Purple Diary

[04/03/2024]

Alexandre Sap presents Rupture, a network of legendary bookstores extending across the Mediterranean Sea.

Our friend, the French cultural agitator and music producer Alexandre Sap, had a brilliant idea: saving culturally significant bookstores on the verge of disappearing. In response to our digital society dominated by algorithms and endless image scrolls, he decided to revaluate the cultural importance of books and printed matter by creating a network of hybrid concept stores: Rupture. Starting with Paris, he decided to expand throughout the Mediterranean Sea, recalling the history of this multicultural geography for exchange, arts and philosophy. First step was Marseille in 2022, where he revived the legendary Imbernon bookstore in the Cité radieuse Le Corbusier. Then, in Tangier, he reinvested the Librairie des Colonnes, previously supported Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. Recently, he opened a new Rupture libreria in Venice and plans to expand to Athens and Istanbul. This network of modern bookstores provides a platform for events and exhibitions opening up countless opportunities for artists, curators, and brands to reconnect with the roots of the multicultural Mediterranean landscape. Like modern Towers of Babel, the Rupture stores are venues for dialogue, between the arts and communities, blending together various fields and languages.

Text by Ewen Giunta

Photos by Olivier Amsellem