From the NYT on the 13th, in “For Enclave of Rebel Artists, Much in Life Was Free, but Not Real Estate” (by Elvire Camus):
Illegal squats in Paris usually have a short life. After one year, perhaps two, they are either shut down or transformed into legal art centers with the support of the city’s Socialist government. But not La Miroiterie, which has been a renowned artists’ squat for the past 14 years.
… Over the years, many artists lived and worked in the “squart” (a contraction of the English words “squat” and “art”), and contributed to creating its identity.
Squart is an easy portmanteau, and indeed it’s been created from squat + art before; here’s an Urban Directory entry (unedited) by britches from 11/8/06:
A Squatted Art Show (squat + art); A free art openeing in and abandoned or ‘squatted’ building; A permanant free gallery in an squatted space
In New Orleans Feb 2004 and Asheville 2005 people put together squart shows in abandoned buildings and had openings where they let the public view the art and eat food an drink in the squatted space for the night, for free, of course.
UD also has (perhaps fanciful) instances of squart involving either squirt or fart as contributors: squirt + fart, squirt + quart, squelch + fart, squat + fart.
