2017, another year of change for cneai =: from Chatou to Pantin.
From 2017 to 2020, cneai = will move from the Île des Impressionnistes in Chatou (Yvelines) to Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis). From west to east, cneai = is still moored at the water’s edge, but now on the banks of the Canal de l’Ourcq. More precisely, at the Magasins Généraux, a huge building that has been refurbished.
A rehabilitated building
Les Magasins Généraux is a cultural venue created by BETC in 2017. Open to all, Les Magasins Généraux resonates with creation, ideas and new voices. Housed in an industrial building, a former 1930s general store on the banks of the Canal de l’Ourq in Pantin, they offer a year-round program of exhibitions and events, seeking to identify, support and make visible the artistic and cultural emergence of today.
The history of the site
Built in the early 1930s, the Magasins Généraux marked Pantin’s industrial activity for over four decades. Abandoned and disused at the end of the 90s, the site was taken over by graffiti artists from all over the world, and dubbed the “cathedral of graffiti”. In 2016, advertising agency BETC publicly inaugurated the general stores, converted by architect Frédéric Jung. They then began their second life, becoming both a collective workplace and a new cultural venue for new voices at the heart of Greater Paris.
Address
1 Rue de l’Ancien Canal
93500 Pantin
Seine-Saint-Denis