The TAG (tag and graffiti) exhibition staged at the Grand Palais from March 27 to May 3 2009, went off with the force of a cultural bombshell in a facility that had till then been out of bounds to the public: the South-East Gallery.
The T.A.G. show. Alain-Dominique Gallizia collected 300 works by the most prominent taggers. © Collection Grand Palais, François Tomasi
The exhibition was the brainchild of architect Alain-Dominique Gallizia, whose passionate interest in the world of tags and graffiti decided him to put together a collection of TAGs that would give enduring status to this essentially ephemeral street art. 150 artists agreed to comply with the same set of three imperatives. The theme was to be love, the material canvas, and a single format was allowed. The result was the biggest collection of tags spanning three generations. The South-East Gallery in the Grand Palais was the ideal backdrop. This vast area of 700 m2, used in the 1960s as classrooms for students at the Sorbonne University was closed to the public in 1999. Prior to refurbishment, due to start in May 2009, the Exhibition Gallery lent its roughcast walls to the T.A.G. show.
The exhibition was such a massive success that it was extended by one week: nearly 80,000 visitors attended in one month, with peaks of up to 4,000 per day, including first-time visitors to the Grand Palais.
The exhibition was such a massive success that it was extended by one week: nearly 80,000 visitors attended in one month, with peaks of up to 4,000 per day, including first-time visitors to the Grand Palais.
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