Les Frigos

Les Frigos
Exterior of building
View of Les Frigos in 2012
Map
General information
Address19 rue des Frigos
Town or cityParis
CountryFrance
Coordinates48°49′53″N 2°22′44″E / 48.8314°N 2.3789°E / 48.8314; 2.3789
Website
www.les-frigos.fr
Refer to caption
Alternative aerial view of Les Frigos

Les Frigos is an arts centre located at 19 rue des Frigos in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, France. The large building is a former refrigerated storage depot built in 1920. It was squatted in 1985 and later legalized.

History

Les Frigos is located in the 13th arrondissement of Paris.[1] Originally a refrigerated storage depot built in 1920, it became derelict in 1971, following the move of the main food market from Les Halles to the new International Market at Rungis.[2]

In 1985, a collective of artists squatted the derelict building. The number of rooms and also the sound-proofing were attractive for the new occupants, who numbered around 250 people as of 2013.[3] The artists set up a foundation and began to pay rent to the owner SNCF.[3] They also set up an organisation called "91 Quai de la Gare" which engages with other local residents and projects to contest the gentrification of the area by the Paris Rive Gauche development.[3]

Other artist squats in Paris include 59 Rivoli.[4]

Occupants

Over a hundred tenants work on the site, which includes ninety workshops. In 2010, rents for the premises equipped by the tenants ranged from around €500 to €2,700.[citation needed][5] Fifteen different professions carry out activities at Les Frigos, ranging from small firms to publishing houses, arts and crafts, etc. There are artists (notable residents include sculptor Jean-Paul Réti, micro-companies and associations for managing rehearsal facilities for theatrical people or for musicians.[6]

References

  1. ^ Court, Kala (6 July 2013). "Les Frigos: An Artist Squat in Paris' 13th Arrondissement". Untapped New York. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  2. ^ Vivant, Elsa (1 July 2007). "Les événements off : de la résistance à la mise en scène de la ville créative". Géocarrefour (in French). 82 (3): 131–140. doi:10.4000/geocarrefour.2188. ISSN 1627-4873.
  3. ^ a b c Aubouin, Nicolas; Coblence, Emmanuel (1 March 2013). "Les Nouveaux Territoires de l'Art, entre îlot et essaim". Territoire en Mouvement (in French) (17–18): 91–102. doi:10.4000/tem.2030. ISSN 1954-4863.
  4. ^ Yeung, Peter (11 October 2019). "Paris is killing its art squats to gentrify the city". Dazed. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  5. ^ Eric, Nguyen (20 July 2023). "lodeonline". lodeonlinecash. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  6. ^ Sawyer, Stephen W. (2012). "What's in the Fridge? Counter-democratic mobilization in post-industrial urban "cultural" development". In Grodach, Carl (ed.). The Politics of Urban Cultural Policy: Global Perspectives. Taylor & Francis. pp. 288–301. ISBN 978-02030-8877-7.