A general view of the exhibition at 100 rue de Charenton with Ariane Fruit’s large linogravure print “Scène de crime” 2018

I am an admirer of Ariane Fruit, a printer whom I met at Documents 15 for two of her exhibitions. She is showing until July 15 in a communal space, which I had never seen before, at 100 ECS, 100 rue de Charenton, between marché d’Aligre and Gare de Lyon.  The show “Fragile Memories” includes two other printers, Emmanuel Gatti and a Ukrainian artist who had invited him two years ago to show in Kiev, Olesya Dzhurayeva. The works are for sale at very modest prices for some of them, and the cooperative space is interesting to discover as a melting pot of artistic creativity in theater, music and graphic arts.

Olesya Dzhurayeva, Deep Forest, 2017 linocut

This show is a nice story of friendship, where Emmanuel Gatti was invited to Kiev, a few years ago, to exhibit and promised he would organise an exhibition for Olesya in Paris. Now that the war has been raging for over a year, this friendship takes all its value. He shares a studio with Ariane Fruit and invited her to join them in this huge space where black and white prints could have been lost if they were not so strong.

Emmanuel Gatti, Series of Benjaminian passages, 2022

The 100 ECS (établissement culturel solidaire) was founded by a group of associations for the arts. The 1 800 square meter  space is rented from mairie du 12 ème, and divided into four floors. On the ground floor, there is the gallery, a theater and a café. On the first floor, a large studio shared by the artists, on the second floor, smaller spaces can be rented with a photo and video lab and a sewing workshop. Administration is on top. The building, and therefore the exhibition, are open from 9 am to 11 pm  and it is a very vibrant space where creators go in and out constantly.

Applications to rent a 10 square m studio, or to use the open space and to exhibit are open and there is a show almost every night with four stages used for rehearsals. There are acting classes for amateurs and paintings classes in the evening. Rates are extremely affordable. Any individual artist can apply to be part of a group exhibition.

“Fragile Memories” at 100 rue de Charenton until July 15. Rates start at 200€ up to 8 000€