It’s the big day for the ephemeral Grand Palais. Built on the Joffre plateau in front of the Military School, at the end of the Champ-de-Mars (7th arrondissement), this new Parisian building dedicated to culture will welcome its first visitors this Saturday, June 12.
Saturday and Sunday, the ephemeral Grand Palais opens its doors to the public, with a first artistic program free, but already complete, performed by the French dancer and choreographer Boris Charmatz. Throughout the weekend, “a crowd of distanced individuals” will be “carried by the effervescence of a frenzied choreographic score”, which bears the name “Happening Tempête”.
“The Grand Palais is a major place of artistic influence in the capital. Paris should not be extinguished during the three years of its closure “, explains Emmanuel Marcovitch, Deputy Director General of the RMN – Grand Palais, who underlines” the prowess “represented by the construction of this mastodon while wood 20 meters high “in complicated conditions”.
A building signed Wilmotte
Designed to replace the Grand Palais for three years while it was being restored, the ephemeral Grand Palais will now host all the prestigious events usually organized under the Nave. There is therefore no question of making any prefab: this temporary building of more than 10,000 m2 was designed by the architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, and was produced by the company GL events.
On the program: fairs such as the antique book and art objects fair, Change NOW, the Paris Biennale, the International Contemporary Art Fair (FIAC), or even Paris Photo, but also the Saut Hermès horse show and the fashion shows of the house of Chanel. Note that it will be possible to privatize the premises, depending on the available slots.
“We reopen just in time,” admits Emmanuel Marcovitch, who intends to participate “in the awakening of events in Paris”. “It is not at all an enclosed space, but intended as a public space,” he adds. Moreover, the ephemeral Grand Palais will be able to open on the Champ-de-Mars side, with “a possible extension of an additional 4,000 m2” if necessary.
The ephemeral Grand Palais can also be transformed into a performance hall if necessary, in order to host plays or other artistic performances. In the summer of 2024, the building – renamed for the occasion “Arena Champ-de-Mars” – will be optimally redesigned to accommodate the Olympic and Paralympic events in judo, wrestling, wheelchair rugby and parajudo.
In total, more than a year of work and 40 million euros – financed by the RMN Grand Palais and the organizing committee of the Olympic Games (Cojo) – will have been necessary to build this ephemeral building which already has everything of a great .
