les UX

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les UX is the name of a French underground organization that has been operating since the 1970s and has set itself the task of reviving hidden corners of Paris in secret, mostly nocturnal actions with self-financing and to repair neglected cultural assets that the city administration is not or is not interested in sufficiently cares. The idea originally came from Great Britain ; the name therefore goes back to the English urban experiment ( German : urban experiment).

structure

According to its own information, the association has almost 150 members and is divided into ten different teams with different tasks. For example, there is an all-women group for infiltration who sneaks into museums after they have closed, looks for quick routes through the underground electrical and gas network and switches off alarm systems. Another group sets up an internal messaging system and a coded radio network and a third operates the database. The fourth group is the LMDP, explained in the following section, which organizes underground events and a team of photographers forms the fifth department. The sixth are the Untergunther. Nothing is known about the remaining four.

LMDP

La Mexicaine de Perforation (LMDP) is responsible for organizing and hosting underground celebrations and events. The members take the view that the underground of Paris is unused public space, care for it and open it up to the initiated. Festivals are celebrated in old catacombs or disused metro stations , but one is in a legal gray area. The majority of the actions are illegal, however, due to the confusion and independence of the participants, they can hardly be prosecuted.

The most famous action of the LMDP was the construction of an underground cinema under the boulevards of the 16th arrondissement not far from the Palais de Chaillot and the former location of the Cinémathèque française . They made semicircular stone benches, put up a canvas, set up a bar, a dining room, a pantry and other small rooms. For several years, Les Arenes de Chaillot , as the place was called, was a popular underground meeting place with music performances and summer film festivals. On August 23, 2004, the police received an anonymous phone call indicating the location of the event. The police brigade for underground quarries moved out and found the abandoned cinema. When the emergency services later returned for a comprehensive investigation, the entire interior was removed and removed. Only a sign with the inscription “You don't even need to look” could be secured. Since then, the cinema has been set up in different locations. The hidden references to the events there are always marked with a picture of a little dancing Mexican woman.

Untergunther

The Panthéon

The best-known team at les UX are the Untergunther, who have dedicated themselves to practical restoration. The focus is on usually hidden facilities or equipment or invisible cultural heritage, which are culturally and historically important, but which are never noticed by normal citizens and are in the background. The name of the group was developed out of necessity: to keep passers-by away from the nightly activities, a CD was always played with loud barking of two dogs. Since guard dogs are usually associated with the breed of the German shepherd in France , German names were sought for the two animals and an agreement was reached on Günther and Unter, like underground.

The team also includes architects and historians. Over the years, the Untergunther renovated a hundred-year-old abandoned government bunker and a crypt from the 12th century. The group only came into the public eye through a deliberate revelation of their work: In November 2005, some activists sneaked into the national hall of fame, the Panthéon , to repair the clockwork of the clock from 1850, which had been idle for 40 years. People hid in the building, got the keys, locked themselves in at night and filmed the work under the documentary title "Panthéon - An Instructions for Use". With the help of the professional watchmaker Jean-Baptiste Viot, who had to make numerous spare parts, it was possible to get the mechanism going again in 300 working hours and at a cost of 4,000 euros. Viot even estimates the value of the work at 13,000 euros. The Panthéon's chief curator was then informed of the success in October 2007. He responded with a lawsuit against four of the parties involved, which, however, was dismissed by the court after only 20 minutes of hearing. After the negotiation, however, the Untergunther were in the focus of the media. In order to preserve anonymity, Lazar Kunstmann was appointed spokesperson, who has since appeared in public as the only member of les UX.

literature

  • Lazar Kunstmann: La culture en clandestins. L'UX . Editions Hazan, 2009, Paris, ISBN 978-2754103411 .

Web links

Officially

Reports