Paris - Cloud of Mist the Bourse de Commerce

A large cloud forms out of water mist in the rotunda

For our first day in Paris started with blue skies and temperatures in the low 20s. We made our way to the Palais Royal, and from there walked to the Bourse de Commerce (Commodities Exchange), which holds the Pinault Collection.

We were lucky to catch the tail end of the Fujiko Nakaya show -- the only thing going on at the Bourse de Commerce.

Visitors being enveloped in the cloud

The 93-year-old Japanese artist is best know for her fog sculptures. They aren't sculptures per se, but art installations, where water droplets are spewed into the air and create cloud-like formations. In this case it is called "Cloud #07156."

Visitors had to wait in line before being allowed to enter the circular space designed by Tadao Ando. On the floor are rows of grates on the floor in the middle shaped like a square, and they are timed to shoot out the water droplets that move from one side of the room to the other, enveloping people in the mist as they sit.

After a few of these sprayings, which is exactly the same as water mists sprayed on vegetables in the supermarket, visitors are invited to stand up and take pictures, but not to stand too close to the grates.

Ando's design contrasts the building 

The whole thing lasted about 15 minutes. It was quite the experience to be enveloped in this way, and it reminded me of when I saw the Ryuchi Sakamoto exhibition in Tokyo, where the courtyard was filled with mist!

Interestingly, the fog sculpture don't seem to affect the paintings above it. They are four paintings by four different artists, depicting the trade France had with different countries and continents, like Asia, North America, Russia and the Mediterranean.

None of the artists had been to all these places, so they were stereotypical depictions of the people represented. The paintings were all painted on canvas before they were glued onto the circular wall.

The Bourse de Commerce has an interesting history in itself all the way to today.

Built in 1763-1767, the circular building was originally used to house grain, and later became a marketplace for residents to buy and sell food stuffs. It was an open air interior courtyard that was later enclosed with a wooden dome, one of the largest of its kind in Europe.

But in 1802 a fire destroyed the dome and it was later replaced with a copper frame with glass.

The paintings above depict trade with continents

In 1854 the Bourse de Commerce became a commodities exchange, buying and selling items like wheat, rye, oats, flour, sugar, oil, and alcohol. But then in 1998 with the ushering in of the age of the internet, market activity ended in the building, and was left abandoned.

In 2016, the then Mayor of Paris, Anne Hildago, offered Francois Pinault, one of the richest men in France, a 50-year lease of the Bourse de Commerce for his art collection for 15 million euros and yearly fees, to fund the renovation of the building, which was finally opened in 2021.

Pinault chose Japanese architect Tadao Ando to design a massive concrete cylinder inside the building at the cost of US$170 million. It was quite controversial because why did concrete cost that much and what would happen to the integrity of the building?

The double spiral staircase

But it turns out it's quite interesting, smooth concrete that has holes in it to display works of art, and down below in the basement level is a small auditorium where visitors can watch videos or presentations.

Bourse de Commerce

2 rue de Viarmes

75001 Paris