VASILY KANDINSKY: AROUND THE CIRCLE. GUGGEMHEIM MUSEUM. NEW YORK

 Vasily Kandinsky is recognized as a major artistic innovator of the twentieth century. The Russian-born artist’s stylistic evolution was intimately tied to his sense of place, not to mention his intersections with artists, musicians, poets, and other cultural producers who shared his transnational interests and spiritual aims. Kandinsky responded in turn to the vibrant communities in which he lived and worked, all against the backdrop of the sociopolitical upheavals of his time. Vasily Kandinsky: Around the Circle will portray how, in seeking to free art from its ties to nature and representation, Kandinsky remained committed to exploring a subject matter based on what he called the artist’s “inner necessity.”

Kandinsky’s groundbreaking career will unfold in reverse along the upper ramps of the Guggenheim’s rotunda, with paintings, watercolors, and woodcuts drawn from the museum’s extensive holdings to illustrate his circular journey. Persistent themes—from memory and identity to sensorial experience and spirituality—will be traced in the work of an artist whose theories and works continue to resonate today.

The exhibition will begin with Kandinsky’s final chapter, set in France, when the natural sciences and Surrealism, as well as an abiding interest in Russian and Siberian folklore, influenced his biomorphic, and at times even shamanic, imagery. Works from his preceding period at the Bauhaus, a school of applied art and design in Germany, additionally explore Kandinsky’s belief in art’s ability to transform self and society, while pieces he created after returning to Russia during World War I reflect the revitalization of his abstract style amidst the utopian experiments of the Russian avant-garde, who probed the idea of a universal aesthetic language.

The final section of the show, positioned near the apex of the rotunda, examines his early works produced in Munich around the turn of the twentieth century. Influenced by experimental music and concepts of synesthesia, and also invested in social movements around a return to the land, Kandinsky began mining the expressive and spiritual possibilities of color, line, and form. Ultimately Kandinsky saw the artist’s quest as a merging of past and present, allowing for transcendence.

Vasily Kandinsky: Around the Circle is organized by Megan Fontanella, Curator, Modern Art and Provenance.

Presented concurrently with Vasily Kandinsky: Around the Circle is a series of solo exhibitions on the lower ramps of the Guggenheim rotunda that features the work of contemporary artists Etel Adnan, Jennie C. Jones, and Cecilia Vicuña.

https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/vasily-kandinsky-around-the-circle

BENJAMIN BERNHEIM ENVOÛTE SALZBOURG EN CHANTANT L'AMOUR. CIRCE EN EL TEATRO DE LA ZARZUELA, MADRID

 Par Andrea Buring

Le ténor français Benjamin Bernheim a enchanté son auditoire au Festival de Salzbourg en ce mois d'août 2021 avec des chansons d'art allemandes, anglaises et françaises.

De Frank Bridge à Benjamin Britten en passant par Johannes Brahms et Clara Schumann, le ténor a illuminé le festival de musique classique de la cité autrichienne, l'un des plus prestigieux du monde.

Incarnant souvent sur scène "l'amoureux", Benjamin Bernheim est resté fidèle à cette réputation lors de son récital. Son morceau préféré, "Poème de l'amour et de la mer" d'Ernest Chausson semble lui coller à la peau.

Le ténor décrit l'oeuvre comme "un voyage que nous permet Chausson", à travers les débuts et la fin de l'amour. Les dernières strophes du poème "Le temps des lilas" sonnent le crépuscule de ce sentiment si particulier qu'est l'amour.

"Le romantisme, on peut le voir comme de la guimauve" explique-t-il. "Mais on parle aussi des choses qui font mal, pas seulement des choses qui sont bien présentées avec des bouquets de fleurs magnifiques. Ce n'est pas ça qu'on raconte, c'est aussi la douleur du romantisme" ajoute-t-il.

Benjamin Bernheim est accompagné sur scène par Mathieu Pordoy au piano. Le musicien partage sa vision du romantisme.

"Cela peut paraître très désuet à notre époque moderne, contemporaine, de prendre ce temps pour penser à soi, à ses sentiments, ce qui est un peu le cœur du sujet du romantisme. Je pense que ça doit toujours parler aux gens" souligne-t-il.

L'atmosphère intimiste d'un récital est un défi pour les artistes. C'est un lien magique qui se tisse entre le chanteur, le pianiste et le public.

"La chose la plus difficile est d'être debout devant un public. Raconter ses histoires sans protection de l'orchestre, sans protection du décor, de l'accessoire" confie le ténor, qui ajoute :

"C'est énorme ce que le pianiste, l'accompagnateur, l'artiste a à faire. Nous sommes tous les deux mis à nu. Ça peut vraiment faire peur aussi", assure le ténor.

