“Having her live like this until the last moment is wonderful!”

It’s a blue house, backing onto a street in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne). It will soon be destroyed. But first, it was transformed into a cultural third place open to all. It’s not a squat but a great understanding between artists, local residents and local authorities. An artistic but also human adventure, an ephemeral magic to visit for free on Friday April 26, 2024.

Already from the outside it looks great. A house from the thirties of 300m2 tries to stand in the middle of the buildings.

Its owner died a year ago and the building will be destroyed for a real estate project. Thanks to the collective of artists Salade Suprème, around sixty people gave it colors to leave with dignity. Welcome to “Chez Babayaga”, a cultural third-place house where the presence of Pierrette, its deceased owner, can still be found.

The originality of the place and the approach is obviously the art brought to a neighborhood and precisely to a house. At 114 rue de Cugnaux in Toulouse, Pierrette lived there almost all her life. She died last year, without heirs. The house was therefore bought by a developer who is going to build a building there.

Right next door, also stuck between “light cut” buildings, there is Annie. “Pierrette has always been my neighbor. I was born in the house next door. I never lost sight of her. She was a cheerful person, who loved life, going out, going to the theater, music, the colors. This house as it is now, I think he would have liked it.”

Annie had not set foot in her neighbor’s house since the artists’ intervention. “Oh, how beautiful! That was the living room. We had an aperitif there!” Yes it was good, it was nice at Pierrette’s house. 17 rooms on 3 levels. Beautiful ceiling heights as they say in real estate, a garden with great potential of 600m2. An ideal playground for artists before real estate takes over. Because in a few months, this beautiful house from the 1930s will be razed. We’re not going to tell you nonsense.

Supreme Salad

Since January 8, 2024, a collective of artists and designers called “Salade Suprème” has given a boost to a gray house, faded by time. In all, there are around sixty of them (artists, neighbors and volunteers) who have achieved this beautiful transformation: from the colorful exterior to the magnified interior, room for art in all its forms.

Preview visit. Report France 3 Occitanie B. Roux, L. Boffet J. Prudent F. Ratel

From the street, on foot, bike, scooter or car, it’s impossible to miss it. It intrigues, attracts, challenges and makes you want to know more. “The entire exterior of the house was well painted, everything was covered, says Quentin Lhommeau, coordinator of the Salade Suprême artist collective and himself a Meubles designer. That was really what we wanted to present. This is the first time on this street where we are in zone 30 that people have slowed down! We hear the neighbors advertising us, presenting the project for us. It’s really creating a connection with art.”

A true work of art on the outside with other gems on the inside. On 3 levels plus the attic, eclecticism is essential. A total immersion in each familiar room of a house, a total change of scenery as the influence of art is so strong. Every cm2 was used, from floor to ceiling: the living room, bedrooms, corridors, bathroom, toilets, not to mention the secret passages.

As we wander around, we change universes: contemporary art, comics, projections, sculpture, naive art, the pieces are inhabited everywhere. A magic also signed Sozinho, a word which means “alone” or “unique” in Portuguese.

The Sozinho association has existed for 15 years. It is located on rue Negreneys in Toulouse where it enlivens the Minimes district in different ways.

In 2018, place Priority Art District. A year later, opening of the La Passerelle Negreneys living space, an associative cultural café. “We want to support culture by all possible means, make it accessible, bring places to life for the inhabitants of different neighborhoods. That’s what we do at Negreneys. We wanted to develop that on another scale,” declares Elsa Fort, the co-director of the association.

Sozinho then developed a partnership with the New Builders who made available the famous house in the Saint-Cyprien district, the very first. The idea is simple: places, houses will be destroyed, renovated, modified. The promoters then propose to the association to use it to carry out works before work. “The ephemeral side creates something, we want to be there. Babayaga is the ephemeral third place that brings life to a neighborhood. They had this house which had a history. A lady had lived there for years. It’s interesting to be able to offer artistic creations linked to this life”, confides Elsa Fort.

“Welcome to Babayaga”, here is the first version of these artistically recycled houses. Baba Yaga is a witch from Slavic folklore who lives in a magical hut in the middle of the forest. For some the character embodies the autonomy and independence of women. “It’s the imagination of the witch, both wise and creepy”recognizes Quentin Lhommeau, the artist coordinator who worked on the house.

Once upon a time, there was this initial idea, the thread of the ball pulled by each artist. Babayaga is obviously also a bit of Pierrette, the resident of the place. In the sculpture measuring more than 3 meters, in the portraits displayed, in the drawings on the 2nd floor, Pierrette keeps watch. Its furniture was removed and new ones were installed thanks to the partnership with Emmaüs. Everything was made with material recovered from the street or elsewhere, from recycling. Lots of green in the Supreme Salad.

Quentin Lhommeau and Marie Sforzini explain that it will be possible to visit all these worlds, but also to learn about artistic practices.

From floor to ceiling, art is everywhere, powerful works that take on a particular resonance in this house. A cabinet of curiosities where you no longer know where to look. Bedrooms and living rooms are revisited, toilets and showers redecorated for total immersion. For this ephemeral third place, the founder of Mister Freeze (the artist Reso) came to lend a hand.

For this achievement, the collective did not have any public funding, only partnerships. “The project will continue to evolve after the openingdeclares Quentin Lhommeau. We are super happy. The bet paid off. We are already considering other projects for the future, with more time, more solutions in terms of logistics, financing, partnership to take this type of project much further.”

The house can be visited until July 20 and it will be possible to sit quietly in the garden to chat or have a drink:

• Fridays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• Saturdays from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• some Sundays

Schedules arranged so as not to disturb neighbors who actively participate. In the front row, we find Annie. “Having this house live like this until the last moment is wonderful! It’s better than seeing it closed. It’s a beautiful tribute because it’s difficult for me to see the neighborhood without Pierrette and to see it to live again thanks to her, it’s beautiful, everyone stops in the street, it’s surprising. She really liked discretion and here she is in full light.”