Happy X-Mas! G.Prud'homme Week 9

The City of Brussels tries to celebrate Christmas in an original way, as underlined by its last initiative: a Christmas Tree relooked.

In fact, the city decided to refresh the image of Christmas through its symbol, such as the name of the Christmas event ("Winter's Pleasure" banning the name Christmas of the mantra) or the tree. Named the X-Mas Tree, the tree is in fact an elecrtonic tree in steel which is enlighted during the night. It was designed by the French architectur agence, 1024.

The debat was rough, not concerning the artistic way but the religious symbol. For some inhabitants, this initiative is unacceptable regarding to the lost of Roman Catholic traditions. The Christmas Tree focuses the racists comments against the Islamic or alien population.

As we say in French: "ça sent le sapin".

More informations: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-20570894

Océane Doucet week end 10

The Lieu Unique (LU) : national center for contemporary arts.

http://www.lelieuunique.com/english_presentation.php

The LU is a cultural center in Nantes.

In this place there are a theater, a hall for concerts and exibitions, a bar, a restaurant, an hammam, a nursery and a bookshop. Today it is a national scene.

The theater was created in 2000. It it is installed in the in the old building of the LU biscuit factory. The theater keeps the same initials.

If the factory has not been destroyed it is thanks to Jean Blaise director of CRDC. The mayor of Nantes, - present Prime Minister -  Jean-Marc Ayrault, decided to trust him and the city bought the place.

The place offers a great importance for the art research and for moderns creations.

It is an artistic laboratory.

May be we can say that this place is an art factory. Finally, the building has not really lost its first use !

To come to the LU  the single condition is to be curious, because here all cultures, all audiences, all arts are welcome !

Exposé Colombe

- I’m innocent/ Adel Abdessemed.

Particular vision of the history and story of contemporary societies.

Main idea: Power.

Objects destroyed. Conflicts between human. Religion/ war .

Question of the memory.

Twenty six gasoline stations - Ed Ruscha
Annaïck Guena


Twenty six gasoline stations is a photographic book of Edward Ruscha made between 1962 and 1963, on the road between Los Angeles and Oklahoma City. 

To begin, I will talk about Ed Ruscha, his artistic education and the beginning of his artistic career.

In a second point, I’ll explain more precisely what this photographic book Twenty six gasoline stations is.

To conclude, I’ll present other images of the urban trip of Ed Ruscha, in LA.

1. Ed Ruscha was borned in 1937 in Nebraska. His family moved to Oklahoma in 1941. In 1956, he was received at the Chouinard Art Institute where he learned painting and photography. This artistic education had been decisive for his work and his vision of art. He considered that the idea and the concept were more important than the quality of the image. The photography was a step of reflexion on his creation.

He made his first photos during a trip in Europe at the end of 50s. He came back in Los Angeles in 1961. LA became the main subject of his work.

2. In 1962, Ed Ruscha made a photographic series of twenty six gasoline stations on the route 66 highway which connects LA to Oklahoma city. He constitued an inventory, a catalog of abandonned gas stations. Like a journalist or a video reporter, he wanted to be objective and expressionless. 

Ed Ruscha wanted to show the banality of this architectural standard and was only interested by the structural aspect of these elements.

The space of these images is empty and there is no life. This dramatic and unfeeling aesthetic is a characteristic of his photographic work.

3. Twenty six gasoline stations was his first photographic book. In 60s, Ed Ruscha produced other images of the architecture and the urban environment of LA. With the same process of series, he registred parking lots, buildings, swimming pools or palm trees. All these inventories are real contact sheets. 

Ed Ruscha used the same techniques as in the cinema. For Thirty four parking lots he made aerial photos, and he used the travelling for his photos of the sunset strip.

All these images, taken on the road feeling, seem to non professional photos but are real road movies.

Twenty six gasoline stations was the start point of the Ed Ruscha's work. These photos are characteristic of his dramatic and unfeeling aesthetic. He showed the banality of urban life, urban environment. 

All his photographic work is a catalog of architectural standards. This typical LA artist produced typical images of LA. His work is a real road trip in the city.

Justine Barbe

Week 9

Behind the scenes with the Hobbit

The famous director of The Lord of the rings’ trilogy, Peter Jackson, created also The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey. This movie will be distributed in December in cinemas.

