He is known as the French Banksy – or simply JR. Now the artist popular across France for large-scale projects, from photographs to graffiti and street art, has transformed Paris’s most famous bridge, the bustling Pont Neuf, into a walk-through “cave.”
The project, the Pont Neuf Cavern, is to run June 6-28, spanning 120 metres in length and over 17 metres in height.
The temporary, monumental public artwork that covers the stone arches with a rocky illusion invites visitors to cross the River Seine through a tunnel, complete with sound and digitally augmented reality.
He says it’s possibly the “largest immersive installation ever made” and – one that will be accessible around the clock and offer a “totally different approach” to the bridge.
“We’re about to leave something pretty incredible in the middle of Paris,” JR said at his studio in eastern Paris, wearing his trademark hat and shades.
The installation is a nod to a Paris legend: the late artistic duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude who in 1985 wrapped Pont Neuf – and its streetlamps – in a pale golden fabric. The project, which took years of negotiations with the authorities, helped define the genre of monumental public art in modern cities across the world.
From the outside, his installation will make Pont Neuf look “as if it has been overtaken by a prehistoric outcrop,” a structure visible along the banks of the Seine – a rocky mass that is “literally going to break the landscape,” he said.
Two experiences: the city, then the cave
JR said there will be two main ways for people to experience his installation. From the outside, those heading to Pont Neuf will see the giant installation hundreds of metres away.
And from the inside, once visitors enter the “cave” on Pont Neuf, they will be able to walk through a long tunnel-like structure, having a feeling of “total immersion,” he said, adding, the cave will allow no daylight in and once inside, visitors “will lose track of time.”
A key collaborator on the project is Thomas Bangalter, a former member of French rock band Daft Punk who is creating the sound to accompany the installation – “something you’ll only hear from the inside.”
Visitors will also be able to use their smartphones to “experience and see things that you can’t see with your eyes,” JR said.
He is intentionally mysterious about what that is – keeping it a surprise until to the opening.
JR’s team conducted extensive engineering studies, including tests in a hangar at Paris’ Orly airport, to understand how the structure behaves, especially in an emergency when the electricity that fuels the cave’s air supply cuts off. Tests show the structure stays the same.
There is also the security question – the bridge is a busy zone, especially during Paris’ tourist-packed early summer.
JR said visitor numbers will be limited at any given time, and that his team is consulting with authorities on that. During the three weeks of the exhibition, the installation will be continuously monitored.
A cave, and a metaphor
JR is best known for his large-scale art – enormous portraits pasted on buildings, border walls and rooftops. Because of his origins in graffiti and street art he has inevitably drawn comparison with Banksy, the elusive U.K.-based artist famous for his huge murals and activism.
JR’s installation will not have any massive faces, but the theme is still human, he says: gathering, connection, and what people project onto a shared space.
He says his installation is also an allusion to Plato’s allegory of the cave in which chained men interpret shadows on the cave wall as reality, ignorant of the real world outside – and compares that to the fake reality created by the visual world of our social media platforms.
“What are our caves today is our phone,” JR said, “because we … believe that … our algorithm on social media … is the reality.”
During the installation, which will coincide with June’s Paris Fashion Week and World Music Day, the bridge will close to traffic.
If you enjoyed or found this story useful, we’d appreciate if you would forward it to a colleague or friend who may also enjoy it. If, on the other hand, a friend shared it with you, welcome! You can get all the latest travel news and reviews from Travel Industry by simply clicking HERE.