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Paris: Chinese New Year
Trust the dragon to hog the limelight
FOR the second weekend running, Chinese Parisians welcomed in the Year of the Tiger, and in roaring style.
This week it was the turn of the 13th arrondissement. Now, I bet you thought the streets around avenue de Choisy were home to the largest of the city’s Chinese populations, didn’t you? (I did). Well, we’re wrong: many more live over in Belleville.
That said, the 13th is more visibly Asian, and very commercial, which still makes it one of the best places to head if you have a hankering for pork dumplings or a yen (yuan?) for saucy shot glasses. (By the way, if anyone knows why said shot glasses are a tradition in Chinese restaurants in Paris, but not around London’s Gerrard Street, please let us in on the secret…)
Anyway, it was a slate-grey Parisian day, but the vibe was lively. Just add firecrackers, cymbals and goodwill. Happy New Year 4078!
Banksy’s Croydon Punk update
For those who missed it, here’s Channel 4 News’ round-up on the Punk story…
Walls that talk
I’m back. It’s been a while… Here’s a whisk around some of the street art clocked on Paris walls and buildings.
Croydon: First it was Sarkozy, now it’s Banksy
Croydon gets the Banksy treatment
AFTER THIS, I promise to stop banging on about walls and pavements for a while…
“Banksy strikes again” is hardly headline news, but the UK artist just keeps on coming up with the goods.
The piece they’re all talking about is in Croydon (a drab south London suburb that Nicolas Sarkozy named as a model for le Grand Paris; see article in The Times). Technically, it should have been scrubbed, since it is graffiti and on council property – but who’d scrub a Banksy these days? The council put it to a public ballot instead. Locals, unsurprisingly, feel honoured by Banksy’s attentions and are already rather attached to their DIY punk. They’ve voted to keep it. More at Vandalog.
With the almost-exception of Miss-Tic, Parisian street artists lack Banksy’s pith (and his PR nouse.) But there’s still a lot going on, going up, and going down on the French side of the Channel. A good place to start is with Invisible Paris’ self-guided tour. Have fun!
- Miss-Tic is currently showing at Galerie Ab, 15 rue de la Grange-Batalière, 9th arr, Paris.
