A contingent of the MBFF team (the youngest member and myself) headed off last week on a voyage of art exploration and discovery . . . to the newly painted multi-storey car park in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains: 2KM3.

This new art project really is a masterpiece: an alternative museum of street art, a FREE museum, a museum open every day of the year! Parking one’s car has never been so fun!

Our visit

We went with a draisienne (push bike).  There was art, and there were some steep descents (and ascents on the return journey) for the little one! What a marvellous destination to bike!  We loved it so much that we decided to bring back the rest of the family at the weekend, with a trotinette (scooter) to add to the intrigue and fun!

*NB – please note that we went to visit the 2KM3 car park with a push bike and scooter, the car park was still not open to cars (while the paint was drying); it would no longer be safe to take a child on a bike!*

2KM3’s conception

The protagonists in the conception of this unique art project were:

• the mayor of Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, Jean-Marc Peillex;
• Hugues Chevalier, President of the Kill Art Factory;
• and artist Frédéric Battle (Zoer);

The name 2KM3 is the abbreviation of the measurement of wall space and ceiling given to each artist (2000 m3).

The artists

2KM3 was an ambitious project as the artists involved took only 17 days to complete their work!  Twelve French and international street artists were involved, and they covered all eleven floors of the car park (each working with 450 m² of walls and 500 m² of ceiling), and the façade, and each using their own unique style:

• Roids (UK);
• Felipe Pantone (Argentina);
• Zoer (France);
• Velvet;
• Sten & Lex (Italy);
• Swiz (France);
• Etienne de Fleurieu (France);
• SatOne (Venezuela);
• Jaw (France);
• Sobekcis (Serbia);
• Elian Chali (Argentina);

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2KM3 – Acte II (2018 update)

Some of the original 2KM3 artists have been busy again – this time modernising the northern facade of La Poste in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, the Saint-Gervais swimming pool and the Bettex and Mont d’Arbois télécabines stations / inauguration of the new art projects on Saturday 2nd June from 15h;

2KM3 Acte II © Saint Gervais Tourisme

2KM3 Acte II © Saint Gervais Tourisme

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Saint-Gervais-les-Bains – an alpine art hub

Saint-Gervais-les-Bains is now well and truly on the cutting edge of contemporary art, as in addition to the 2KM3 project, there are:

• the temporary exhibitions in the Pile Pont exhibition space (one of the pillars of the viaduct);
• the Salle Géo Dorival (temporary exhibitions) in the centre of town;
• the open-air museum in the Parc Thermal in Le Fayet,
• the artists in residence at the Maison Forte de Hautetour;

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For more information about 2KM3, see FB page.