La Colonie was an independent cultural venue located in a former textile factory in the

10th arrondissement of Paris The 10th arrondissement of Paris (''Xe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''dixième'' ("10th arrondissement of Paris" = "dixième arrondisseme ...

, near the

Gare du Nord The Gare du Nord (; English: ''station of the North'' or ''Northern Station''), officially Paris-Nord, is one of the six large mainline railway station termini in Paris, France. The station accommodates the trains that run between the capital ...

train station. It was founded by French artist

Kader Attia Kader Attia (born 30 December 1970) is an Algerian-French artist. Early life Attia was born in Dugny, France to Algerian parents and was raised in Paris and Algeria. He studied at the '' l'école Duperré de Paris, l'école des arts appliqués ...

and restaurateur Zico Selloum in 2016. It closed in March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

History

La Colonie opened on 17 October 2016, to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Paris Massacre of 1961, in which hundreds of National Liberation Front Algerians demonstrating for Algerian independence were killed by the French National Police. In March 2020, La Colonie closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because La Colonie was dependent on revenue generated by its ground floor bar and café, it did not recover financially from the closure and has remained closed. Founder

has indicated that the venue will persist but in a smaller, more affordable space in the Paris suburbs.

Programming

La Colonie was a multi-use space and functioned as a café and

agora The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order of t ...

, in addition to a forum for workshops, lectures, readings, screenings, and art exhibitions with a focus on marginalized artists, thinkers, and activists whose work addressed issues of colonialism, racism, and

cultural appropriation Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. This can be controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from ...

. Notable exhibitions included: * ''Opaque to herself: Poland and postcolonialism'', November 2019 – 15 January 2020, curated by Joanna Warsza * ''The Trials of Justice'', 29 May – 30 June 2019, curated by

iLiana Fokianaki iLiana Fokianaki is a Greek curator, writer, theorist, educator and former journalist based in Athens and Rotterdam. In May 2022, she was announced as the curator of the 13th edition of the annual festival Survival Kit, organised by the Latvian Cen ...

* ''Noria: Investigative grounds on violence and the state'', 18 May 2019 * ''Return of Fordlandia, an open-air archive'', 13–25 November 2018 * ''Discreet Violence: Discreet Violence: Architecture and the French War in Algeria'', 19 June – 14 July 2018, curated by

Samia Henni Samia Henni is a writer, historian, educator, and curator. She teaches history of architecture and urban development at Cornell University. Her work focuses on the intersection of the built and destroyed environments with colonial practices and m ...

* ''CARACAS RESET'', 15–17 May 2018

References

{{Reflist

External links

La Colonie website
2016 establishments in France 2020 disestablishments in France Artist-run centres Contemporary art galleries in France Defunct art museums and galleries in Paris Buildings and structures in the 10th arrondissement of Paris Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts and cultural heritage COVID-19 pandemic in France