The workshop which made the movie’s accessories, Weta, opened its doors for an interview.

A young intern had his first experience with The Hobbit. It was a formidable opportunity to work for this project.

The intern was rewarded for his tools by the Weta Workshop Creativity Award. It had been the first time that an intern won this award.

So, he started well his career. It isn’t habitual for a young worker to participate at a blockbuster’s creation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZfUsni4DhI&feature=youtu.be

112 words.

Presentation_Gwenael P.

A Journey to Nantes

Introduction

>Presentation will be about Creative Economy/in Great Britain : Creative Industries.

 >A concept invented by John Howkins in 2001. According to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport of  the UK :

“The creative industries have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property.” 

>To illustrate this concept, I’m gonna speak about A Journey To Nantes- subtitled « The City turned upside down by art»- a cultural and touristic manifestation which took place in Nantes during last summer.

My presentation will present you :

>Firstly The Event itself ;

>Secondly  the assessment of the cultural manifestation with figures;

>Finally I will present other cultural events which could be considered as part of creative economy.

Development

I-              The event, an illustration of Creative Economy.

A Journey to Nantes :

>was created by Jean Blaise, the cultural advisor of Jean-Marc Ayrault, mayor of Nantes. >is a cultural trail 8.5kilometers long throuhg the town, from the Lieu Unique (an old factory transformed in theater, concert place and bar) to the Island of Nantes, where Daniel Buren imagined his famous colorful rings.

A Journey to Nantes is firstly a patrimonial event because it offered unusual points of views and perspectives on the city, its monuments, sites and artistic creations. Indeed, A Journey to Nantes put forward :

-       a cultural patrimony, from the Caslte of the Dukes of Brittany to the Court designed by Jean Nouvel ;

-       artistic creations such as architectural structures spreaded in original places ( in trees or the top of the Brittany Tower)

Its also a cultural event with :

-       creations in music : rock concerts at the Lieu Unique or electro gigg on a boat and of course ;

-       creations in live performance : the show of Royal Deluxe’s giants ;

-       a lot of exhibition in original places, such as in a church or in an old industry.

And during the Journey to Nantes was led the biennale of contemporary art named « Estuaire ». Estuaire took place along the Loire, from Nantes to Saint Nazaire, and exhibite creations of famous artists :

-       a wooden footbridge created by Kawamata ;

-       or a house in the the river by Courcoult

II-            The assessment

Public :

According to Jean Blaise, A Journey To Nantes was a cultural, touristic and of course economic success.

In fact, the event managed to attract more than 1,700,000 people. The touristic audience, compared the last summer, increased by 25% in the Urban Community of Nantes (Nantes Métropole).

Economy :

A Journey to Nantes and its manager, Jean Blaise, set up an evaluation to mesure the consequences of the event.

First, we have to know that A Journey to Nantes costed 8M €, a similar figure for Estuaire.

An article in Ouest France published two weeks ago some figures about the economic consequences of A Journey to Nantes :

-       In general, the event earned 48M € 

-       And every tourist spent on average 44€ in bars, hostels or not free events (example : the cruise on the river)

ð it’s a really good assessment for a cultural event. And i twill permit to Nantes to get a better place in the best tourist city ranking

III-          A new edition ?

A new edition

There’s many reason to believe that A Journey to Nantes was a one-shot event. Moreover, it was the last edition of Estuaire. It was confirmed by the mayor of Nantes, Patrick Rimbret, who declared to the newspapers in september that the next event will be an ecological manifestation called « A Green Journey »

The other events

However, the concept of cultural tourism is now established in France such as :

-       in Lille with Fantastic (an English name for a French event !) ;

-       The Sleepless Night in Paris ;

-       The Festival of Lights in Lyon.

IV-           To recap

Van was a touristic, economic and cultural succes

Cultural events tend to be part of creative industries to gain economic legitimity

Marina: Oral Virginia Woolf

1 -

Virginia Woolf was an English author born in 1882. She was regarded as one of the most important literary figures of the 20th century. She was very interested in feminist themes.

2- Preview

1st, we’ll focus on her non-conformism, secondly we’ll see how she plays with the English language, and then we’ll comment on her implication in feminism.

3- Body        

Free thinker

She started writing at the age of 16.

