If you're used to walking, biking or driving along the Berthier tunnel, in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, then you've probably noticed it. Visible since February 13, 2023, and inaugurated on March 9, a permanent, suspended and colorful installation now attracts the attention of passersby.
Called " Spectrum, traversée chromatique ", this work is composed of 44 painted aluminum panels, 3 meters wide. These panels are of 22 distinct colors (blue, yellow, orange, red, green...) suspended at 3 meters height above the sidewalk. Visible in several modes of mobility, this work offers an experience of different colors at each passage, regardless of the speed and direction of traffic.
Imagined as a tribute to Newton's prism, this installation is characterized by its colors that break down the luminous spectrum of white light from end to end. While a gradient from red to purple takes over the North corridor, a gradient going - in reverse - from purple to red is formed at the South corridor.
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Connecting Paris to its neighboring cities, " this tunnel lent itself to an artistic proposal of a nature to humanize the space by creating a more cheerful environment, while securing the pedestrian path and enhancing the existing architectural elements to elicit a new look at the place " explains the City of Paris on its website.
Also, the inhabitants were consulted for this project, which is part of an artistic approach initiated on the previous extension sections of the T3 North tramway.
Behind this installation, we find the visual artist Olivier Ratsi, whose work poses the objective reality, time, space or matter. In 2019, a major solo exhibition was dedicated to him in Marseille. In Paris, the Gaîté Lyrique recently exhibited his work in an unusual exhibition-experience entitled"Heureux soient les fêlés". With this permanent installation to be discovered in the 17th district, the French artist now accompanies the passers-by of the Berthier tunnel by illuminating and coloring their path, previously known to be dark and monochromatic.
