As of next Friday, 14 merchants from the Saint-Aubin/Colombette district will each be exhibiting a work of art from the Abattoirs fund. This operation, a first in Toulouse, is scheduled to last nearly three months. It was created thanks to the Art & Quotidien association in partnership with the association of craftsmen and traders in the Saint-Aubin/Colombette district and of course the Abattoirs museum.
“During confinement, essential businesses occupy the only living spaces. You could buy products there, but also talk, meet people and that was very important”, explains Antoine Bères, of Art & Quotidien, who is at the origin of this proposal. As an artist-performer, the latter suffered from the closure of museums during the pandemic. “It was a terrible moment,” he admits. Also, Antoine Berès wanted “the next world to be different. So I thought about this link between works of art and businesses because these are places that receive people, some of whom don’t go to museums,” he explains. Antoine Bères has even designed a sheet providing information on each of these works of art from the FRAC Occitanie Toulouse “and distributed in the same unit of time and space. Instead of being in a museum with several rooms, people will be in the same neighborhood with several shops,” he summarizes.
Thus Lou, who runs “La Mômerie”, an eco-responsible brand for babies and children, on rue de la Colombette is preparing to welcome a work by François Saint-Pierre, called “L’Hérité”. “I’m very happy to have it in my shop, it’s still great. It will be interesting to see people’s reactions and it will be one more excuse to discuss with them, ”she rejoices.
For his part, François Scheerenes, president of the Association of craftsmen and traders in the Saint-Aubin/Colombette district, believes that this operation fits well “in line with priority actions to promote local shops and art. Moreover, we owe the customer as a consumer-actor. This operation makes it possible to surprise him by planning an additional action, ”he assures.