The Beach Beneath The Streets

To trace back the debut of French street art culture would require the declaring of “Sous les pavés, la plage!” / (Beneath the pavement, the beach!) – One of the memorable anonymous graffiti slogans found on the walls of Paris during the 1968 cultural revolution; a situationist representation of the students and artists that dug up cobblestone roads to expose “the beach” – the sand used to hold the cobblestones together at the time. A symbol of cultural reshaping, the phrase also speaks to a new kind of expression, the French situationist understanding that art and culture should not be restricted by categorization but rather be transformed into part of every day life – declaring vacancy of the urban space by outstepping its intended purpose. The reappropriation of its functions, forms and configurations makes our environment susceptible of being diverted and used as a visual medium of communication; an unsanctioned one.

Street art has since intervened in Paris’ urban structure with anonymity, making its residents not only a target audience but also its producer in that its existence is perpetuated by its prompted reactions; a mixture of solidarity and undesirability. The Beach Beneath The Streets welcomes at The Mine, notorious VAO crew members L’ATLAS, SUN7, and TANC; some of the pillar names of this ever evolving, controversial art form that has ephemerally adorned the French capital’s walls.