UP/SIDE/DOWN/TOWN

Winner of Embellir Paris : 95 rue du temple, LE MARAIS

AN INTERACTIVE urban art intervention

In Paris, as in numerous cities worldwide, gay bars and other urban spaces dedicated to LGBTQ + communities are increasingly being forced to shutdown. These are places of freedom, celebration, and refuge, which have created positive and liberating experiences within our cities.

Answering a call from the City of Paris to “Embellir Paris” (beautify Paris), The Street Society, a Paris-based urban innovation agency, and artist Daniel van der Noon, proposed UP/SIDE/DOWN/TOWN, an immersive and interactive artistic intervention right in the heart of Paris’s renowned Marais district. Working with LGBTQ+ communities from around the world, UP/SIDE/DOWN/TOWN pays tribute to their iconic urban places and preserve their memory under the covered gallery of 95 rue du Temple.

LGBTQ + communities take center stage throughout UP/SIDE/DOWN/TOWN’s design process. An open call was launched to the community to submit places and their stories to be represented on the walls of this installation. Artist Daniel van der Noon portrayed the selected LGBTQ + urban places from around the world, both the emblematic and the intimate, throughout the site.

Adding to the atmosphere of the Marais, one of Paris’s liveliest neighborhoods, UP/SIDE/DOWN/TOWN transformed this surprisingly dark and forgotten corner of rue du Temple into a colorful and exciting meeting place. Passersby are now able to immerse themselves within this city-in-the-city: a bright, utopian scenery fitting seamlessly alongside the Marais’s museums, historical monuments and street-art.

A digital experience (through an app - QR code in the box to the right - and the instagram page @upsidedowntownparis) allows pedestrians to hear the history and personal stories behind the LGBTQ + movements and places represented on the canvas of 95 rue du Temple. UP/SIDE/DOWN/TOWN will be a connection between the stories, dates, places, and characters that have and continue to advance the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals across the world.

An impact study has been done by the urban neurosciences company [S]CITY, available here.

THANK YOU!

Mécènes KissKissBankBank : Jessy Leclercq, Michael Manu Moritz, Martin Petö, Lindsey Tramuta, Emma Vilarem, Khuê Drogoul-Horel, Pauline Guillaume, Claudine Hornung, Daniela Petö, Veronique Veronique, Chris Saunders, Frédérique Pitrou Poncahux, Jean-Jacques Bernatas, Amanda Moritz, Brandon Dante Coetzee, Gabrielle Davis, Beck Epstein, Klara Kovarski, Inès Lawson, Unjung Lee, Diana Mbabazi, Evan Ortiz, Robert Pitrou, Lucy Styles, Lynne Tye, Mark Del Rosario, Amanda Glanz, James O'Brien, Ling Hu, Ebony Tan, Adrienne Minoia, Jane Dulay, Diem Nguyen, Victor Bernatas, Jono Brandel, Guillaume Cabaret, Tania Coke, Erin Detamore, Seohyung Kim, Anh Nguyen, Alice Ponchaux, Simon Sochas, Havette Sophie, Ada Wang, Courtenay Wheeler, Marielle Schlosser Pain, Marie Cabaret, Lulu Bernatas, Arthur Ballorin, Nenad Basic, Garance Bonotto, Oliver Chen, Sean-Paul Ngwenya, Jean-Bernard Peyronel, Valérie Randu, Lucien Roubaud, Eivind Sorgenfryd, Monica Szlatiner, Laura Truxa, Nino Vardiashvili, Fanny Wahlqvist, Jessica Chasen, Jason Fields, Léa Kogan, Thomas Morin-Williams, Mike Wright, Jack Dille, Arthur Tp Vnr, Yvon Chapus, Stefan Petö, Nenad Basic, Hugo Chevassus, Viviane Pitrou, Gregoire Bernatas, Margaux Brugvin, Bruno Amestoy, Aurélien Beaucamp, Andrea Galambos, Becky Sandler, Christine Stott, Melanie Tran, Scott Crystal, Jonathan Lee, Mergen Nachin, Jeanne Desriac, Jason Scott, Alex Ainslie, Yang Ruan, Fosca Sanviti, Michael Schnepf, Kari Schultz, Yuin Chen, My Linh Van, Ines D, Karine Barbagli, Marie Chapus, Jerome Thibault, Henrik Enemark, Julien Vincelot.

Equipe The Street Society : Lucile Bernatas, Anna Kulikova, Alice Ponchaux, Amandz Moritz.