The year 2011 marks the recent arrival of line 13 of the Paris metro to the northern suburbs of Asnières and Gennevilliers, and crystallises territorial tensions between rival gangs around the Les Courtilles station. After violent clashes between young people and the death of a teenager in March 2011, both towns worked with associations and local actors to find ways of bringing the populations of Asnières and Gennevilliers closer together, and to pacify public space.

"One should not dream of the past or the future, one should dream of the present"

A participative exhibition "Dreamed spaces" is installed on the facade and the forecourt of  Les Courtilles metro station, on July 2, 2011.

Friches Théâtre Urbain invite residents, elected officials, and local professionals from both towns to gather together to inaugurate this collective fresco installed for the occasion. The social event is as important as the artwork itself.

Dreamed Spaces marks the first step in a long collaboration between Friches Théâtre Urbain and the cities of Gennevilliers and Asnières, with a project to re-poetise public space.

Here Sarah Harper proposes to return to the dream, that is to say to the point of departure...

On the forecourt of the Courtilles station, Sarah and photographer Juliette Dieudonné, install a casual listening and meeting centre of a table and three chairs.

In an attempt to change local dynamics, they solicit the dreams, desires and hopes of residents and métro users.

The subject of discussion is ostensibly the local urban planning project, but the fragility and simplicity of the approach surprises, and inspires an unexpected outspokenness provoking intimate exchanges on people's intimate relation to the space.

A carte sensible:

A map to dream

A map to get lost with

Getting lost, better to find yourself.

In a context where “Here we no longer dare to dream!” a rigorously non-territorialised map of the metro reveals how local residents imagine their ideal neighborhood, their stories and their dreams for better cohabitation of public space.

A co-production between inhabitants and Friches Théâtre Urbain, with words, drawings and photographs.

The collaborative fresco of images and words of the inhabitants of both towns is installed on the windows of the metro station throughout the summer of 2011, as a  symbol of a possible, better, future.

An "open" graphic wall on which passers-by are invited to leave their words, rants or dreams. A wall of messages from inhabitant to inhabitant.

Creative team

Conceived and directed by : Sarah Harper and Juliette Dieudonné

Graphic design : Sarah Harper and Juliette Dieudonné

Photography : Juliette Dieudonné

Graphic wall installation : Pascal Laurent, Marc Josserand and Alice Groppe

Production : Marc Josserand

Intern : Alice Groppe

Financial partners 

Town of Gennevilliers, Town of Asnières, DRAC IDF, ACSE, Conseil-Général des Hauts de Seine, RATP