• In 2013, “Bob” was inaugurated, a work of art chip shop installed between the two Lille stations.

  • Victim of a bad location, the food-truck has never enabled its operators to achieve profitability.

  • Long abandoned, the chip shop had to be restored and then moved.

Work in peril. It has been almost a decade since “Bob”, a work imagined by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm, was installed on Place François Mitterrand, in Lille. Except that Bob was not designed just for viewing pleasure. Originally, it was a chip shop. But, for lack of an operator, the unusual food-truck, owned by SPL Euralille, is withering away.

Without being a bad language, Place François Mitterrand is not the favorite place of Lille for walking.

This terribly mineral space, located between the two stations, remains the playground for drafts and a place of transit for travelers.

It is for this reason that the SPL Euralille, developer of the Euralille district, and the House of architecture and the city (Waao), racked their brains to find the little something that would make the place more attractive.

And that little something was "Bob".

"Immediately, we knew that the location was bad"

“This equipment meets both the need for a convivial space and the lack of a quality catering offer nearby. The artistic intervention enhances the place by giving it a unique and surprising identity ”, was it written in the presentation of the project. Erwin Wurm, seduced, responded present and his original chip house, installed at the foot of the infamous Lille Europe escalator, was inaugurated in 2013. By dint of communication, the launch was promising, but the first operators quickly became disillusioned. .

“We immediately knew that the location was bad.

The people passing by were in a hurry and did not stop, ”recalls Hugues Hochart.

Despite the restaurateur's insistence on moving Bob to a more frequented location, the SPL Euralille, owner, has always refused.

"On average, we made 200 euros in turnover per day, it was not profitable and we gave up after a year," he laments.

Other operators followed and history repeated itself.

Learn from the mistakes of the past

Today, Bob is still in the same place, except that no one is cooking there anymore. The chip house, due to lack of maintenance, deteriorates and nature begins to reclaim its rights. Artconnexion, the agency which acted as the intermediary between SPL Euralille and Erwin Wurm, is sorry for this situation: "It is unbearable to see this work in this state, it is also about our credibility with the artist. », Says Amanda Crabtree, the director. According to artconnexion, the contract between the designer and the owner obliges the latter to maintain the work. It is a guarantee that Erwin Wurm would tear his hair out if he saw the pitiful look of his Bob.

After years of wandering, the future could look bright for the food truck.

Contacted by

20 Minutes

, the SPL Euralille affirms that Bob "will be leaving here this winter for a makeover and rehabilitation".

The owner also seems to have learned from the mistakes of the past and the plasters suffered by successive operators.

The chip house will be "located on a new site in Lille allowing it to be visited more and to minimize its degradation", we recognize at the SPL Euralille.

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  • Lille

  • Food truck

  • Euralille

  • Art