demeure-du-chaos-oeuvre-art-totale

The Demeure du Chaos recognized as a total work of art by the Minister of Culture

undefined undefined 13 juin 2025 undefined 12h30

The Editor

© thierry Ehrmann

The Demeure du Chaos, an artistic UFO covering 7,555 m² created by Thierry Ehrmann, has just been recognized as a total work of art by the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati. This official spotlight shines on this open-air museum that is as free as it is unclassifiable.

It’s a place you don’t visit but live in. A monumental, bewildering, subversive work born from a spirit as free as it is visionary: Thierry Ehrmann. For 25 years, his Demeure du Chaos has been shaking up the norms, breaking down barriers, and transcending genres in Saint-Romain-au-Mont-d'Or at the gates of Lyon. An open-air museum carved from the old, it hosts sculptures of raw steel, street art, digital installations, and post-apocalyptic visions like a massive visual scream in the French artistic landscape. And now, this scream officially resonates. On March 20, 2025, Rachida Dati, the Minister of Culture, stamped this three-dimensional manifesto, recognizing it as a œuvre d’art totale, much like Jean Tinguely & Niki De Saint Phalle's Cyclop and the Palais Idéal of Facteur Cheval. Just that.

National recognition after years of struggle

Imagine 7,200 artworks, including 4,500 oversized sculptures, a former 17th-century farmhouse transformed like contemporary alchemy, and a free, open, accessible route for everyone. Here, there are no overpriced tickets, no artistic snobbery: you enter, wander around, and feel. Since 2006, over 2.5 million visitors, a quarter of whom are from abroad, have come to soak in this creative chaos, a blend of art, philosophy, politics, and apocalypse. The state's recognition is also a testament to the tenacity of an artist and the passion of the public: 770,000 signatures to save this place, 10.9 million followers around the world, and 3,600 reports in 72 countries. Not bad for a site that, in its early days, raised a few eyebrows.

And the story continues. On Sunday, June 22, the Battle of Chaos will take over the venue with DJs, hip hop dancers, and moving performances in this otherworldly setting. For fans of urban art, live shows, and fusion creativity, it’ll be the perfect opportunity to dive into the vortex. And if you miss that, join us for the European Heritage Days on September 20 and 21 to (re)discover this artistic madness that has finally become a recognized landmark.

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Thierry Ehrmann, sculptor and artist, creator of the total artwork La Demeure du Chaos/Abode of Chaos, founder of Artprice

Address: 17 Rue de la République, 69270 Saint-Romain-au-Mont-d'Or, France