Getting older, she belonged to the Bloomsbury Group.

Ø    Rejected victorian and ewardian conventions, narrow-mindedness.

Ø    Intellectually non-conformists and praised friendship and loyalty

Ø    Wanted to create new forms of language, news ways of writing

-       Modernism

Considered as one of the greatest innovators in the English language

Created a world full of auditory and visuel impressions

Underlined psychological and emotional motives of the character she depicted

-       Feminism

Was interested in feminism themes.

Mrs Dalloway, published in 1925, cautioulsy detailed a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway.

She concentrated on the form more than on the story !

In her work, she focused on the difficulties female writers knew in a society that was run by men

She fought for the economic independance of women

4- Summary

Modernism demand efforts on the part of the reader

Modernist writers didn’t let their subjectivity show in their work. They enter their character’s consciousness.

5- Conclusion

Virginia Woolf’s writings are a celebration of intuitions and emotions.

Above all, she wanted women to escape from men’s dependance and to rach total freedom of mind and life.

Writing has always had a great importance though her life, and used to say :

 “Books are the mirrors of the soul.”

Océane Doucet : Week 8

This week, I would like to present you a blog.
It is a blog of the New York Times is about some classicals events, concerts, musicals news.
Everybody can write an aticle and post their favorite magical moments in music. It is in free acces.
This blog permit to discover some musics, videos, composers, and to read some short article and te see notice of no professionnal people.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/category/musical-moments/

 

In this blog I discover this wonderful image of Jilian Tamaki.

 

I make some reseraches about her to discover who is thos man.

 

http://jilliantamaki.com/illustration/

 

She is an American illustrator and cartoonist. She is born in New York.

She as two personnal books. She sells some illustration to publishers, journalists, professionals ...

Jillian Tamaki factories also illustrations on fabric, clothing, capets ...

She develops diffrent form of art and in fact this concpet permit her to win more money, and to fave more financials ressources.

 

 

Her illustration are funny, real, sensitive, she offers a critique of the society, and offers some relfexions.

 

Jillian Tamaki proposes also a Portait Gallery.

Galeria Urban Forms - Elodie Rousselin

« Galeria Urban Forms », a monumental exhibition started in Poland last year (2011), in Lodz' streets. 

Kind of art gallery in public space, the idea to make Lodz in exhibition went from Michael Biezynski, artistic director. The artists engaged in the project made directly on the slide of tenement houses large format art work. Most of the time, they needed a work platform or a crane for achieve their wall paintings, even if it's too much high. And sometimes, it's look more like a building site !

Don't think that it's a vandal action ! On contrary, the city of Lodz co-financed the project, and made available twenty-five walls in the city-centre.

Like more and more towns around the world, Lodz understood that street art could be a real interest for them, in terms of tourism and economical development notably. Street art could be a value and could involve an identity for a town. New York and Berlin are well-known examples. 

By suppporting the project, the municipality show also its volonty to open spaces of exhibitions, and to give opportunies to citizens to access to culture, by an other way, outside out the traditional places of art.

Urban Forms Fondation, the structure who's in charge of the organisation, wants to promote, support and organize cultural actions, acrossing disciplines for a better access to art woks.

Read more about the project

A yesterday town to think the future of cities

Poundbury is a town located on the edge of Dorchester, in the area where suburban usually take place. It counted 5 000 inhabitants in 2007. It has become famous being the town of Prince Charles, where he decided to experiment some urbanistic principles that he's been defending for many years.

As an experimentation town, part of the New Urbanism movement, the Poundbury project follows four lines.

First, Poundbury is said to be built in accordance with its inhabitant rather than the cars. In other words, it's not the ways that set the space up, but actual life. Houses and public buildings are based on traditional designs purposely to fit perfectly the environment and the spirit of that particular place. Then, Poundbury has been built and design according to proximity which define all relations within the city. And to finish, only raw materials extracted from the near territory have been used, so Poundbury organically respects its geographic setting.  All those points make Poundbury an eco-friendly town. 

The Poundbury project has been sorely criticized. But most of the time, critics derive to the lack of both legitimacy and credibility of Prince Charles. Therefore, Poundury is said to be based on old-fashioned ideas not to say outdated principles. 

