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Paris Metro gift-wrapped for Christmas

Dan MacGuill
Dan MacGuill - [email protected]
Paris Metro gift-wrapped for Christmas
"The idea was to make people happy. Most of the time people don't smile." Paris Metro carriage transformed into a Christmas present. Photo: Sisaprod/Gabriel Defrocourt/Clea Polar

Christmas came early for commuters in the French capital over the weekend, as an entire carriage of a Paris Métro was transformed into a festive gift. But who was behind this act of guerrilla cheerfulness?

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Anyone travelling on Line 8 of the Paris Métro one morning over the weekend may have thought they were hallucinating when they stepped on to the train and found their carriage covered, from floor to ceiling, in deep red Christmas wrapping paper.

Operation “Christmas Commando”, inspired joy in at least one traveller, whose photo went viral on Twitter on Friday morning.

“Haha! It’s Christmas on Line 8” said commuter Manon Guignard.

The sudden transformation was later revealed to be the work of Parisian art and video collective Sisaprod, founded by Gabriel Defrocourt and Clea Polar, seen in this photo of the work in progress.


Photo: Sisaprod/Clea Polar/Gabriel Defrocourt

“The idea was to brighten up the morning for Metro-users,” Polar told Le Parisien on Friday. “Most of the time people don’t smile, so above all our goal was to make people happy,” she added.

While the spontaneous creative gesture inspired warm, festive feelings in several surprised commuters, Paris rail authorities were less impressed, withdrawing the train in question from circulation until the Christmas wrapping was removed.

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