Autoterrorist

We are now carrying out research into urban life in the 20 arrondissements of Paris.  Expect more photos as we look at the graffiti and art of Paris’ streets and explore the ambiences of the city of lights, employing the situationist/lettrist methods of dérive, détournement and psychogeography.

Near the periphery of Paris in the 19th on either side of the Canal de l’Ourcq is the Parc de la Villette, as designed in 1982 by deconstructrivist architect Bernard Tschumi. The park was built over the former grounds of the old slaughterhouses and meat district, and now is the second largest greenspace in Paris proper. With an elevated walkway next to and over the canal, a giant geodesic dome and multiple seemingly purposeless structures and sculptures, the Parc de la Villette is an example of a park of follies—a folly being a building that has no purpose other than decoration.

Parc de la Villette has 35 follies to explore. It might just awaken in you your inner homo ludens. Consider that Tschumi’s contemporaries and influences were Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida and the Situationist International; that “there is no space without event”.

From the Parc de la Villette, the Canal de l’Ourcq ejects you from Paris’ 19th arrondissement on a bike path through the banlieues, past warehouses and industrial parks—follies of abandon, decorated now with the expressions of graffiti art.

As one continues on along the concrete embankments of the Canal de l’Ourcq is one of the longest, most impressive graffiti galleries I’ve encountered yet in France.

More Paris graffiti here.