
Undercover restorers fix Paris landmark's clock (2007) - smollett
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/nov/26/france.artnews
======
MrJagil
If you're interested in this kind of stuff, I highly recommend you check out
the work by Itso & Adams. Recently, a room was discovered at the Central
Station in Copenhagen, which, though thought to be shut down, had been
occupied for years. Itso & Adams have done stuff like this all over europe.
There's a book in the library of stockholm in which a key and a map is
embedded, which leads to a bunch of their hiding places and passage ways. No
one knows which book though, and _if_ you find, you're supposed to check out
the spots and put the book with the key back. It's very inspiring.

Couldn't really find an article with a good overview in english but heres a
video with subtitles and an interview:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr3GV2ZLHDI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr3GV2ZLHDI)
[http://www.megawordsmagazine.com/interviewDetail.php?intervi...](http://www.megawordsmagazine.com/interviewDetail.php?interviewID=27)

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eps
It's a pretty big clock - [http://benjamin-
constable.net/Three%20Lives%20Places/Pantheo...](http://benjamin-
constable.net/Three%20Lives%20Places/Pantheon%20Clock.jpg)

More pictures, including the clock mechanism and the work lounge they made -
[http://urban-resources.net/untergunther.html](http://urban-
resources.net/untergunther.html)

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caf
A group did something similar with Melbourne's Nylex clock last month.

[http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/were-not-vandals-nylex-
clo...](http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/were-not-vandals-nylex-clock-switch-
flickers-come-forward-20150130-131qct.html)

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unfunco
Griff Rhys Jones did a series of the world's greatest cities, and when he
covered Paris he met with the group of restorers and followed them through a
massive network of underground tunnels, wherein they could access almost any
building in Paris, they claimed to have keys to many of them. It was a
terrific documentary.

It's available here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OiL8oVj0sA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OiL8oVj0sA)
(~45 minutes)

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delinka
Is there more detail about why the judge dismissed charges? I'd like to read
more about the interactions with museum management after the reveal and the
law enforcement response. Is this a case where everyone except management just
loved what these guys did?

Basically: did people (the judge specifically) make the Right Decision here,
or was there simply some legal shenanigans that allowed the restorers to go
free?

~~~
brohee
You provided the incentive for me to read some of the French press of the
time.

Basically, it's not illegal (nor authorized) to enter a monument after opening
hours. Nor is it restore an antique clock.

The charge eventually used against Untergunther was one of damaging a door,
but it seems it was picked clean and completely undamaged. Interestingly the
accused where so sure of being in the right that they didn't bother with a
lawyer. There may have been a lot of goodwill toward them as they were
possibly guilty of more serious crimes, with decent evidence against them.
Basically it looks like pretty much everyone saw it as technically illegal but
not morally wrong, and completely victimless.

What I found to be the most complete article :
[http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2007/11/24/aux-
intrus-...](http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2007/11/24/aux-intrus-la-
patrie-tres-enervee_982097_3224.html)

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ludoo
Video: [https://vimeo.com/51365068](https://vimeo.com/51365068)

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arjn
Ha,Ha,ha!, fantastic. I love what these people did. Fixed the broken clock
surreptitiously. Its a pity the building's administrator got fired though.

~~~
jacquesm
That's a typical bureaucratic response. It's a bit like firing the people that
figure out a system is insecure and tell management or the response to
whistleblowers.

~~~
ptaipale
Not quite; in this case, it's that someone figures a system is insecure, tells
management, and management fires the people that were supposed to keep the
system secure.

The people in charge of the place neither fixed the clock nor kept the place
safe, so they do indeed look slightly incompetent.

~~~
TeMPOraL
One could argue that this way the lessons from the break-in do not stay in-
house as the people who got fired get replaced by presumably less experienced
ones. I get that they want to incentivize people to do their best, but just
getting outsmarted doesn't always signal incompetence and the next person on
the job isn't likely to be better.

~~~
ptaipale
Agreed, but still, for a major historic landmark building one would expect it
to have movement detectors etc

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sylvinus
Met one of the guys who did in this in 2010. He said they have done many other
projects of similar or larger scale but they generally keep them out of the
spotlights. Impressive stuff!

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idfzzz
You can find articles about this case there:
[http://www.ugwk.org](http://www.ugwk.org)

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sanityinc
A much more extensive article about this caper was published in Wired in 2012:

[http://www.wired.com/2012/01/ff_ux/all/1](http://www.wired.com/2012/01/ff_ux/all/1)

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haddr
They are like old days' hackers of the real world

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idfzzz
more articles there: [http://www.ugwk.org](http://www.ugwk.org)

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gojomo
Of course, guerrilla restorations don't always work out:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecce_Homo_%28El%C3%ADas_Garc%C...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecce_Homo_%28El%C3%ADas_Garc%C3%ADa_Mart%C3%ADnez%29)

