Originally a showpiece of French commercial activity, the Pantin Général Stores in Paris, France closed at the beginning of the Millennium - at least as far as commercial activities were concerned.   The five-storey structure stood idle only briefly, however, as it was soon "discovered" by the local spraycan set.    As layer upon layer of spraypaint accumulated over the last decade, the structure became known as 'Graffiti Général' by the graf artists and the 'Parisienne' themselves.   We note that Graffiti Général has, in recent years, also attracted artists from most points around the globe, becoming what is known (at least amongst peers) as Paris' "monument to graffiti".

      However, all that will soon come to an end when Graffiti Général's new tenant, BECT (an advertising group) renovates the facilities for use as an office block.   Graffiti, almost by definition, and certainly by all precedent, is generally thought to be something destined to a very finite life span - either destroyed by the weather, or overpainting, or the bulldozer.   However, unlike the similarly doomed graffiti which once covered the recently whitewashed 5-Pointz warehouse in Queens <link>, Graffiti Général's graf treasures have been preserved -en masse- in an original 21st Century manner.

      And it was the new landlords themselves, BETC, who have become the self-appointed saviors.   They have digitally recorded the over 5,200 graffiti images which decorate Graffiti Général's interior and exterior.   But this is only the beginning - they then reproduced the entire building to exact scale, inside and out, graffiti and all, in high-rez 3-D software.   Now, virtually, just as in a "first-person-shooter" video game, one may visit the BETC website, and "walk" through the building, viewing the various works of art.   Many of the paintings have been supplemented with a small icon, which, when clicked, will provide a "pop up" with commentary on that piece.   

      Although 'virtual galleries' and digital archiving have been, and are being created in ever-increasing fury, there has never been anything of this magnitude and level of imagination for visual works, and certainly not for the preservation of graffiti art.   Not only have BETC hammered 5-Pointz (the self-proclaimed Institute of Higher Burnin') in one-upsmanship for their Graffiti Général preservation efforts - they have opened a lot more eyes to the potentials of digital archiving.   If you are interested, you may want to take a walk through the Graffiti Général building yourself (and how could you not be interested?) at GraffitiGénéral.com  <link>