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.

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, when 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).

Saint-Gervais-les-Bains is now well and truly on the cutting edge of contemporary art (in addition, there is the open-air museum in the Parc Thermal in Le Fayet, the exhibitions in the Pile Pont, the Salle Géo Dorival in the centre of town and the artist in residence at the Maison Forte de Hautetour) and this new project really is a masterpiece: an alternative museum of street art, a FREE museum, a museum open every day of the year!

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 – 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) – have 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.

 

 

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Next time you are in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, I highly, highly recommend that you grab your camera and head on down to see this unique car park . . . now you can see it in the context that it was planned: a car park with a difference! Enjoy!

For more information about 2KM3, see this article (en français); or this short film of the inauguration by tvmountain.com.