Si les scènes du monde se l'arrache, celle de Salzbourg a une saveur particulière pour l'artiste lyrique. Le romantisme et l'ambiance qui règnent dans la cité autrichienne viennent sublimer ce moment, hors du temps.

"C'est un endroit qui respire la musique toute l'année, où qu'on aille, quelles que soient les petites rues, on sent la musique vibrer. Il y a quelque chose à Salzbourg qui nous donne à nous, les chanteurs, les artistes, vraiment une légitimité.“

https://fr.euronews.com/2021/08/26/benjamin-bernheim-envoute-salzbourg-en-chantant-l-amour?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=${template_locale}&utm_content=benjamin-bernheim-envoute-salzbourg-en-chantant-l-amour&_ope=eyJndWlkIjoiNThkMWI4YjE0MWNmNDE0NDNhZGE5M2E5NjE4ZTFlODEifQ%3D%3D

TEATRO DE LA ZARZUELA DE MADRID. SEPTIEMBRE, 2021

Lírica

Circe

Ópera en tres actos

Versión en concierto

Música de RUPERTO CHAPÍ
Libreto de Miguel Ramos Carrión
Nueva producción del Teatro de la Zarzuela

© SGAE Editorial, 2021. Edición de Juan de Udaeta

Comprar entradas 

Fechas y Horarios

Viernes, 10 de septiembre de 2021, a las 20:00 h.
Domingo, 12 de septiembre de 2021, a las 18:00 h.

Ficha Artística

Dirección musical

Guillermo García Calvo

Reparto

Circe SAIOA HERNÁNDEZ; Ulises ALEJANDRO ROY; Arsidas RUBÉN AMORETTI; Sombra de Ulises / Sombra de Juno PILAR VÁZQUEZ.

Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid

Titular del Teatro de La Zarzuela

Coro del Teatro de La Zarzuela

Director:

Antonio Fauró

“THE MEMORY ILLUSION” BY DR. JULIA SHAW

 

Are you one of those people who wholly trusts your ability to recall happenings and pieces of information from memory? Despite this, do you ever wonder why your versions of events and the confident recollections of others somehow fail to line up?

You’d probably be fascinated by Dr. Julia Shaw’s book, The Memory Illusion: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory. In it, she presents psychological research — in a surprisingly accessible way, I might add — to demonstrate how unstable and unreliable our memories really are:

[Our memories] are far from being the accurate record of the past we like to think they are. In The Memory Illusion, forensic psychologist and memory expert Dr Julia Shaw draws on the latest research to show why our memories so often play tricks on us — and how, if we understand their fallibility, we can actually improve their accuracy. The result is an exploration of our minds that both fascinating and unnerving, and that will make you question how much you can ever truly know about yourself. Think you have a good memory? Think again.

This book is a rabbit hole that, by the end, may leave you with a profound new way of looking at memories, both yours and those of others. Here’s a great quote from it:

“[…] understanding all the shortcomings that our memory system presents allows us to adhere to a whole new ethos. Our past is a fictional representation, and the only thing we can be even somewhat sure of is what is happening now. It encourages us to live in the moment and not to place too much importance on our past. It forces us to accept that the best time of our lives, and our memory, is right now.”

http://toolsandtoys.net/the-memory-illusion-by-dr-julia-shaw/

ALICE IN DOOMEDLAND // FONDATION VALMONT

 

May 22, 2021 - February 27, 2022

Alice in Doomedland by Fondation Valmont.

With artists Didier Guillon, ISAO and Stephanie Blake, Silvano rubino.

Curated by Luca Berta snd Francesca Giubilei

Location: Palazzo Bonvicini, Calle Agnello – Santa Croce 2161°

Alice in Doomedland is the fruit of a large-scale collaboration between artists Didier Guillon, duo Isao and Stephanie Blake, and Silvano Rubino; and curators Luca Berta and Francesca Giubilei. The formers have each produced a unique installation, tailor-made to the majestic space offered by the Palazzo Bonvicini. Another grand installation, collectively conceived by all artists, initiate the exhibition.

This stimulating team effort originated in an inaugural workshop, where all parties met for several days of exchanges over Alice and their respective visions. The curators framed the artists’ readings; they led them through the rife universe of the novel. Regular discussions have further interspersed the creative processes behind each work.

This innovative approach has not hindered the artists’ originality in creativity. All of them productively brought to the table their distinctive perceptions which converged towards a harmonious polyphonic whole but did not blend. Various practices including sound installations, filmic experimentations, imaginative uses of color and smell, the arts of ceramics and illustrations have all enriched one another, in the conception as well as in the final result.

