Mois de la Photo – Off
  • 15
  • Nov
  • 2010

Text: Aidan Mac Guill for VingtParis

Every two years in Paris the month of November is designated ‘Mois De La Photo’. Of course in Paris it seems like everything eventually gets its own month, or week, or day. In fact I’m fairly sure October was ‘Mois De La Everybody Gets The Flu’, and this writer is considering launching a campaign to make December ‘Mois De La Soul’, a month-long celebration of the early nineties hip-hop pioneers.

Anyway, right now Paris is the world capital of photography, with exhibitions, discussions, workshops and parties being held by institutions like the Maison Européenne De La Photographie, the Jeu De Paume, the BNF and the Fondation Cartier, as well as countless galleries scattered across the city. It’s a chance for photographers to exhibit, learn and network, and for the curious passer-by to enjoy extraordinary images from around the world.

Of course no self-respecting festival is complete without its strange, unsettling and often more interesting twin brother – the fringe. So running parallel to ‘Mois De La Photo’ is the ‘Mois De La Photo – Off’. The aim of ‘Mois Off’ is to provide a showcase for emerging and “unconventional” photographers neglected by the main festival, with exhibitions in young, unknown galleries or in unexpected public places. Over 100 shows will eventually be held around the city and it’s suburbs.

Of course the problem with organizing so many shows in tiny, unknown galleries is finding out what’s on and how to get there. The organisers have tackled this problem by embracing the brave new world of social networking.
On its website the programme has been divided into 10 ‘routes’ that will direct you to shows that are located nearby to each other. Guided tours of the routes and a special ‘night route’ will be organised to allow visitors to meet with the photographers and gallery owners. Details of these will appear on the festival’s Twitter feed, as well as their Facebook page.
There is a mobile version of the site for your iPhone, with information and directions via Google Maps on how to get to shows. As well as all that there are 10,000 good old-fashioned programmes available free in galleries and shops around Paris. There’s also a bunch of Flickr pages where users can upload their own photos of their ‘Mois Off’ experience, creating an satisfyingly meta online exhibition within the exhibition.

So get online now and don’t miss your chance to discover some new galleries, check out the next big thing in the photography world, or at least score some free wine at a vernissage.

Monet at Grand Palais
  • 25
  • Oct
  • 2010

From September 2010 we’ll be going one better with the biggest Monet exhibition in thirty years, organised by the associated national museums and the musée d’Orsay.

The last large Monet exhibition in Paris was in 1980 (at the Grand Palais once again), and since then much research has been done about the artist, bringing to light many lesser known aspects of his work. The exhibition will showcase Monet’s entire career which started in 1860 and his evolution from a young, rather traditional artist to his blossoming as an impressionist whose work was sometimes on the verge of abstract.

From Normandy to Paris, via London, the centre of France or Rouen, Monet created a new style and palette of colours, often painting the same scene in several different lights to incredible effect.

At 50 he created his garden at Giverny, and it was to become an endless source of inspiration for his paintings. The light, the seasons, the flowers… his deep attachment to nature inspired him daily at all times of year.

The retrospective at the Grand Palais – containing nearly tow hundred Monet pieces – mixes famous and lesser known works and tries to surprise the visitor, especially with its use of juxtaposition, helping you to have a new view of the paintings and show that Monet was an extraordinarily modern artist.

Of course some weeks ago we did indeed visit the big Monet exhibition. There are a lot of people who had the same idea, so it is rather crowded. They take care that there are not to many people admitted, but to my feeling you are still with a lot  visiting the exhibition. The exhibition gives a nice idea of Monet’s work and the influences he used. I liked it but I didn’t got the “wow” feeling. Maybe it was because of the crowd, maybe because of the big number of works, maybe I was not in the mood… But after all, it’s a must do when in Paris this fall.

Monet exhibition, Grand Palais, 22nd Sept 2010 – 24th January 2011, M° Franklin D. Roosevelt

Open every day except Tuesdays and Xmas day from 9am – 8pm (last ticket). Admission 13€ / 9€. A joint ticket with the Orangerie is also available for 19€. Be sure to buy your tickets in advance.

The first urban plan of Paris
  • 04
  • Oct
  • 2010

Under the pavement of the Notre Dame you can visit an interesting exposition. They show you how Paris would have looked like in Roman times. With videos, 3D animation and models you get an impression of how the metropole Paris once was. The ancient buildings : the forum (rue Soufflot), the amphitheater (arènes de Lutece), the theater (rue Racine), the different thermes (Musée de Cluny, Collège de France, rue Gay-Lussac) are all shown.

Crypte archéologique du parvis Notre-Dame, 7, parvis Notre-Dame, Metro Cité or Saint-Michel (line 4)




 


 


The garden and museum Albert Kahn
  • 12
  • Sep
  • 2010

Albert Kahn designed a magnificent garden to match his own imaginary world, peaceful and free of boundaries. The eccentric banker and philanthropist of the 20th-century left to posterity more than four hectares of roses, fruit and cedar trees, a playful Vosgean forest and a host of English, French and Japanese gardens.

Though the garden is located just 50 metres from the metro, the silence of this poetic place leaves you world’s away.Your senses awaken as soon as you enter the garden. The odour of the fruit trees mingle with the sounds of water flowing from the fountains and the birds sing joyfully in this refreshing environment. There are no signs to indicate the way through the gardens, each visitor must follow his own individual path. Let the beauty of the English roses seduce you, the serenity of the Japanese gardens soothe you and the cool of the blue forest refresh you.

We visited the place in summertime and it is indeed a peaceful garden. Also the museums gives an overview of a part of the history of photography (1910-1940) because Albert Kahn had a wonderful project to create a colour photographic record of, and for, the peoples of the world. As an idealist and an internationalist, Kahn believed that he could use the new autochrome process, the world’s first user-friendly, true-colour photographic system, to promote cross-cultural peace and understanding. Kahn used his vast fortune to send a group of intrepid photographers to more than fifty countries around the world, often at crucial junctures in their history, when age-old cultures were on the brink of being changed for ever by war and the march of twentieth-century globalisation.

Albert Kahn Jardin et Musée , 10-14 rue du Port, 92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, M° Boulogne Pont de Saint-Cloud(last stop of line 10), one minute walking to the entrance, open from 11 am to 6 pm, closed on Monday