“Green culture” (4/11). The Rur festival, Jam of the Rurbans of Perche, is the meeting of the Graffitis-Artists. Or how to bring urban art in rurality.
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By settling in Nogent-le-Rotrou, in Eure-et-Loir, “Capital of the Perche”, Resk, Phok and Panonerpan thought that they would never reuse their aerosol bombs again. These graffiti-artists from Paris and Orleans’ suburbs had mourned their youth passion by placing their luggage in the countryside, with woman and children.
Since the creation, in 2020, of their RUR festival (diminutive of “rurbanization”), they graft even more. One day, they tag a combine harvester for the race for young farmers in the department. Another, they are in the courtyard of the Saint-Jean castle for a demonstration of graffiti, or organize on a weekend, in early September, their festival dedicated to urban cultures (Graff, Skate, Breakdance …), a few steps from the Natal house of the Pleiade poet, Rémy Belleau (1528-1577).
Jonathan Guyot, known as Panonerpan, is also an associate professor of life and land sciences in the high school which bears the name of this local figure; RESK, or Christophe Delebarre, is coordinator of a localized unit for inclusion school for children with disabilities; Phok, Erwan Le Lann, is a territorial agent at the aquatic center of this sub-prefecture.
hip-hop culture
Before having a tidy life, they all painted in the vacant lots, vandalized the blinds of traders or covered the gray walls of their city with their frescoes: “When I arrived here, in 2010, I had said: it’s dead, I will not paint anymore, I will never meet someone else who paints the bomb, remembers Panonerpan. And I did not see the point of vandalizing this city. “
The art of graffiti is lived mainly in metropolises, to break the anonymity of major cities, to exist in the eyes of those who know the codes of hip-hop culture, but in Nogent-le-Rotrou, What interest in putting color on old noble stones or in the middle of the hedges of cow and horses farms? “And why, in the countryside, would there be no one sensitive to this art form ?, Retorts Resk. Since we organize this festival, we have only encountered people who are fans, take pictures before the frescoes, gendarmes to families, including local elected officials. “
The one who had the audacity to think about it is the owner of the place, Nicolas Caudmont, a former soldier, who grew up listening to NTM and Public Enemy in a HLM in Normandy. This street art enthusiast has invested in real estate renovation by leaving the army. By taking up the building nicknamed the “Tour of Ardenay”, he undertakes to build eight dwellings there, which is necessary eight parking spaces. He then bought 6,000 square meters of an adjoining industrial wasteland, an old concrete factory. A part is devolved to a coworking space; The rest, he lends it to associations that need to organize events there. During one of them, Panonerpan asks him if he can attack the wall: “And why not all?” Replied Nicolas Caudmont. Faced with the success of the festival, the frescoes, which were to be covered after three months, are now visible until mid-May. This year, more than thirty graffiti and street artists are expected on September 10 and 11.
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