Understanding why artists are heading to the suburbs of Paris
Last week, 250 artists in the Parisian suburb of Aubervilliers opened their studios to the public for the POUSH program, which started in 2020. Herve Digne began the project that helps to subsidise studio spaces for artists by making deals with property developers in ownership of abandoned buildings.
Discussing the project, Digne said: “At first, the landlords were sceptical. Artists in an abandoned building? They didn’t think it would go well.” Digne had been speaking in a vast compound, now part of POUSH, that had at one point been a perfume factory and then a data centre.
Digne, having had experience dealing with the government and real estate developers in the past, convinced one particular developer to offer the building to artists. With POUSH covering bills and taxes, it meant that the space could be taken on by artists at a lower price of around 10 to 13 euros per square metre a month, under the condition that it was returned on time and in the same condition.
Juan Gugger, an Argentine artist, could not pass up on the opportunity and applied immediately. He said: “The community here is very different from a residency, where people come for two or three months, and that’s it. People settle here; people want to do something amazing here.”
Speaking as the public viewed his drawings of Notre Dame on fire, Gugger added, “It’s easy to think to yourself, ‘This thing that you’re doing is crazy. What are you putting your energy and time into? It doesn’t make sense’. But when you are with 200 people who are as crazy as you, you don’t have these thoughts anymore.”
The POUSH project is proving to be a great success, and several Parisians are now checking out a part of their city that was once of little interest. As the artistic director of POUSH, Yvannoe Kruger, noted, “It’s as if you wouldn’t take advantage of Brooklyn because it’s not Manhattan. It’s a way to get people to come to the suburbs.”
