Mulhouse (AFP)

Located in Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin) in the heart of an old industrial site undergoing renovation, the Motoco artists' workshop offers some 140 creators a cheap and sustainable workplace, a "laboratory" of ideas that inspires curiosity in France and abroad.

Some 100,000 m2 of imposing red brick buildings, spread over more than 70 hectares in the heart of Mulhouse: welcome to the former historic site of the textile company DMC, the flagship of the Alsatian industry.

In the middle of this area, a time left fallow, building 75, HQ of Motoco (abbreviation of "More to come", "more to come"). With 140 French and international artists and artisans, it is one of the most important residences for creative workshops in France.

The residents share two huge floors where "everyone has their workshop", from the largest (250 m2) to the smallest (10 m2), rented at a ridiculous price: 1.83 euros monthly per square meter, plus 15 euros charges annual, explains Martine Zussy, 49, the director of Motoco.

The place, which is starting to carve out a good reputation, attracts more and more artists and craftsmen - plastic artists, photographers, ceramists, but also urban planners or architects -, all chosen by a commission. "We had around 200 candidates between the end of 2018 and 2019," says Ms. Zussy.

- Unique model -

A vigor that contrasts with complicated beginnings: launched in 2012, Motoco found itself in liquidation four years later. The Mulhouse area (M2A), owner of the majority of the DMC site and therefore of Building 75, turned to Martine Zussy, then responsible for economic development at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) in Mulhouse.

The objective: to maintain Motoco and guarantee artists low rents, without subsidies. Classic equation of brownfields in cultural conversion, sighs Mrs. Zussy. "They are quickly confronted with a problem of real estate exploitation, pass on the + start up +" and "see the artists".

A scenario that she wanted "at all costs" to avoid at Motoco.

His solution? Both simple and innovative for this type of structure: rent the floors at very low prices and finance this loss-making activity, by renting for events the two huge empty rooms on the ground floor, formerly used for spinning . It also offers residents to be paid for the decoration and scenography of events (company parties, product launches, thematic fairs, etc.).

This energetic brunette then convinces six local entrepreneurs to inject a few thousand euros into the project and sets up with them in early 2018 a simplified joint stock company (SAS), "Motoco & Co". "We are the only structure of this type in France that operates completely privately with such funding," she says.

A model on which many cultural players are now eyeing, in France and abroad. Building 75 has seen delegations from Nantes, Strasbourg, Romania, Russia and China pass by ...

- "Laboratory" -

With a hundred events a year, Motoco is financially afloat. Recently, a giant masked ball brought together more than 300 people. And the order book is filled until June.

"The companies that come here expect something different," said Pierre Fraenkel, a 47-year-old plastic artist. "And for us, it puts butter in the spinach ..."

"A place like that is really very precious (...) difficult (to find another) elsewhere," says Jingfang Hao, a 34-year-old Chinese plastic artist.

"I left Mulhouse 35 years ago, swearing that I would never go there again. It was (Motoco) that made me come back," says Anne-Sophie Tschiegg, painter from 53 years.

The experience "is bearing fruit", welcomes Marc Buchert, vice-president of M2A, who recalls that the residence is more broadly part of a global project to rehabilitate old industrial sites in Mulhouse, initiated in 2008 and spread over 25 years. A digital pole has just been created on a site near the DMC area. The latter will be dedicated to emerging economies, with several projects in preparation.

At the forefront of this global conversion, Motoco is a bit of a "laboratory", says Mr. Buchert.

© 2020 AFP