Fondation Valmont precisely promotes this collaborative, inclusive and inviting practice of art. The foundation further commissions the creation of original, bespoke pieces for its many exhibits—it has been the case for Alice in Doomedland, each work being produced on commission. The exhibition thus materializes how spectacular, substantial, and poignant such a total vision of art can turn out to be.

Fondation Valmont has also turned to another trusted collaborator: students by the New-York-based not-for-profit organisation Publicolor have brought to life a famous scene from the original novel as their special contribution to the mix.

https://www.veniceartfactory.org/pagina-mostre/alice-in-doomedland-%2F%2F-fondation-valmont

MARIO RICARDO PERRIS, FALLECIÓ EL 3O DE AGOSTO DE 1971, EL DÍA DE STA. ROSA DE LIMA Y SU TORMENTA. HOY TAMBIÉN, 30 DE AGOSTO, 2023

 

Hace 50 años.

Siempre conmigo

Alicia Perris

CONSIDERING IMMERSIVE ART ROOMS AND WHY WE LOVE TO ESCAPE

 What unites all the immersive art rooms is the communal sensory experience viewers share together.

by Filippo Lorenzin

Giulio Romano, “Chamber of the Giants” (1532-34), fresco, Palazzo Te, Mantua, Italy (image courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Trained by Raphael in Rome, Giulio Romano (1499–1546) was invited to work in Mantua, a strategically important city-state at the time, as an architect and painter. His most memorable project was Palazzo Te, a leisure palace commissioned by Federico Gonzaga II, the local ruler, and designed and built over 10 years, from 1524 to 1534. Located just outside the city’s walls, the building is regarded as one of the most precious examples of Mannerist architecture and is still a joy to visit since it retains most of the original wall decorations. The crowning jewel of the lot is the “Fall of the Giants” room where, thanks to astounding illusionistic frescos, viewers have the feeling that the surroundings are closing in on them. The ceiling scene, featuring an animated circular composition with Roman deities looking down, is rendered in a way that makes one experience it as a continuation of the scenes on the walls which depict the massive bodies of giants one on top of the other, desperately trying to save themselves from Jupiter’s wrath. The room was designed with the purpose of offering entertainment to a high-brow public that could recognize obscure mythological themes. The tension between the desire to offer insightful experiences to a cultural elite and the desire to make environments that would jostle their senses in a playful, memorable way, has been a recurrent dynamic in the history of immersive art rooms.

But first, what is an immersive art room? Artificial immersion has a long history and is connected to both art and architecture. The early cave paintings can be understood as the earliest immersive environments, and medieval churches are equally aimed at enclosing the public’s senses through a combination of architecture, light, and even odors. In the last 50 years, immersive art environments have been often designed so that they are scalable: For example, Ólafur Elíasson’s “Room for one colour” (1997), comprised of special lamps emitting yellow light that reduces the viewers’ spectral range to yellow and black, can be installed in any white room. The “Infinity Mirror Room” by Yayoi Kusama has been presented in many different indoor environments since its first display in New York in 1965, needing no more than mirrors and the special objects designed by the artist to be installed. The colorful, digital interactive spaces designed by teamLab, an art collective founded in 2001 in Tokyo whose team includes several hundred specialists, albeit complex from a technical perspective, can be installed in any space big enough to host them.

“To immerse yourself” means to actively limit your senses so that you can experience a different dimension, such as a virtual world or a novel. Technological devices, whether a virtual reality helmet or a book, have always been used to make humans perceive different realities. What makes immersive art rooms so unique is that their history is not only intertwined with art history but also with the changing roles that technology has played over the centuries. The popularization of the linear perspective in the early 15th century normalized images created following strict mathematical rules. It is safe to assume a knowledgeable 16th-century public knew what to expect from recently painted images in terms of virtual spatiality. Giulio Romano bent the commonly accepted perspective conventions to create surprise, wonder, and dismay. Since then, numerous other artists and architects have designed immersive rooms that take advantage of the latest discoveries in technology and human body science to provide the most compelling experience possible.

What unites all the immersive art rooms, from Elíasson’s alienating spaces to Kusama’s obsessive, mirrored environments, from teamLab’s visually pleasing installations to Giulio Romano’s rooms, is the communal sensory experience viewers share together. The immersion is most effective when there is someone else next to us seeing what we see, hearing what we hear and validating the ingenuity of the sensory tricks that make us question, perhaps for only brief moments, how reality works. The disorientation one feels after leaving these rooms is often part of the work itself. For example, in the case of Elíasson’s “Room for one colour” it is explicitly stated in its description that, “In reaction to the yellow environment, viewers momentarily perceive a bluish afterimage after leaving the space.”

