Le BAL - Espace d'expositions

During the Années Folles the house at 6, Impasse de la Défense sheltered a ballroom, a cabaret and a ‘love hotel’ where the bawdy crowds of the 18th arrondissement came to shake their stuff to the airs of the accordion. Then, in the aftermath of WW2, the dance hall became one of the biggest betting shops in France, and it wasn’t until 2006 that the City of Paris gave this den of debauchery and gambling a new lease of life as a reflection, exhibition, production and dialogue space for documentary. Through its exhibitions, performances, debates, screenings and ambitious education programme, the BAL puts a huge effort into recording 'reality' in all its complexity, altering preconceptions, sketching history through the present and multiplying visual approaches. Under the direction of Raymond Depardon, this independent initiative interrogates the historical, political and social stakes of documentary through contemporary imagery, problematising a world saturated by the visual and protecting it from the ravages of a culture of distraction.