Wonder/Liebert

Thinking

The Wonder/Liebert project

For three years, day and night, The Wonder was located in a shut down facility, in Saint-Ouen, north of Paris. The association reshaped an old battery factory in its own image, making it a timeless place, inhabited by, and structured for multidisciplinary artists. However, the Wonder had to close on December 24th 2016.

  As early as the next day, a reduced team of Wonder members agreed to move in a 6-floor tall building in Bagnolet, east of Paris. They immediately started rearranging the location. Thus, the Wonder/Liebert was born. The new team was made of nine artists, all driven by the same ideal of action and autonomy. Since then, they have been pulling weeds, ploughing,
sowing and watering this old office building. Here, they have been cultivating a creation-oriented environment, that is soon to host as many as fifty-five artists. This is what you could call an artist-run space.

We see it as a garden, sometimes as an urban park, sometimes as a garden of Adonis, and sometimes as a family garden. The Wonder/Liebert is, first and foremost, an ecosystem reinventing itself, day after day.

  This collective space is therefore located in the outskirts of Paris, just near the Parisian ring road, and is therefore, by definition, a margin both socially and geographically. The Wonder/Liebert is an independent, free, and experimental place. Proud of its position and commitment, it gathers many projects, ranging from creation to exhibition, driven by ever more ambitious artists.

  The Wonder/Liebert is a statement on the need to change and retake control of the cultural system, made by and for artists, and it is a part of a model being invented today.

ARCHIVES 2012/2016 (961.22 kB)

Working

THE INFRASTRUCTURES

The collective reorganised and converted an old, 2000-square-meter large, 6-floor tall, office building. The Wonder/Liebert is now a ensemble of artist’s studios, providing all that follows:

a wood and metal workshop
rehearsal and recording studios
a multidisciplinary print workshop
private art studios
a tattoo parlour
an international residence
a radio
an experimental cantine
an exhibition gallery
storage spaces
a 1200-square-meter car park

The building is divided in production hubs, be they individual or cooperative. Every floor is autonomously managed by one of the group’s artists. He or she is in charge of the coordination with the others. Fifty artists are year-in, year-out in the building, and a lot of the equipment is shared. The artists’ financial contributions are used to increase the range of available tools.

RENTING
Some workspaces may be rented to carry out temporary and specific projects. If interested, you may apply at: lesatelierswonder@gmail.com

Gardening

Le jardin

The car park is the garden where our ideas come to life: made of 56 parking spaces, it is next to the Parisian ring road, and is at the same time a meeting place, a extension of our workshops, a place of experimentation, and an open-air museum. In the Wonder/Liebert car park, we organise all kinds of events: exhibitions, concerts, performances, plays, operas, ballets, barbecues, etc… Surrounding this 6-floor tall brain, there is this black and white asphalt lake, slowly morphing into a garden.

Like a ship crossing the seas, or a house and its farm, the building and its car park, the inside and the outside are in constant interaction and complete each other.

On the asphalt, things are perpetually growing, reaching a point where they merge together. The cycles here being natural, there are no themes in this garden. “The place speaks for itself”.

This an open-air workshop, where every proposition has to be made keeping in mind possible climate constraints, causing wear on the artworks. Nothing is ever complete, because it is a part of a whole; a garden shapes itself with time, not against. The garden is always visible, and constantly dialoguing with everything in its surroundings, such as the tumult made by the flood behind the big wall. We only choose to sow the seeds, which will randomly shape this landscape.

Mystical and mathematical, there is no vernissage here, because things always remain raw.

Listening

Viziradio

Viziradio is a sound and radio laboratory, broadcasting directly from the Wonder/Liebert’s laundry room.

Its podcasts can be found on the Internet and will soon be heard on the air.

“We’re here to hijack your ears. We read, talk, invite artists, we make and listen to music, we can do anything we want. We’re on air.”

Viziradio is the Wonder/Liebert’s seismograph. The radio selects, records, archives and broadcasts every vibration emitted by the place’s effervescence.

Also on Soundcloud

Reside

Construction

OCCUPATION

Canvass

The creative residency

Every month, we invite artists, creators and curators not based in Paris and wanting to work here. Residencies, both for creation and exhibition, are available for up to two weeks. During this period, the resident will have at his/her disposal the production hubs they need in order to work efficiently.

Every residency can lead to a public compensation: an exhibition, a baroque buffet, or even a hijacking of the FM broadcasting station.

CALL FOR APPLICANTS (133.54 kB)

Eating

La cuisine sauvage

La Cuisine Sauvage is a bold and experimental kitchen. Its purpose is to try and discover new ingredients and tastes. It is and adventurous kitchen, managed by the community and perpetually reinventing itself.

Several times a month, La Cuisine Sauvage unveils itself to the public, sharing its experimentations and treasures during open events…

WHERE GUSTATORY EXPERIMENTS TAKE PLACEWe accept Bitcoin

Learning

Practical information

WONDER/LIEBERT
124, avenue Gallieni
93170 Bagnolet

ADMINISTRATION
President: Nelson Pernisco
Administrator: Célia Richard
Financial: Basile Peyrade

COORDINATION
Construction studio: Francois Dufeil
Edition studio: Basile Peyrade
Painting studio: Paul SAEIO
Sound studio: Jérôme Clément-Wilz
Illustration studio: Louis Danjou
Private studio: Nelson Pernisco
Associative cuisine: Louis Danjou

MÉTRO 3 - Gallieni
TRAMWAY 3b - Porte de Bagnolet
BUS 57 - Louis Ganne
VÉLIB' - rue du Château

Credits

Graphic design: Cédric Pierre
Développement: Olivier Jonvaux
Redaction: Célia Richard, François Dufeil, Nelson Pernisco, Pierre Gaignard
Photography: Nelson Pernisco, Paul SAEIO, Cédric Pierre, Alexis Bourely, Franck Jessueld, Mathis Dangelo