The wish to immerse ourselves in temporary out-of-this-world experiences hasn’t been fulfilled only by known artists and architects over the centuries but also by magic shows, amusement parks, and other forms of entertainment that while not being usually mentioned in traditional art history accounts, nonetheless play an influential role in shaping the expectations of those hungry for sensory satisfaction and surprise. Panorama theatres, 360-degrees paintings depicting historical scenes, geographically proportional views were conceived in the late 18th century and paved the way to the modern cinema and contemporary VR headsets. And these technological innovations are direct descendants of the so-called raree show, an older optical entertainment device with which it was possible to see scenes printed on paper and colored by hand, backlit by a candle. Its popularity was mainly due to street vendors who went to village festivals and asked the public to pay a few pennies to view the images.

The fact that these devices could be easily moved from a place to another, sometimes even across oceans, developed within the public a certain way to understand visually immersive shows. Not only these were often available at relatively cheap prices, but also, they were enjoyed with the rest of the community as a shared special experience. Contemporary itinerant installations such as the Van Gogh Exhibition: The Immersive Experience and Klimt: The Immersive Experience can be transported, sold, and rented theoretically anywhere. When you access one of these, you know your senses will be fed with the same tricks and sensory stimuli that were cast over and over many other visitors around the world. To know you have been tricked in the same way is part of the joy these amusements provide.

https://hyperallergic.com/670523/considering-immersive-art-rooms-and-why-we-love-to-escape/

INSTITUTO RUMANO DE MADRID INFORMA: "BETWEEN PAIN AND AMEN" / "ÎNTRE CHIN ȘI AMIN" ABRE LA MUESTRA DE CINE RUMANO 2021 EN MADRID

 Del 3 al 11 de septiembre, el Instituto Cultural Rumano y Cineteca Madrid presentan una selección de películas rumanas recientes, en el marco de la programación de la 11ª Muestra de Cine Rumano. Son cinco propuestas diversas, tanto a nivel formal como temático, pero que también tienen un hilo común. La mayoría hablan sobre el comunismo en Rumanía, la represión, las penurias del sistema, la vida de millones bajo el comunismo, las prisiones que se parecen a campos de concentración, el yugo autoritario y el estancamiento de la economía, el culto a la personalidad y el terror ejercido por la policía política, la temida Securitate. Nefastas experiencias en la Rumanía bajo el comunismo, llevadas magistralmente a la pantalla por los directores que os proponemos este año. Pero no son los únicos temas que os proponemos. Una de las películas es una adaptación de un texto del siglo XIX escrito por el filósofo y poeta ruso Vladimir Solovyev y otra de las cintas trata temas sociales enmarcados, habla sobre la corrupción, la burocracia y la incapacidad del sistema para satisfacer las necesidades básicas de sus ciudadanos.

Después de la Revolución Rumana de 1989, el país desarrolló una corriente cinematográfica novedosa, de corte realista, con un sentido del humor cáustico, en donde se reflejan tanto los años vividos bajo Ceaușescu como sus consecuencias en la actualidad. Es conocida como la Nueva Ola Rumana.

En España hay esta conciencia de que en Rumanía se hace un cine realmente interesante, con visiones nuevas y creo que es considerada, al menos por los cinéfilos, como una de las cinematografías fundamentales de Europa - afirmaba el crítico Javier H. Estrada.

La Muestra de Cine Rumano se inaugurará el 3 de septiembre en la Cineteca Madrid, con la proyección de la película “Între chin și amin”/ “Between Pain and Amen” en la sala Azcona, a las 20:30 h. El director Toma Enache estará presente en la inauguración, para la presentación de su película y para dialogar con el público, acompañado por el crítico de cine Fernando García Bernal.

En “Între chin și amin”/“Between Pain and Amen”, del director Toma Enache, ganador en el European Cinematography Awards (ECA) en 2019 y 2020, entre muchos otros, un joven músico y compositor es detenido por la policía política en Rumanía a su regreso de Viena, poco después de prometerse. Se acoge a su devoción a Dios para sobrevivir a la tortura en la prisión de Pitești. Cabe destacar que en 1949 se definió finalmente al régimen de Rumanía como una dictadura del proletariado. Es en ese nuevo “orden” comunista, aún naciente y que llegó a implantarse de manera definitiva en Rumanía con Gheorghiu-Dej, en el que tiene lugar El experimento de Pitești desde diciembre de 1949 a agosto de 1952, un intento de reeducación para la nueva realidad comunista.

