Passerelle Centre d'art contemporain mounts first exhibition on Brest graffiti history 1984-2004

Passerelle Centre d'art contemporain has temporarily relocated to Brest's historic Cercle Naval building for one year, where it presents "Brest sous les bombes – A history of graffiti 1984-2004." This inaugural exhibition explores two decades of urban art in the city through unseen archival materials including photographs, films, press articles, and personal accounts. The show opens with a display of aerosol cans from the 1960s to 2000s from collector Aurélien Harmignies, tracing how artists repurposed industrial tools. Graffiti writing emerged in Brest during the early 1980s following the film Beat Street and the television program Hip Hop, with American servicemen stationed there also influencing local artists. Early pioneers included Bruno and Sane from the Ninja Force/Acropol Group, which formed in 1983 as Brest's first hip-hop community. Key graffiti sites included Valy Hir's Maison Pour Tous, the Kerfautras factory, the port, and an old cider works. During the 1990s, the U-Know shop became a hub for urban culture, selling aerosols and hosting artists. A major 2000 port jam attracted participants from across France and Belgium, cementing Brest's national reputation. The 2004 publication Westbook documented this growing scene. This exhibition builds on research by Centre Arcanes, supported by the City of Brest and DRAC Bretagne since 2021, and extends their "Aérosol" exhibition shown at Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rennes in 2024 and Nancy in 2025.