AVRIL at Bastille: a new free cultural venue and an opening exhibition

A new exhibition venue is opening in the Passage du Cheval-Blanc, near Bastille. Named AVRIL, the independent cultural space brings together architecture, art, craftsmanship and design. It is backed by an endowment fund established at the initiative of the architecture firm DREAM and its founder, Dimitri Roussel.

The project is housed in a former craft village, in a passageway arranged around courtyards. It builds on cultural activity already underway at the site, including the Jardin des métiers d’Art et du Design pop-up during Paris Design Week.

For its launch, AVRIL presents Colonial Toxicity: Documenting the Radioactive Landscape in the Sahara, a project by architectural historian Samia Henni. The exhibition brings together archives, maps, and visual and audio documents on French nuclear tests in Algeria. Thirteen audiovisual assemblages, presented as “stations,” make up this documentary installation.

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Guided tours with the curator, screenings, talks and performances extend the experience. The programme for the first season is entrusted to Océane Ragoucy, an architect and curator.

The venue also announces Fieldwork, a project with POUSH and ¡Viva Villa! that brings together field research and artistic creation, followed by Making Alliances, by Gabriel Fontana, exploring the rules of sport and forms of cooperation. Different proposals for exploring how spaces and collective practices are shaped.

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