“Uppercase Print”, de Radu Jude, presente en la selección oficial a competición (Sección "Albar") del Festival de Gijón 2020, se ha descrito como un “docudrama” en el amplio sentido de la palabra (y lo deja claro en sus primeras escenas). Es la Rumanía del año 1981. El dictador Nicolae Ceaușescu está en el gobierno, liderando una Rumanía comunista. Escribe la historia oficial con la ayuda de la Televisión Nacional. Mugur Călinescu, un adolescente de 16 años, escribe con tiza y en mayúsculas otra historia en las paredes con mensajes de protesta contra el régimen. Sus acciones se recopilan en un voluminoso archivo guardado por la Policía Secreta (Securitate), que lo observaron, aprehendieron e interrogaron. "Una obra escalofriante de teatro filmado (...) Una denuncia feroz y apasionada del mal" (Peter Bradshaw: The Guardian).

“Malmkrog”, dirigida por Cristi Puiu, ha sido incluida entre las 5 mejores películas del festival de cine de autor D'A Film Festival 2021 de Barcelona. “Pura esgrima verbal en una puesta en escena mucho más dinámica de lo que apunta su premisa, la última película del rumano Cristi Puiu ("Sieranevada", "La muerte del señor Lazarescu")” (Time Out). Cristi Puiu ha recibido también el FIPRESCI 96 Platinum Award en el marco de la 25 edición del Festival Internacional de Cine de Sofía. Este prestigioso premio es concedido por la Federación Internacional de Críticos de Cine - "Las películas del famoso guionista y director Cristi Puiu, fundador de la nueva ola del cine rumano, es uno de los motivos por los que Rumanía ha captado la atención del mundo cinematográfico", ha argumentado el jurado. “Malmkrog” ha ganado en el festival de cine europeo de Sevilla el Giraldillo de Oro, su máximo galardón, al que ha sumado el premio al mejor guion. El certamen ha calificado a la ganadora de su 17º edición de “obra maestra”, según el jurado, que la ha ensalzado: “Nos quedamos impresionados por el potencial de la película de un grandísimo director y cuya acción tiene lugar en la Rusia del siglo XIX y que sin embargo no deja de hablarnos de nosotros. En aquellos tiempos de pandemia, la niebla resuena de forma particular y duradera entre nosotros”.

“Cardinalul”/“El Cardenal”, del director Nicolae Mărgineanu, premio al guión y mejor actor para Radu Botar por la “Unión de Cineastas de Rumanía”, es una película sobre la vida y la personalidad del obispo greco-católico Iuliu Hossu. Es el año 1953. Sighet, la cárcel de los curas. Un héroe de la resistencia greco-católica cara a cara con un torturador insólito. Una única salida… conversión o muerte. Poco después del final de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, el régimen rumano decidió prohibir la Iglesia greco-católica local, unida a Roma: sus obispos, sacerdotes y fieles se vieron forzados a incorporarse a la Iglesia ortodoxa. Muchos de ellos se negaron y fueron arrestados. Esta es la historia de Iuliu Hossu y de sus hermanos en sufrimiento.

“Cărturan” es el primer largometraje del director Liviu Săndulescu, nominado para mejor película en el Festival Internacional de Varsovia y en varias secciones de los Premios Gopo, y que ha entrado en competición para los Premios Flash Forward de Busan. Vemos al protagonista de la película, Vasile Cărturan, en primer plano, un hombre de 60 años que empieza a poner en orden sus asuntos, incluido el de encontrar una familia adoptiva para su nieto huérfano, dado que los médicos le han dado pocos meses de vida. Lo más sorprendente de Cărturan es su guión, desprovisto de fatalismo. El despreocupado protagonista parece haber aceptado su destino en el momento en que los médicos le dieron el diagnóstico y procede a tachar cosas de su lista. Hay algo increíblemente estoico, austero y sereno en su forma de enfrentarse a su mortalidad, que es la principal baza de la historia, con la actuación discreta y honesta de Corban, que dota de profundidad y humanidad al personaje cuya impotencia frente a la muerte se convierte en su principal recurso, como comenta a los demás personajes.

