/france.artnews
http://www.urban-resources.net/untergunther.html
Next, underground cinema... Literally... A Parisian gang of artists and urban explorers have been busy reclaiming unused and decrepit spaces beneath the great city for "rock concerts for up to 4,000 people in old underground quarries; 2am projections in a locked film theatre; art and photo exhibitions in supposedly sealed-off subterranean galleries."
The work of La Mexicaine de la Perforation (The Mexican Perforators), to "reclaim and transform disused city spaces for the creation of zones of expression for free and independent art", was not revealed to the world until 2004, when police patrolling an area of supposedly unused tunnels along the Seine stumbled upon the underground cinema, complete with bar and restaurant, wrapping up a seven week summer film series.
Like the Untergunther, LMDP have faced criminal charges, none of which have stuck...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/11/film.france
http://www.urban-resources.net/la_mexicaine_de_perforation.html
And lastly, the wonderful world of Reverse Graffiti... artists around the globe have been busily scrubbing the grime of polluted civilization off tunnels, cars, buildings and other public spaces and transforming crud into provocative beauty.
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/35-greatest-works-of-reverse-graffiti/1949
http://www.alexandreorion.com/ossario/images.html
OK, boys 'n girls, are you inspired to get out your wire brushes, industrial cleansers, power-sprayers, miner's helmets, sledgehammers, favorite movies, et les baquettes? Spring is here and what better time to begin exploring the gritty or forsaken hidden places in your neighborhood? Just be careful and bring a buddy!
