The Molitor Hotel & Spa Paris MGallery in the Web3 era

Opened in 1929, for sixty years the Molitor swimming pool was a popular meeting place with an avant-garde atmosphere. When it closed in 1989, the building was listed as a historic monument, but with no buyer, the Art Deco building, inspired by ocean liners, was abandoned. Street artists took over, turning it into the temple of the Parisian underground. In 2001, they made history with the techno beats of a gigantic, iconic free party: the starting point for large-scale teknivals. Since 2017, in an innovative curatorial approach and as a tribute to the history of the premises, Molitor Hotel & Spa Paris MGallery has brought urban art into its walls, and with its greatest representatives: Futura, Does, Nasty, Marko93, Vhils...

Anchored in its time and trends, the establishment now intends to bring part of its collection into the virtual world, as General Manager Gregory Millon explains.

Since 2017, 78 cabins in the indoor pool have been deliberately tagged by renowned street artists.

Gregory Millon: "When we opened in 2014, we spent a lot of time thinking about the future of the cabins and the indoor pool, which were tagged all over the place at the time. My predecessors had the good idea of transforming these changing booths into art booths, and letting the street artists who had occupied the abandoned premises before the takeover, during the years 1990/2000, and others too, express themselves there. But as urban art is by definition ephemeral, these works of art must be too. We're about to embark on the first phase, erasing the works of 2017 to make way for new artists. The second phase should see the light of day in September 2024. As urban art is present on all five continents, we're going to broaden our field of vision, which until now has been mainly restricted to the French art scene".

In 2023, you're going one step further, bringing three works into Web3, while paying tribute to your arty past and that famous free party in 2001.

Gregory Millon: "When I took over the management of the Molitor Hotel & Spa Paris MGallery Collection in 2019, I was totally taken with the concept of street art in the cabins, but what a shame to see all these works disappear! With Sylvain Morgaine, VP Innovation Lab Accor, we thought of a way to give them a second life. We came up with the idea of creating artistic NFTs, and thus bringing three works of art into virtual existence. The works in question are by Nasty, Marko 93 and Does. Each work will be divided into 130 NFTs, for a total of 390 NFTs. Acquiring an NFT brings with it a number of benefits. Bronze collectors will have access to the festive The Legacy Party on November 25, Silver collectors will also be invited to a dinner at the bottom of the pool, and the three Gold collectors will also be entitled to a meeting with one of the artists, in his or her studio".

©Benoit Gaboriaud, SébastienGiraud

Do you have any anecdotes about the artists' work, in particular that of Nasty, famous for his metallic enamel lettering adorning a number of Paris metro stations?

Gregory Millon: "Nasty created his booth live on Instagram. He asked his followers to give him names to cover the walls of his booth with. It's a participatory work.

How do you go about collaborating with the artists? Do you give them carte blanche?

Gregory Millon: "We give the artists carte blanche, but we avoid overly virulent or extremist political messages.

Do you have a set design or theme in mind for the next exhibition?

Gregory Millon: "Not really. The scenography will be organized by geographical zone, so that if a visitor wants to see an artist from a particular country, he can find his way more easily.

©Benoit Gaboriaud