11ª MUESTRA DE CINE RUMANO EN MADRID

Del 3 al 11 de septiembre de 2021

Cineteca Madrid / Matadero (Plaza de Legazpi, 8, 28045 Madrid)

https://www.icr.ro/madrid/intre-chin-si-amin-inaugureaza-festivalul-filmului-romanesc-la-madrid-editia-a-xi-a/es

SALGADO AMAZÔNIA. PHILARMONIE DE PARIS

 

from May 20 to October 31, 2021

For seven years, Sebastião Salgado immersed himself in far corners of the Brazilian Amazon, photographing the forest, rivers and mountains, and the people who live there. On his journeys deep into this realm—where the immense power of nature can be felt as in few places on earth—his photographer’s eye captured striking images, most being shown here to the public for the first time.

Accompanied by an original soundtrack—a ‘symphony-world’ created by Jean-Michel Jarre using concrete sounds from the forest—the exhibition also gives voice to the indigenous communities photographed, via their testimonies.

A photographic journey

Following from his Genesis project, a photographic ode to the majestic beauty of the most remote regions of the world, Salgado embarked on a new series of expeditions to capture the incredible natural diversity of the Brazilian rainforest, and the ways of life of its inhabitants. Staying in remote villages for several weeks at a time, he was able to photograph ten ethic groups. Taken from small watercraft or from the air, Salgado’s images reveal the complex maze of tributaries that twist their way into the river, mountains reaching heights of 3 000 metres, and the skies so thick with moisture that there are rivers in the air

A symphony-world

The exhibition highlights not only the fragility of this ecosystem, but also the rich natural soundtrack of the Amazon, placing in dialogue Salgado’s arresting photos and a new musical composition by Jean-Michel Jarre, created specially for the exhibition using concrete sounds from the forest. The rustling of trees, animal calls, birdsong, the roar of water tumbling from mountain peaks, etc. collected in situ, in the rainforest, form a stunningly apt audio landscape to accompany Salgado’s journey.

An inestimable heritage

Featuring 200 photographs, along with giant projections—scaled to the immensity of a natural realm like no other—the exhibition shines a spotlight on the fragility of the Amazonian ecosystem. It seeks to show that in the areas inhabited by indigenous groups, the ancestral guardians of these lands, the forest remains almost entirely undamaged. Documentary films allow visitors to hear from the people who live in the forest, in their own voices, and to gain a sense of their rich cultures. Through these powerful images, Sebastião and Lélia Salgado hope to prompt the thinking and actions urgently needed to protect this inestimable heritage of humanity.

Curator and scenographer: Lélia Wanick-Salgado

Original musical soundtrack for the exhibition: Jean-Michel Jarre

Exhibition in collaboration with the Geneva Ethnography Museum

https://philharmoniedeparis.fr/en/activity/exposition/22404-salgado-amazonia

HISTOIRE DU GRAND PALAIS. PALISSADE DU GRAND PALAIS, PARIS

Nayel Zeaiter

Palissade autour du Grand Palais

16 septembre 2021

En mai 1900, le Grand Palais ouvrait pour l’Exposition Universelle. Début 2021, il fermera ses portes pour d’importants travaux de restauration. Entre ces deux dates s’est déroulée une vie foisonnante, pendant laquelle le Grand Palais a résonné avec son temps, acteur majeur de la vie artistique et culturelle française, miroir du XXe siècle - du progrès technique et scientifique qui l’ont marqué, des remous sociaux et historiques qui l’ont jalonné. La Rmn – Grand Palais invite l’artiste Nayel Zeaiter à faire de la palissade qui va entourer le Grand Palais pendant les travaux une œuvre (d’une hauteur de 1,5 m et de près de 1km) offerte au public qui ne pourra plus entrer dans le monument pendant un peu plus de 3 ans. « Le travail de Nayel pour la palissade du Grand Palais, tout comme son album « Histoire de France » et sa plus récente installation « Histoire du Vandalisme », est un véritable tour de force. Les images et textes méticuleux, fléchés dans des longues compositions narratives, à la fois familiers et étranges, inspirés des tableaux pédagogiques et des instructions didactiques, comme dans les manuels touristiques, traitent des événements et scènes peu connus de l’histoire et la vie du Grand Palais. L’artiste prend le rôle de l’historien amateur, une fascination qui règne dans chacun de nous. Le résultat est une œuvre colossale qui combine la lecture de longue durée des tapis de Bayeux avec la légèreté des bandes dessinées et les meilleurs exemples du street art ».

 Chris Dercon

« La commande qui m’a été faite consiste en la création d’une œuvre traitant de l’histoire du Grand Palais. Pour y répondre, j’ai voulu parler du bâtiment et de tout ce qui l’a fait vivre depuis 1900 : les événements, acteurs et projets qui ont animé le lieu, mais aussi les débats artistiques et politiques qui l’ont entouré.

