Charity sale to benefit Emmaüs Alternatives

Charity sale to benefit Emmaüs Alternatives

No sales charge

Sale: Monday December 8 at 7:30pm

Wilde - Lieu d'Art, 4-6 rue François Miron 75004 Paris

Exhibition: Sunday, December 7, 2 pm to 7:30 pm and Monday, December 8, 2 pm to 7 pm

Wilde - Lieu d'Art, 4-6 rue François Miron 75004 Paris

Inquiries should be sent by e-mail to encheres.blanchet@gmail.com.

Charity sale in aid of Emmaüs Alternatives

The implacable reality

Today in France and around the world, overproduction and overconsumption are becoming increasingly widespread. This over-consumption, corroborated by programmed obsolescence, makes it a habit to throw things away and buy them again.

The reality then becomes obvious: A huge number of materials/substances/objects are thrown away or given away every day, and just as many are bought (often of mediocre quality).

For discarded items, it's the sorting centers that have to manage the incessant flow of goods. For items that are donated (and also thrown away), there are associations whose aim is to recover and put back into the consumer circuit, in this case Emmaüs Alternatives, a major player in the social economy.

The birth of a project

Emmaüs Alternatives offers a comprehensive social initiative, a worksite and an integration company to help the most disadvantaged. Second-hand items and objects are sold in various boutiques, consolidating the solidarity economy and offering prices for all, thanks to the help of committed human beings and volunteers.

Le D. is an artist who has made the street his playground, painting on the rubbish he finds, and in Paris there's a lot of it. After many years of experimenting with these supports, and becoming one of the leading exponents of this practice in street art, he was keen to go further than the artistic gesture, by combining it with a political gesture.

So it was only natural that Emmaüs Alternatives and Le D. should work together. The collaboration began with the donation/lending of items by Ressourcerie l'Alternative for the exhibition "Sur les traces du D" (November 27-December 12), in which the artist transforms second-hand items into works of art. It continues with a major auction to benefit Emmaüs Alternatives and the artists. A sale that Blanchet et Associés has generously agreed to handle.

Forming a group of committed artists

The idea was a powerful one: to bring together a group of artists who were both willing and sensitive to the issue, to propose works made exclusively from second-hand/reused items. The artists are professionals, established figures or rising stars, all linked by the desire to contribute to the community, to consolidate the links between art and activism, to promote initiatives that make sense and promote ecology, inclusion and humanity.