We know this happens all over the world but we still wanted to bring your attention to it: A group of artists in Paris have taken over a big, abandoned ministry of education building which has sat empty for 10 years. The artists cleaned it up, renamed it La Générale, and now it is home to studios, a gallery, musical and drama practice spaces, a theatre and a public cafeteria. The artists have reached out to local youth, schools, businesses. The mayor of the district supports the artists’ reclamation of the building. But the ministry of education has suddenly awakened to find all this activity, and now is declaring that the building is “unsafe” and is in court to obtain an order evicting the artists and other groups. They claim that the building will soon be converted into, ahem, a psychiatric hospital. You can find out more, and sign a petition as well, on the La Générale website. If you can read French, there is other info for you to check out including a 14-page PDF for download (675k).
