Bringing together the wild and ephemeral spirit of urban art, the vandalistic chimeras of an interlope artist, the eternal beauty of the mineral world, and the international renown of a prestigious institution? This is the astonishing challenge taken up by this new exhibition by street artist Codex Urbanus at the venerable École des Mines de Paris (Mines Paris – PSL), offering a dazzling cocktail whose two main ingredients are an exceptional collection of thousands of minerals and a few spray cans, mixed in an artistic shaker and presented in a splendid Victorian setting. Come and lose yourself in the display cases, discover a parallel tour route of the museum, and let yourself be captivated by this unexpected encounter between art, fantasy, and the mineral world.
Codex Urbanus is a Parisian street artist who has been drawing a bestiary of fantastical animals directly onto the city's walls under cover of night for over 15 years. Today, more than 800 hybrid creatures have appeared on the streets, each bearing its Latin name, offering a fantastical naturalist's collection that many passers-by and enthusiasts hunt down and catalog. Codex is also the author of several books, including an essay on the very existence of street art (“Pourquoi l'Art est dans la Rue ?” [Why is Art in the Street?], Critères Éditions, 2018) and a guide to recognizing 150 artists working without authorization in the streets of Paris (“Petit Atlas de Poche du Street Art de Paris et sa Banlieue” [Small Pocket Atlas of Street Art in Paris and its Suburbs], Omniscience, 2024).
Codex is best known for bringing urban art to places where it is unexpected. He has exhibited at the Musée National Gustave Moreau in 2016, the Visite Publique des Égouts in 2018, the Château de Malmaison in 2020, and the Musée du Parfum Fragonard in 2024.
Continuing in the vein of these interventions, he will be leaving his mark at the Mineralogy Museum in 2026, in a jubilant artistic adventure that will make stones and chimeras dance for the enjoyment of all.
Part of PSL University, Mines Paris - PSL trains engineers to meet the challenges of tomorrow, leaders who excel in science and international affairs. As part of its strategic plan, the School aims to be a leading player in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship, energy transition and materials for more economical technologies, mathematics and digital engineering for the transformation of industry, including healthcare, while remaining faithful, since its creation in 1783, to its values of solidarity and openness to society.
Founded in 1794, the Mineralogy Museum of Mines Paris - PSL is not only one of the oldest museums in the world, but also home to an unmissable and world-renowned collection of minerals. It displays 5,000 pieces (out of a total of 100,000) in 12 adjoining rooms, whose furniture and layout have remained unchanged since the 1850s. Visitors can discover specimens collected over more than 200 years, ranging from rocks and gems to meteorites and artificial crystals, while the institution remains vibrant and open to research, in the purest revolutionary tradition that presided over its opening, and which is justified by the prestigious engineering School that houses it. Scientific rigor often goes hand in hand with artistic creativity, and for several years now, the Mineralogy Museum has been giving contemporary artists carte blanche to bring its collections to life in a different and offbeat way. It is therefore not unusual for this institution to work with visual artists, but this is the first time that a street artist has been invited to engage in dialogue with the exceptional minerals housed in the august Hungarian oak display cases...
True to form when working in an ancient and precious location, Codex Urbanus adheres to two axioms:
- Do not impose his art on visitors who come to soak up the historical atmosphere of the place. Thus, his interventions and pieces are discreet and blend into the decor. They are presented as a kind of treasure hunt, with more than 100 paintings and drawings scattered throughout the rooms, waiting for visitors to discover them, if they wish...
- Always talk about the institution and the collections. All of the works presented by the artist were created especially for this exhibition at the Museum of Mineralogy and would be difficult to imagine outside of this setting. They aim to offer an artistic perspective on the museum's collections, its history, the links between street art and mineralogy, and to highlight the aesthetic aspect of the venue.
With this in mind, the exhibition is organized into several distinct chapters, scattered here and there throughout the museum:
By working on dozens of 18th-century mineralogy engravings depicting samples from the collections of Claude-Hugues Lelièvre (1752-1835) and Alexandre-Charles Besson (1725-1809), both former students of the Paris School of Mines (Mines Paris - PSL), Codex Urbanus invented a new family of mineral invertebrates, inspired by the samples presented alongside the engravings.
The artist's chimeras take over old engravings depicting the world of mining, highlighting its mysteries and dangers, both real and imagined.
Drawing on his habit of painting on walls, Codex Urbanus this time takes over the plans and drawings of the École des Mines building, as a tribute to the places that contribute greatly to the magic of the museum.
Like the Renaissance artists who painted on stones for cabinets of curiosities, Codex Urbanus uses markers on landscape stones, agates, petrified wood, and other paesines to create a collection of mineral and miniature art that can be viewed as a small exhibition.
Here, aquatic chimeras evolve in small aquariums, in this case dendrites, minerals whose natural plant forms are reminiscent of algae and the seabed.
CHIMERA CRYSTALS
An in situ intervention, where the artist draws around twenty fantastical creatures with marker pen on a black background, presenting the different crystalline structures that visitors can find in the display cases.
Like street art, which often celebrates pop culture, Codex Urbanus reveals the Mineralogy Museum's collection of legendary stones (Kryptonite, Orichalcum, Dragon Glass, Mithril, etc.), but only to visitors who know where to look.
There are many other graphic references to be found in and around the display cases...
Any questions about the museum or the collection ? Contact us
Find all the information to come to the Mineralogy Museum here
Musée de Minéralogie
Mines Paris - PSL
60 boulevard Saint-Michel
75006 Paris
TUESDAY: 10am - 12pm and 1:30pm - 6pm.
WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY: 1:30pm - 6pm
SATURDAY: 10am - 12:30pm and 2pm - 5pm
Closed on Sundays, Mondays and on National Holidays
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