'Street Painting #8' by Lang & Baumann in Nancy
In the heart of Nancy, rue des Ponts is covered by a vast carpet of colour: 'Street Painting #8', a ground painting by Swiss duo Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann. Around 180 metres long, this work on the ADN trail turns the roadway into an open-air graphic surface.
A painting read from the ground
Here there is no wall or canvas: the work spreads directly across the asphalt. Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann designed an abstract geometric pattern of interwoven bands of colour, pop in spirit and distinctly seventies. The composition unfolds from a centre, towards the rue Saint-Jean junction, and is read while walking: the design shifts with where you stand and the angle of your gaze. Over nearly 180 metres, the street becomes a graphic ribbon that stretches perspective and sets the rhythm of the stroller's step, between shops and the façades of the old centre.
Marking a street turned pedestrian
The work was created in 2015, when rue des Ponts became semi-pedestrian. Far from mere decoration, it accompanies that urban shift: by covering the roadway, it signals that the car is giving way to the pedestrian and invites people to inhabit the space differently. The artists thereby question the architecture of the site, the width of the passages and the way we move through it. Colour becomes a tool of urban design as much as an artistic statement. This dialogue between art and public space sums up the approach of Lang & Baumann, who prefer to speak of urban intervention rather than simple decoration.
Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann
Sabina Lang (born 1972) and Daniel Baumann (born 1967) form a Swiss artistic duo active since the early 1990s. Their work sits at the crossroads of art, architecture and design. They reserve the term 'street painting' for their ground paintings, which they distinguish from classic street art. Their colourful interventions appear in many cities, often designed to transform how a place is perceived. In Nancy, 'Street Painting #8' bears a number linking it to that series: each piece engages with a specific site, its proportions and its uses, rather than pasting on an interchangeable pattern.
A colourful stop on the ADN trail
'Street Painting #8' is part of the ADN trail, 'Art Dans Nancy', which links more than forty urban artworks from the Porte de la Craffe to Place des Vosges. Unlike vertical murals, this ground painting lends itself especially well to wandering: you walk across it, alongside it, and photograph it from above from neighbouring streets. Set in the heart of the shopping district, it combines easily with a visit to the old town and Place Stanislas. It is also one of the most photographed works on the trail, prized for its bold colours and spectacular scale.
Infos pratiques
Adresse : Rue des ponts, 54000 Nancy
Questions fréquentes
Where is 'Street Painting #8'?
The work is painted on the ground of rue des Ponts (and rue de la Visitation), in central Nancy. It can be seen freely at any hour.
How large is the work?
It stretches about 180 metres long, covering the roadway with a colourful geometric pattern read from its centre outwards.
Who created this ground painting?
The Swiss duo Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann, who have worked together since the 1990s at the border of art, architecture and design.
Why paint the street?
The work was created in 2015, when rue des Ponts became semi-pedestrian: the colour underlines that change and invites people to reclaim the public space.
Pexels — Alexis B · Pexels — Marc Schneid
