La Galerie des Ateliers d'Artistes de Belleville

The collective Les Ateliers d’Artistes de Belleville (AAB) is known above all for its annual Portes Ouvertes event, as part of which hundreds of artists based in and around Belleville open their workshops to the public for a few days in May. If the opportunity to see inside bohemian digs tends to overshadow the art on show, La Galerie des AAB, nestled right in the heart of the quartier, seeks to redress the imbalance with its year-round display of local artists’ works. Art produced by collectives based in Belleville is given priority, but this snug one-room gallery’s remit is otherwise fairly wide, and the exhibition changed at least once a month in order to give voice to as many artists as possible. A valuable project, which reconciles bobo appeal with the strong community spirit that characterizes the neighbourhood.