Paris, France is being revitalized and restored. Les UX, “a group of so-called cultural guerrillas,” has been, for more than a decade, “quietly refurbishing some elements of Paris’ heritage that the government hasn’t bothered with.”
The Untergunther, the branch of les UX that specializes
in restoration, is made up largely of architects and historians. One of their
most recent projects was the restoration of the elaborate clock on the Panthéon,
one of Paris’ most famous landmarks. For approximately one year, the group
established a secret workshop in the monument and working at night under the
direction of a professional clockmaker, restored the building’s clock which had
broken in the 1960s and had been left to rust. Once finished, they revealed the
completed work to the Panthéon’s administrators. France’s “Centre for National
Monuments was outraged, and began legal action against the group members.”
Since the 1990s, les UX has held gatherings in Paris’ underground catacombs,
staging nocturnal plays and presenting readings in Métro stations and public
monuments. Instead of seeing their work as a service to the cultural life of the
city, authorities have prosecuted and set up a special police unit who have been
trained to track the movements of members.
Lazar Kunstmann, a spokesman for the movement says “We are the counterpoint to
an era where everything is slow and complicated,” he said. “It’s very difficult
to get anything done through official channels. If you want to do it, you have
to be clandestine.” When the citizens of any nation see that the culture and
aesthetic of their society is in a state of disrepair or decay, how do they
react?
If we care about such things, how ought we to react? Does
care manifest in mild indifference or in action that brings about positive
change? Sometimes, to do that which is right means contradicting the notions of
the time in which one lives.
