Before Thursday 4th September, the predominantly non-French citizens of Newcastle upon Tyne could have been forgiven for thinking that CRS was simply an initialism for the Catholic Relief Services, or perhaps the Child Rebel Soldiers - the hip-hop "supergroup" comprising Kanye West, Pharrell, and Lupe Fiasco. But thanks to Mr Lazarides' collection of 48 surviving hand-made street posters from the Paris rebellion of May 1968, a good few hundred Geordies now know it stands for Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité, otherwise known as the riot police, whose suppressive role in the streets of Paris during that month features heavily in many of the amazing posters on display in the gallery.
The learning curve continued on to our basement rooms, where new work from Lucy McLauchlan, 3D, Mark Jenkins, Antonio Diaz, Miranda Donovan, David Choe, Borf and Candice Tripp was shown for the very first time.
And all without a single bottle of Stella Artois (the French vessel of choice for a molotov cocktail) being thrown, or indeed the smashing up of Quayside paving stones as ammunition against the CRS. For now, sous le pave: la plage, or to those who haven't made it to the show yet, under the pavement: the beach.
Thanks to everyone that ventured out in the rain to make it here and also to Red Bull and Abbey Well water for the refreshments. The show runs until the 1st November. Please go to our exhibitions page for more information.
