Paris Muse

Mashup Film Festival at the Forum des Images

We’re coming with this news a little late, and we apologize for that, but today and tomorrow the Forum des Images is holding the Mashup Film Festival, a one-of-a-kind event celebrating one of our favorite new forms of art. Mashups, in case you don’t know yet, are sounds and images that are copied, pasted and reassembled, transforming them into something different. This artistic process, very characteristic of Web 2.0, is applied to movies at the Mashup Film Festival.

The festival’s jury is presided over by Jackie Berroyer, and will consist of the best mashup films created by five teams and internauts on the festival homepage.

Check it out. It’s free! It’s being held today, June 24, and tomorrow Saturday, June 25. For a full schedule click here.

From 12:30 on, with the final award being presented Saturday at 19:30 after the finalist films are prestented.

@ Forum des Images
Forum des Halles, 2, rue du Cinéma
Metro: Les Halles
RER: Châtelet-Les Halles

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Martin Parr, USA. Hollywood. Attendees at a charity function, 2000. From the series "Luxury". © Martin Parr, Magnum Photos / Kamel Mennour

Martin Parr’s work is humorous and critical. He’s also a renowned Magnum photographer, as is Bruce Gilden, the iconic street photographer. This Saturday June 25 you have the chance to have your picture taken by them at Magnum’s “studio éphémère”, being set up at Magnum Photos in the 18th.

Of course, it’ll set you back a pretty penny; but that’s the price of ephemeral fame, isn’t it? Depending on the format you choose it will cost you €250 (A4 size) or €400 (A3 size), for a signed portrait, printed on the spot.

For Martin Parr “Bring your fetish object, your pet or your partner…”

Gilden will be snapping your gritty, unposed pictures on the street.

Saturday June 25, 2011
14:00-18:00
@ Magnum Photos
19 rue Hégésippe Moreau
Paris 75018

Bruce Gilden USA. NYC. Coney Island. 1982. Woman on beach pointing at a man near her.

According to LeMonde: The operation is part of a set of events, the “Magnum Days”, the second of its kind, during which the agency wants to open its doors and meet the public. “The idea is to break the cold image of Magnum, and show that the photographers are there, they produce, they exchange” says Magnum.

© America, 1969, 9'

This Friday June 24, at 20:00,  reserve your places at this special screening at Le Bal, in conjunction with the Magnum Foundation.

LE BAL and the Magnum Foundation USA present 4 films to rediscover :

Company for Lunch, 1965, 26′
A commercial project produced for Xerox documenting the company’s annual meeting by six Magnum photographers.

America, 1969, 9′
Born out of Charlie Harbutt’s group project and book titled ‘America in Crisis’, the film was made in response to the social state of the United States in late 60′s.

The two faces of China, 1965, 30′
René Burri explores the lives of the Chinese under Communism prior to the Cultural Revolution. A joint production by Magnum and BBC.

Beauty Knows No Pain, 1971, 26′
Elliott Erwitt documents the Rangerettes, the first dancing trill team in the United States through the experiences of young women attending the summer camp to join the team.

The evening’s screenings will be followed by a discussion between former producer of the Magnum Films department Phil Gittelman, former staff member Inge Bondi and Magnum photographers Costa Manos, Elliott Erwitt, and Rene Burri.

On a proposition of Susan Meiselas and Marco Bischof for the Magnum Foundation.

Free
Reservations required: contact@le-bal.fr

Le Bal is a nice hidden gem in the 18th arrondisement, well worth your visit. Stop in the cafe and get some great coffee too.

Some footage of Leviathan, Anish Kapoor’s contribution to Monumenta 2001 at the Grand Palais. This impressive structure is straight out of science fiction, and is truly humbling to witness. It also looks great juxtaposed with the ornate, Beaux-Arts styled surroundings of the Grand Palais. Tomorrow is the last day of the exhibit, and the Grand Palais is open until midnight, so check it out if you can.

Don’t miss the last two days of Monumenta 2011, hosted at the Grand Palais. Following on the heels of Anselm Kiefer, Richard Serra and Christian Boltanski, this year the French Ministry of Culture and Communication has invited Anish Kapoor to create something for the “monumental” space of the Grand Palais’ Nave.

Kapoor says about his work: “A single object, a single form, a single colour. My ambition is to create a space within a space that responds to the height and luminosity of the Nave at the Grand Palais. Visitors are invited to walk inside the work, to immerse themselves in colour, and it will, I hope, be a contemplative and poetic experience.”

Aptly called the Leviathan, visitors can catch this impressive work of art tomorrow, Wednesday from 10:00 to 19:00, and Thursday from 10:00 to 24:00, for €5.

Continue reading “Last days for Monumenta 2011: Anish Kapoor’s Leviathan at Grand Palais” »

Cafe Procope, 13 Rue Ancienne Comédie. The oldest cafe in Paris, dating back to the 1600s. Revolutions were planned here over a fantastic new beverage: coffee! (flickr @sergemelki)

St. Germain, the one-time suburb of Paris, was once as distinguished in art and culture as Montmartre, which was considered the Mecca of thriving, starving, and struggling bohemian painters and artists. In fact, Saint Germain can boast of such a diverse collection of heritage houses, pubs and cafes, that the memorable Montmartre often gets overshadowed by its brilliance.

The area is known to have some extremely notable buildings, including the Cour du Commerce St-André, the Cour de Rohan, the Ecole Nationale d’Administration, the Institut de France, the Palais Abbatial, the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, the Théâtre National de l’Odéon and the famed St-Germain-des-Prés church.

In recent times, several renowned French politicians have studied at the National d’administration here, and this includes the former President Jacques Chirac. Even the prime instrument of decapitation that was linked to the French Revolution, namely the Guillotine, was perfected by its maker at 9 Cour de Commerce St-Andre, which is a notable avenue that is situated in St. Germain.

Sarte, Beauvoir and Vian in a smoky Saint Germain cafe

The end of WW2 gave birth to new world outlook, and boulevard St. Germain became the intellectual epicenter of French culture. The Nobel Laureate and internationally famed philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre and his equally famous consort, Simon de Beauvoir, along with Juliette Greco (the muse de St-Germain-des-Pres) and Albert Camus propagated their theory of existentialism, sipping coffee at the Deux Magot, the Café de Flore and the Brasserie Lipp, which was also a favorite haunt of François Mitterrand, another French President. Incidentally, Le Procope, the Paris’ oldest continuously-operating restaurant, is also here. Voltaire and the Encyclopédistes met here and helped launch the Enlightenment. Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson also sipped an exotic new beverage called coffee here.

Saint Germain today has lost some of the intellectual luster it once had. It has since become a shopping street where you can find some well-known stores like Rykiel and Armani. The nightlife is active here, and there are political and intellectual gatherings too. But the “scene” has since moved on.