Knowledge + Action = Power, Mural in Paris, France

Knowledge + Action = Power is a large outdoor mural by the American artist Shepard Fairey, painted on the upper facade of the Institut de recherche et coordination acoustique/musique building on Place Igor Stravinsky. The artwork shows two women facing each other above stacks of books, with a blue lotus and an open book bearing the phrase 'The future is unwritten' between them.

Shepard Fairey, who signs as Obey, created this piece in June 2019 as his hundredth mural worldwide and his fourth in Paris. It was painted in a few days to mark his retrospective exhibition acknowledging three decades of work shown at the Itinerrance gallery.

The lower band of the mural borrows a square-and-cross pattern from the stone balustrades of the neighbouring Saint-Merri church, linking a contemporary piece to an older Parisian facade. Its dominant blue also echoes the water of the Stravinsky Fountain and the colourful sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle that stand in the square.

The mural is visible from the open square around the Stravinsky Fountain, so you can look at it without paying an entry fee or entering a building. It sits on a public wall next to other artworks, making it easy to combine with a walk between the Pompidou Centre and Saint-Merri church.

Beside the two figures, the central lotus rises above a strand of barbed wire, a visual shorthand for a negative element overcome by a positive one. The English slogans painted on the wall were chosen by the artist to argue that passivity and ignorance give strength to fear and division, and that education plus action creates power.