Moleskine ® - Legendary notebook - Around Paris with Bili Bidjocka

Bili Bidjocka is a romantic who talks about Paris with the same intensity he would use for a lover and the city takes on life, colour and passion through his tales.
"Paris made me discover the world: it has explained its rules to me - both the good ones and the bad ones. Paris has given me the time and space to begin doing art. My Paris wouldn't exist without Les Frigos, an artistic project, a place where more than 200 people work at their own creations every day. It's right at the heart of the district commonly known as the Bibliothèque Nationale (National Library)."

Can you tell us something more about this project?
"The district of the National Library was abandoned for a long time. It's an area in the east of Paris, along the Seine. Rehabilitation began about twenty years ago: it was an enormous undertaking, given that it is an entire district within the walls of Paris but which was not at all integrated with the rest of the city.Today these spaces have been modernised, but the Frigos building is still intact, exactly as it was many years ago when a large group of artists occupied it to make it the headquarters of their workshops."
What about the rest of the district? Are the Frigos only a happy Island?
"Absolutely not.The National Library area is now one of Paris' most culturally lively areas. Besides the Library, there's a private cinema complex, the MK2, and the city's Cinémathèque.Then there is the University, and the Académie des Beaux Arts will open there soon."

What can you tell about some other corner of Paris that you like?
"I love Saint Germain des Prés, as it gives you the perfect idea of the Paris one dreams about, but I'm also very fond of the Marais, where I find any excuse to go for a stroll at any time of the day or night. I adore Parc Montsouris - it's a magic place, I believe that even Prévert found inspiration
there. And then the dawn and the dusk along the Seine: it's at those times that you discover the joy of Paris, that particular blend of joy that is followed straight away by a feeling of melancholy. The joy that takes you by surprise, and amazes you. I think that Paris is by definition the place for poetic and aesthetic experience. It's the city of the 'Perfect Lover'."

Where do you escape to? Where do you think? Where do you rest?
"There's not a shadow of doubt about that: I escape into the Métro. That's the real Parisian refuge, one of the most inspiring places that I can think of for literature.  To sit in the carriage of an underground train and read Isidore Ducasse is the true metaphor of my Paris."

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