The Espace Cardin, a theater located in the Champs-Élysées gardens and recently free, will become a “place of debate” and “artistic creation” around “democracy”, announced the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo on Wednesday.
Renamed “Théâtre de la Concorde”, the complex, which includes a theater, a cinema and several exhibition rooms, will become “a bulwark against obscurantism” and “a great popular university”, affirmed during his wishes the elected socialist, “worried” about “the rise of populism”.
A phenomenon fueled “by the irrational and destructive madness of social networks, where political debate has become impossible,” said Ms. Hidalgo, who announced at the end of November to delete her account on the social network a “vast global sewer” and a “tool for destabilizing democracy”.
The “Théâtre de la Concorde”, whose steering committee will be chaired by historian Patrick Boucheron, will become a place “entirely dedicated to democracy”, she said.
An artistic haunt since the 19th century, the former Café des Ambassadeurs was one of the highlights of Parisian artistic and social life in the 1970s and 1980s, when it was renamed Espace Pierre Cardin after the fashion designer and patron, who died in 2020 , who had obtained the concession. But in 2016, the town hall, owner of the walls, took it back to make it the base for the Théâtre de la Ville, closed for work. These ultimately lasted seven years, far exceeding the duration – three years – and the initial envelope. But since the fall and the reopening of the City theater, the Espace Cardin no longer hosts a performance. The reopening of the site will take place gradually from February, until an inauguration “at the end of September-beginning of October”, the mayor’s entourage told AFP.
The programming provides for “live shows linked to the themes” of the political and media space, between theater, stand-up, resident musicians, “dance or eloquence workshops”, distilled the same source.
Anne Hidalgo has already transformed three former district town halls into places for thematic exchanges for associations, schools and the general public: the environment (4th), solidarity (2nd) and youth (1st).
