What do we really see when we look at the banlieue? Concrete? Tension? Style? Noise? La Vie des Blocs by Jean-Michel Landon is the result of twelve years spent walking, listening, and observing from within. Shot in black and white, built from 123 photographs and raw testimonies, it offers a patient and poetic counter-narrative to the clichés that weigh on the French suburbs. Self-published by the author as a deliberate gesture of independence, this book resists simplification. It’s neither a sociological report nor a coffee-table monograph—it’s a slow burn. A document shaped from trust, time, and street-level perspective. Between social documentary and visual essay, La Vie des Blocs captures lives lived behind the stereotypes. Every shot, every voice, reclaims space from the noise. Come discover it at Le Grand Jeu on May 16, and meet the author for a signing session. Sometimes, looking closer is the only way to see. 📅 Friday, May 16🕐 6:00 PM – 8:O0 PM📍 Librairie Le Grand Jeu

At a time when the hip-hop scene in France is as vibrant as it is fragmented, supporting emerging artists requires more than just visibility—it takes structure, tools, and spaces for exchange. Hip-Hop Corner is part of a broader initiative led by Le RIF and its members to support the professional development of hip-hop artists across Île-de-France. For one day, on May 17, 2025, the Maison de la Musique in Nanterre will turn into a meeting point for artists, producers, and cultural actors working at the crossroads of music and community engagement. Workshops, speed-meetings, roundtables, and live performances will give participants a chance to sharpen their skills, share experiences, and connect with key figures in the scene. Whether you’re a rapper, beatmaker, or behind-the-scenes organizer, Hip-Hop Corner offers the tools to take your practice further—and make it last. Le Grand Jeu will be there with a curated Pop-Up Store, showcasing books, magazines, and records at the intersection of hip-hop culture and independent publishing. 📅 Saturday, May 17🕐 1:00 PM – 9:30 PM📍 Maison de la Musique, Nanterre

What does it mean to collect what others discard? To turn street waste into visual poetry, fetish, or evidence of urban decay? Trucs is a book that shouldn’t exist—and yet, here it is. Shot and assembled by Michaël Barek, with texts by Mehdi Belhouaïchat, this 84-page object is part photo essay, part anthropological drift through the sidewalks of Paris and its suburbs. Every item featured was found on the street. Every photo is a relic of someone else's trash—reframed as testimony. Edited by Éditions Temps Libre in just 50 copies (10 of which come signed and with additional prints), Trucs is as useless as it is unsettling. It’s a tribute to compulsion, perversity, and the chaotic beauty of the everyday. Call it voyeurism, call it a manifesto against good taste—either way, Trucs sticks. Come discover it on May 22 at Le Grand Jeu bookstore. No need to bring gloves—we’ve already done the dirty work. 📅 Thursday, May 22🕐 6:00 PM – 8:O0 PM📍 Librairie Le Grand Jeu

In a world where independent publications—books, magazines, zines, and flyers—are proliferating at an unprecedented pace, the question of their preservation has become a pressing challenge. For over two decades, Christian Omodeo has been exploring the fringes of publishing. An art historian by training, an obsessive collector, and a book advisor, he tracks down, documents, and elevates the printed traces of subcultures. His work—at the crossroads of academic research and bibliophilic activism—questions the place of these publications in cultural history and examines preservation strategies suited to materials essential in shaping collective imaginaries. Through Le Grand Jeu bookstore and Paperware, a new platform dedicated to archiving independent publishing, he advocates for a living, engaged approach to books—where collecting also means preserving, transmitting, and making visible. 📚 Talk – Archiving Subcultures: The History of Le Grand Jeu🗓 Wednesday, May 28 | 🕕 5.30–6.30 PM (doors open at 5.10)📍 The National Library of Sweden’s auditorium in Humlegården, Stockholm