A dragon in Paris

In 1999, the City of Paris has commissioned a work to the Franco-Chinese artist Chen Zhen to accompany the urban development project "Seine Rive Gauche". The artist, inspired by many cultures, has been committed to a certain Parisian tradition of the major achievements related to the presence of the Seine (Saint-Michel Fontaine, Pont Alexandre III...).

After the artist's death, which occurred in 2000, the completion of the work is then pursued by the artist Xu Min, an associate of Chen Zhen.

Referring to the energy of the water drawn into the Seine River to feed the city, the artist has designed a stylized dragon of wide-gauge, semi-transparent mid-opaque, in which water circulates at high pressure.

Emerging from the wall of access to the plant underground water production beneath the square, the body rises before disappearing at three locations from the ground, the absence of head suggesting that the dragon can arise in any time to surprise the walker…

Via paris.fr