As a matter of fact, it might be the implementation rather than the global idea that didn't worked out. However the main asset of Poundbury is to drive people to think their city otherwise, and to regard new ways of living urbanity.

>> Read the article from Wikipedia

>> Read the residents' opinions

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Amélie Blandeau - Week 8 - 256 words

Food, Transforming the American Table 1950-2000

Mathilde Fourgeot - week 8

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (Washington) presents a new exhibition since November 20: Food, Transforming the American Table 1950-2000. This new exhibition explores the important changes of American food habits. And especially the factors of those changes, for example the new technologies or varied influences too, like the diversity of nationalities in the United States due to an important immigration in this country. Or in short: social and cultural changes in American’s life.

The exhibition is divided into five sections: 
- Julia’s Child kitchen: she’s a legendary cook, which has a very important impact on American food. The Americans know her through her books or TV-shows. This room contains equipment when she began to cook (the late 1940s). It’s an important figure in the American way of eating, Paula Jonhson’s position (the curator) is that she “introduced a new way of thinking about food — French food — but also caring about ingredients,”
- “New and Improved ! ”: It’s an opportunity to reflect on the long-term effects of mass production and consumerism 
- Resetting the Table: this room deals with the immigrants’ influences on American food and taste 
- Wine for the Table: Wine is traditionally linked with Europe. But this room is an opportunity to understand how technologies permitted the Americans to produce wine too and to appropriate a special know-how. 
- Open Table: there is a table and the visitors can take a seat to speak with the others

Food, Transforming the American Table tries to condense a part of the American cultural history. It’s very interesting to see how the American culture, like in a lot of Anglo-Saxons states, feeds on the diversity of nationalities and traditions and how the food could be an indicator to measure or to suggest the diversity in a country and the diversity of a culture.

 Julia Child's kitchen

Sources

http://americanhistory.si.edu/food-introduction

http://americanhistory.si.edu/food-the-exhibition

Presentation : The SOUND-SYSTEM Culture

Born in the 1950's in the streets of Kingston ghettos, the sound system is the foundation of an important part of jamaican cultural history and has being responsible for the rise of modern Jamaican musical styles such as ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub. Its evolution is directly linked to the development of vinyl support but also of Jamaican migration during the second half of the 20 century, particularly in England and the United States.

A sound system is usually composed of one or several disc jockeys, sound engineers and MC's that broadcast standards and musical news of the time. They load their truck operators with a generator, turntables, amplifiers and loudspeekers and set up street parties with heavy bass.

The sound system is before all a mobile device to broadcast the modern music for anyone of a poor population or people which has no traditional listening system. It is also a moment of Exchange and ease of use for a party who permits the investment of the public spaces by its residents.

The most important jamaican's sound-system include those of Coxsone Dodd, Duke Reid, or even Prince Buster.

At the beginning the Dj's played primarily new rhythm ' n Blues of the United States but gradually, in order to limit the costs involved by importing and to propose always more exclusive releases, will produce music directly in Jamaica. While jamaicans proclaimed their independence, they tried to invent a sound that is unique, a typically jamaican musical identity will born. First the Ska, fast and festive music, which represents the music of independence, then Rocksteady music with a slowed rythm that allows dancers of the sound systems to be less quickly tired, and finally the Reggae, influenced by the musicians of Rasta movement that is characterized by an heavy bass in rhythm with the heartbeat.

Then the sound system has been extended through Europe and the United States when jamaicans started to emigrate starting from the 1970s. In England, the movement of the roots and dub sound system has spread and has developed its own identity through artists such as Jah Shaka, Aba Shanti I, or Channel One, and then has evolved to other musical areas such as Dubstep, Drum'n ' bass and the current Dj music...In the United States, Dj Kool Herc, a Jamaican immigrated to the United States, has adapted the concept of sound-system at funk, soul and Rhythm'n ' blues U.S musics to give birth to the first Block-Parties. He is regarded as one of the founders of the Hip-hop movement.

 As we can see, the sound system is a device that allowed the development of new musical forms and continuous to support an important musical history that evolved according to the social, political and historical contexts through various places in the world. To learn more about the sound-system culture I recommend the book Bass Culture of Lloyd Bradley as well as the documentary Musically Mad by Karl Folke.

                                                                                                       Louis Cailliau.