A kraken stranded in Lyon, on the banks of the Saône

There’s nothing like a kraken to boost attendance at a cultural venue. This is the observation made by Stéphane Malfettes, the director of the Subs, “living place of artistic experiences”located on the banks of the Saône, in Lyon, on the site of a former 17th century convent^e century. The sea monster, which took up residence on the central esplanade in May, has indeed been a hit ever since. In two months, 50,000 visitors rubbed shoulders with its big tentacles, ie 20,000 more than anticipated. The success is such that the town hall got involved, which asked, while the dismantling was scheduled for October, to keep the structure until the Festival of Lights, December 8.

By commissioning the Syrian architect Khaled Alwarea and the collective UV Lab, within which he operates, an in situ installation, the director of Les Subs had in mind to offer a playground to the invited artists and to make it more convivial, at the passage, “ the large central void, not very welcoming”, which separates the buildings of the former convent. The architects had carte blanche. The idea of ​​the kraken, a giant octopus born in the black waters of Scandinavian mythology, came to them on the spot, when they discovered this landlocked site, bordered on one side by the river, on the other by the cliff of the Balm. “We imagined this creature that would come from a distant sea, that would have taken rivers, sailing from town to town, until it landed at the Subs »explains Khaled Alwarea.

With the students of the Beaux-Arts de Lyon and a group of people in professional integration, they built a large wooden structure, fully recyclable: a cover with soft shapes, made of reclaimed wood, supported by a framework everything that there is something more classic. The tentacles of the kraken which fall on the ground carry the weight of the whole, while others are stranded on the roofs of the various buildings of the site. Suspended 15 meters high, the belly of the monster forms an open and welcoming shelter under which large tables have been installed as well as a platform and speakers… People come and sit there to cool off, have a drink, watch at a conference, at a concert, at a performance, according to the agenda.

“Everyone’s DNA”

The origins of the creature counted less, for the architects, than its appropriability by all. “That’s what we love about mythology: it’s part of everyone’s DNA. Like a dictionary that everyone would have in themselves. We find the same stories in all cultures, declined in different forms. » Since its first appearances in the XVIII^e century, under the pen of Norwegian naturalists, the Kraken has indeed come a long way, which has led it to the sugar waters of globalized pop culture.

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