Vitrine culturelle de la France, le Grand Palais a été aussi bien témoin des mutations du monde de l’art que des changements de régime qu’a connus le pays. En dessiner l’histoire me permet de traiter 120 ans d’histoire de l’art et de politique culturelle française. Le résultat prendra la forme d’une très longue frise chronologique. Elle sera composée de dessins et de textes fléchés, créant un fil narratif continu se déroulant tout autour du chantier du Grand Palais. Le tout sera imprimé sur du papier affiche et placardé sur les palissades en bois. »

Formé aux Arts décoratifs de Paris, Nayel Zeaiter tente de perpétuer et d’entretenir le genre de la peinture d’histoire. Son travail oscille entre œuvres grand format et réalisations éditoriales au sein des Éditions Comprendre qu’il a créées en 2011. Il expose notamment au Salon de Montrouge (2015), au salon Drawing Now (2015), au Palais de Tokyo pour l’exposition Appareiller (2017), à la Biennale internationale de design de Saint-Étienne (2017), à Vent des forêts (2017), au musée d’art sacré de Saint-Mihiel (collection permanente), au Palais de Tokyo pour l’exposition Futur, ancien, fugitif (2019). En 2018, il publie Histoires de France en 100 planches illustrées, aux éditions La Martinière. En 2019, il publie Histoire du vandalisme illustrée, aux éditions Comprendre.

JCDecaux, mécène de L’Histoire du Grand Palais par Nayel Zeaiter

DOCUMENTA. POLITICS AND ART. BERLÍN

Following its debut in 1955 as a major exhibition with international ambitions, documenta became a place where West Germany’s image of itself was moulded anew. Every four years (later, five years), its organisers and curators set themselves the task of illuminating current trends in art. The Deutsches Historisches Museum is breaking new ground by considering the history of documenta one to ten in the context of the political, cultural and social development of the Federal Republic of Germany between 1955 and 1997. Works of art, films, documents, posters, oral history interviews and other original objects of cultural and historical value illustrate how documenta, as an art event and a historical venue, commented on, demanded and reflected political and social change. Among them are famous works shown at documenta by artists as diverse as Max Beckmann, Willi Baumeister, Joseph Beuys, the Guerrilla Girls, Hans Haacke, Séraphine Louis, Wolfgang Mattheuer, Emy Roeder, Andy Warhol and Fritz Winter.

From the outset in 1955, documenta confronted its visitors with modern art, that is, with artistic styles that had been labelled ‘degenerate’ in Germany for more than a decade until 1945. In Kassel, the Federal Republic commended itself to its Western partners with a programme that perpetuated a past that it ostensibly sought to overcome. Almost half of those who participated in the organisation of the first documenta had been members of the Nazi party, the SA or the SS. By contrast, works by Jewish or communist artists who had been persecuted or murdered were not present at documenta. There was apparently no place for the victims of persecution, war and mass murder in the narrative of the young Federal Republic’s supposed ‘fresh start’.

documenta was closely connected with the political agenda of the Federal Republic in the 1950s and 1960s; it thus reflected the tensions of the Cold War. Modern art, previously denigrated, advanced to the status of official state art – through considerable financial backing and political support – and served as a means of cementing the Federal Republic’s bonds with the West. Located near the eastern border with the GDR – the former Soviet occupation zone – documenta also addressed an East German audience, even though it did not welcome the art of the GDR. It was not until the 1970s, in the wake of Willy Brandt’s policy of détente, that documenta showed any interest in East German and Eastern European artists.

Over the years, the documenta forged its career as a major international event with festival appeal, where young people came in throngs and could even discuss art with the artists in person. However, the traditionally minded among the educated middleclass felt provoked by the event and sometimes even protested against it. In the following decades, the ‘documenta’ brand established itself internationally as the model for popular and commercially oriented art events in a globalised (art) world. Time and again, it became a platform for political activism, as the feminist artists’ group Guerrilla Girls impressively demonstrated at documenta 8 in 1987.

https://www.dhm.de/en/exhibitions/documenta-politics-and-art/#/

TURANDOT E L’ORIENTE FANTASTICO. MUSEO DEL TESSUTO. RICHARD TUCKER, SINGER, ( AUGUST 28, 1913-JANUARY 8, 1975)

22 maggio – 21 novembre 2021

Turandot e l’Oriente fantastico di Puccini, Chini e Caramba (Museo del Tessuto, Prato dal 22 maggio al 21 novembre) è il frutto di un lungo e accurato lavoro di ricerca compiuto dal Museo sullo straordinario ritrovamento di un nucleo di costumi e gioielli di scena risalenti alla prima assoluta della Turandot di Puccini e provenienti dal guardaroba privato del grande soprano pratese Iva Pacetti.

