SHARING WITH ME

 It's a once a year event and very popular. An exhibition of orchids in the refurbished hothouse in the Jardin des Plantes. I was there at the same time last year. A FEAST FOR YOUR EYES  This year Borgy wanted to stroll down to the gardens even if it was a cold and blustery day. So we did. The opening for the orchid display was for the following day but the Hothouse was open so in we went. How lucky we were. The gardners were installing the orchids. Up in the tropical trees, along the creek, over the bridge and we were practically alone. That cannot be said when I returned with Pierrette a couple of weeks later. Still it's always a pleasure to see but this time, I did not buy an orchid! And in case you are a little hungry......

The Chagall was enchanting so now it was time to have something to eat. The restaurant was full and would stay full until l took the train back to Lille. First there was a quick visit to the other temporary exhibitions and then off to the centre of Roubaix. A very odd small exhibition on « A Certain Idea of Belgium Ceramic » Different artists. You name it... surrealist, extravagant, mystic…all the artists seem to be telling stories but up to the spectator to say what they were all about! Mahjoub Ben Bella has been exhibiting in Roubaix since  1966 - along time before the Piscine was opened. His work is graphical and quite often large canvass or work on paper. Quite a large presentation at that, but not always easy to admire it as there was not enough space between you and the picture. Some of his work l liked. Here are a few examples.

We have been to the Piscine in Roubaix quite a few times. This time though a couple of years had flown by since my last visit. It’s one of the townships in the north, devastated by unemployment and since that the Piscine was opened in 2000 has supposedly put « Roubaix » on the map. I’m not so sure. The swimming pool was constructed between 1927 and 1932. It closed as a swimming pool in 1985, and was remodeled as a museum by the architect Jean-Paul Philippon. A modern entrance, special exhibition space and garden were constructed within the roof-less shell of an adjoining textile factory. When I get to the museum which is about a 10 minutes walk from the central station, the building always looks very gloomy to me, even if described as modern. One thing is sure that visitors come from all over Europe. As the second part of the Chagall was nearing its end, there were perhaps even more people than usual. To the extent that when I had been in there for over an hour and thoug...

Since we came back from Strasbourg I have been looking at a rather tantalizing bill board referring to a Ai Wei Wei exhibition in one of our lush department stores, « The Bon Marché » This was the first department store in Paris at the end of the 19th century and very family oriented. Since it has been refurbished it attracts a very elitist public and I feel somewhat out of place when I go there. But I would for Ai Wei Wei. Remember that Pierrette and I saw his big exhibition in London last year ? That was referring to his imprisonment and making very political statements about life in China. In Admiration Before Artist I doubted very much that the exhibition in a department store would be like that. How right I was.  When asked about exhibiting in a store as opposed to a museum or gallery space, Wei Wei said  “People experience the art as they go about their day and something unconsciously happens”. The exhibition is called « Er Xi – Child’s Play ...