With each change of work it is the same refrain. On social networks, images of the MUR on rue Vasselot flocked for a few days to welcome the novelty, before calming down. Then to get excited again the following month when an artist comes to cover the work of his predecessor. Unlike the “open walls” on which all street artists started, the MUR on rue Vasselot is run as an exhibition space, a kind of open-air museum, set up on the sidewalk of a festive street. from the city center of Rennes.
Inspired by the Wall of Oberkampf, in Paris, this space is managed by an association which has been programming it since 2019. “We don’t necessarily do this to make it beautiful. Rather to give artists the opportunity to send a message. It is a different proposal from the open walls since each work has a start date and an end date. But we keep this ephemeral side of urban art, which disappears from the city,” explains Patrice Daniello.
“The first desire is to create an exchange between the artist and the inhabitants”
The president of the MUR (for Urban and Reactive Mobile) is passionate about urban art. Anxious to bring the works out of museums or exhibition halls alone, he had the idea of installing this large panel after a visit to the Oberkampf site in Paris, where the project was born in 2003 after an offensive by artists to cover billboards.
Since then, other walls of the same kind have opened in Nancy, Strasbourg, Marseille and even Grenoble. “The first desire is to create an exchange between the artist and the inhabitants. People can come see them work, discuss, discover the creative process live. It’s quite rare, ”continues Patrice Daniello. “It’s a special thing. I took time to get used to it. But it allows you to exchange. There are lots of people who knew my work who came to see me, almost a fan side, ”says RNST.
Big names or newcomers… everyone gets paid the same
In March, it was he who made the wall shine by signing one of the most beautiful works in the history of this street canvas. A woman’s face with a look away, her face hidden by a red scarf and a strong slogan that said “No War” as Russian troops invaded Ukraine. “It was a work that I had done in support of an Iraqi family who was threatened with expulsion. I just changed the tagline. It’s quite illustrative but everyone is free to interpret it as they want. This is not the first time that the street artist from Dijon has exhibited on a MUR In the capital of Burgundy, it is even he who ensured the creation.
Inaugurated in 2019 by the famous Blek le Rat, who became a sponsor of the association, the MUR de Rennes received the artist Mardi Noir on Saturday and Sunday, who will be the 22nd to join it. Before him, some famous names paraded: the enigmatic War, of course, but also the talented Aero or the pioneer Speedy Graphito. Regardless of their reputation in the industry, all have received the same stamp for their work. “We have a lot of requests coming to us. We also have people we approach who say no. Our goal is to vary, to show all the facets of urban art. Collage, stencil, spray paint… It’s very rich,” recalls Patrice Daniello. The work completed on Sunday by Mardi Noir will be visible for a month. Before being covered and disappearing from the Rennes landscape. She will be remembered. And on the networks.