Un’esposizione inedita, suggestiva, multidisciplinare e di ampio respiro, che nasce grazie alla collaborazione di enti e istituzioni pubblici e privati italiani di grande prestigio che a vario titolo hanno contribuito a questo ambizioso progetto: ricostruire le vicende che hanno portato il grande compositore toscano Giacomo Puccini a scegliere Galileo Chini per la realizzazione delle scenografie per la Turandot, andata in scena per la prima volta al Teatro alla Scala il 25 aprile 1926, diretta da Arturo Toscanini.

Co-organizzatore della mostra è il Sistema Museale dell’Ateneo fiorentino nel cui Museo di Antropologia e Etnologia è conservata una collezione di oltre 600 cimeli orientali, riportati da Galileo Chini – grande interprete del Liberty italiano – al rientro dal suo viaggio in Siam nel 1913 e da lui personalmente donati nel 1950 al Museo fiorentino.

A questi si aggiunge il contributo degli enti prestatori: l’Archivio Storico Ricordi, il Museo Teatrale alla Scala e l’Archivio Storico Documentale Teatro alla Scala, le Gallerie degli Uffizi – Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Palazzo Pitti, la Fondazione Giacomo Puccini di Lucca, la sartoria Devalle di Torino, l’Archivio Corbella di Milano, la Società Belle Arti di Viareggio e numerosi prestatori privati.

Il percorso espositivo della mostra – che occupa circa 1.000 metri quadri complessivi – si apre nella Sala dei Tessuti Antichi con una selezione di circa 120 oggetti della collezione Chini, proveniente dal Museo di Antropologia e Etnologia di Firenze. Il visitatore potrà ammirare tessuti, costumi e maschere teatrali, porcellane, strumenti musicali, sculture, armi e manufatti d’uso di produzione thailandese e cinese – suddivisi per ambiti tipologici all’interno di grandi teche espositive – che sono stati continua fonte di ispirazione per l’Artista e sono diventati soggetti di suoi numerosi dipinti.

L’esposizione prosegue al piano superiore con una sezione dedicata alle scenografie per la Turandot e al forte influsso che l’esperienza in Siam ebbe nell’evoluzione del percorso creativo e stilistico di Chini. La terza e ultima sala riunisce finalmente, dopo decenni di oblio, gli straordinari costumi della prima dell’opera. Infatti, accanto a quelli della protagonista di proprietà del Museo – su una grande pedana rialzata che la prima volta nella storia riunisce la straordinaria parata realizzata da Caramba nel 1926 – sono esposti anche 30 costumi straordinari provenienti dall’archivio della Sartoria Devalle di Torino, comprendenti i ruoli primari e comprimari – l’Imperatore, Calaf, Ping, Pong e Pang, il Mandarino – e i secondari – i Sacerdoti, le Ancelle, le Guardie, i personaggi del Popolo. Si tratta dei costumi originali realizzati per la stessa edizione dell’opera, anch’essi inizialmente scomparsi, ma poi rocambolescamente ricomparsi a metà degli anni Settanta ed entrati a far parte definitivamente di questo meraviglioso archivio storico privato.

VISITA

Dal 22 giugno al 5 agosto, la mostra è aperta anche di sera ogni martedì e giovedì con orario 19-23.

Ogni giovedì di luglio, la visita guidata alla mostra delle ore 21 è gratuita. Prenotatevi!

https://www.museodeltessuto.it/mostra-turandot/

Music, Classical

Richard Tucker

American opera singer

BRITANNICA

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Born:

 

August 28, 1913 New York City New York (Born on this day)

Died:

 

January 8, 1975 (aged 61) Kalamazoo Michigan

FULL ARTICLE

Richard Tucker, original name Reuben Ticker, (born August 28, 1913, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.—died January 8, 1975, Kalamazoo, Michigan), American operatic tenor and cantor who sang roles in more than 30 operas.

As a youth, Tucker first sang as a member of a synagogue choir and on radio. He studied voice with Paul Althouse and made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1945 as Enzo in Amilcare Ponchielli’s La gioconda. His European debut was in 1947 at the Verona Arena in the same role opposite Maria Callas in the title role. Although Tucker sang in opera and recitals in many European cities—London, Milan, Vienna, Barcelona, Florence—his career was centred in the United States. He was a popular performer on radio and television and made a number of highly regarded recordings. Before his sudden death on a concert tour, he had sung with most of the leading American opera companies and orchestras and was highly praised as a cantor.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen, Corrections Manager.