Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
towers, while patrons sit in artificially lit basement halls built around a 'forest courtyard' of
140 50-year-old pines, trucked in from the countryside. The towers have since been fitted
with a complex (and expensive) shutter system but the basement is prone to flooding from
the Seine.
GALLERY
GALERIE ITINERRANCE
2-7pm Wed-Sat;
Biblio-
thèque)
Testament to the 13e's ongoing creative renaissance, this very funky gallery showcases graf-
fiti and street art. Artists and events vary.
CULTURAL CENTRE
DOCKS EN SEINE
13e; 10am-midnight; Gare d'Austerlitz)
Framed by a lurid-lime wave-like glass facade, a transformed Seine-side warehouse now
houses the French fashion institute, the Institut Français de la Mode (hence the docks' al-
ternative name, Cité de la Mode et du Design), mounting fashion and design exhibitions and
events throughout the year. Other draws include an entertainment-themed contemporary art
museum
Art Ludique-Le Musée
,
along with ultrahip bars, clubs and restaurants and huge
riverside terraces.
The docks occupy a 20,000-sq-metre riverside warehouse built in 1907 (the first industri-
al complex in Paris to use reinforced concrete), where goods were delivered by barge.
For the best view of the water-facing facade, cross the Seine over Pont Charles de Gaulle.
MUSEUM
ART LUDIQUE-LE MUSÉE
€15/9.50; 11am-7pm Mon, 11am-10pm Wed-Fri, 10am-10pm Sat & Sun; Gare d'Austerlitz)
Comics, mangas, video games and animated and live-action cinema are treated as seriously
as any other art form at this contemporary art museum in the cutting-edge Docks en Seine
complex. Chronologically arranged exhibits showing the evolution of the genre form the
core of the permanent collection, but the real crowd pleasers are the blockbuster temporary
exhibitions such as a Pixar retrospective or Marvel superheros. Online bookings cost a euro
extra but allow you to skip the queues. Hours can vary.
FACTORY, GALLERY
MANUFACTURE DES GOBELINS
