Aerial view from Centre Pompidou over Place Georges-Pompidou in Paris. A large red-and-white painted circle reading 'ART?' dominates the paved plaza. White ventilation ducts frame the right edge; Haussmann apartment buildings fill the background under an overcast sky.

Centre Pompidou Plaza — 'ART?' Street Mural, Paris

5 October 2017 · Paris

The view from Centre Pompidou's exterior, looking down over Place Georges-Pompidou on an overcast autumn day. A large painted circle on the plaza floor anchors the frame — red, white, and blunt: 'ART? Avez-vous quelque chose à déclarer?' The industrial ventilation ducts that define Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers' high-tech architecture edge into the right of the frame, doing exactly what the building has always done: making the infrastructure the spectacle. Haussmann façades fill the background, indifferent to the question being asked below them.

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