Through Marie Amelie Marchal
Published on 9 Apr 21 at 19:16
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A solution had to be found, and quickly. The announcements ofEmmanuel Marcon who declared the closure of non-essential businesses from March 20, 2021 had the effect of an electric shock for Stéphane Corréard. Galler at Paris, he transformed his activity into a bookstore to be allowed to open.
24 hours to change status
Everything was done in 24 hours with amazing ease. For the gallery owner Stéphane Corréard, “this injustice had to be repaired” while the booksellers had obtained, between two confinements, the status of essential trade. “The change was all the easier since we were already selling works related to art,” he explains.
So, the artistic director immersed himself in his statutes, “to become a bookseller in all legality”.
The State uses the APE code to establish the list of businesses authorized to open, but this code is assigned by INSEE. A simple statistical tool to follow the situation of businesses, hence the ease that I had to modify my activity.
80 euros to change activity
For 80 euros for a K-bis change procedure (the only official document attesting to the legal existence of a company) and voila.
Three conditions were however required to make the change: “That the statute of my company authorizes it – it was the case -, that my commercial lease authorizes the sale of books – my owner signed an amendment to me immediately -, and that I sell books! “
–Here too, things were done very simply. “We solicited our contacts and our network who played the game. Today, we have a hundred books for sale”, proudly advances the gallery owner. The books therefore took place at 15 rue des Beaux Arts, in the midst of the works exhibited despite everything.
“An exhibition is always visible on the walls of the bookstore and if the works cannot be bought in the store, we have set up the click and collect to be able to sell them”, explains the artistic director.
“When everything is back to normal, we will go the other way to become a full gallery again,” explains Stéphane Corréard.
Galleries, a refuge for art lovers
For the art specialist, it was necessary to remain open at all costs as art galleries have gained in popularity in recent weeks, representing a refuge for art enthusiasts in need of museums.
We have been badly accustomed because for months the public has been more and more numerous in our spaces. Parisians have rediscovered a taste for proximity by discovering the galleries a few meters from their homes rather than visiting the major national museums that abound in the capital.
With the neighboring galleries of the rue des Beaux Arts, Stéphane Corréard is participating in the exhibition “À face discovered”. The latter, struck with closure, have decided to exhibit in spite of everything and display in their windows works by Marina Abramović, Francis Bacon, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Robert Combas and Hopare, among others.
The exhibition, produced with the assistance of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, is on view until April 20, 2021.
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