IT MAKES YOU THINK - I think.......


It’s always interesting to see what is going on in the College des Bernadins. Although I have talked about it on two other occasions, here is a little information from their home page:
 At the heart of the Latin Quarter in Paris a thirteenth century Cistercian building stands intact: the Collège des Bernardins.

Seven and a half centuries after its foundation and four years of restoration , this Christian institution  has returned  to its original purpose: to be a place of knowledge and faith in the heart of the city, and to renew  a dialogue between  Christian wisdom and  society.

Open to all those who wonder about the meaning of life and the fate of mankind, the Collège des  Bernardins invites everyone to discuss and exchange ideas, through philosophical reflection, research, training or artistic expression. It offers itself as a space for questioning and building ... to design together the society of today and tomorrow.

I have no excuse not to go there. It’s 5 minutes from where I live. The building is lovely. 

The contemporary installations exhibited, always throw me a little. As you know, installations are not really "me" but sometimes there are exhibits which give food for thought. That definitely was the case with  College des Bernadins - The Tree of Life,   and that I saw already a year ago. So what was on now?

The « Men, Worlds » follows the tree of life. 

A very strange mixture of installations which  intrigue  in such pious surroundings. It was just such a shame that no photos were permitted in the old vestry - some people where snapping away but from experience, I know that the second I take out my iPhone, a hoard of security men rush up and snap « no photos ». Why don’t the others get caught? 


They are there thos glass statuettes.....
 The glass statuettes on display there were much more interesting than in the Nave.

The main hall entices you to go further - pulls you in to discover the different installations. As it happens there were quite a few people around.  The explanatory text was a load of blablabla (for me anyway) and when I asked a friend if she could understand, the answer was « no ». In a few lines, I think it followed up the concept of the tree of life, taking into account  nomades and their voyages in time which of course turns to globalization. The mixture of signs, languages making humanity a machine which develops our differences - and our identities as well.

There were 15 contemporary artists from very different backgrounds and countries - I only knew one. Jacques Villeglé who « stole » street advertising and made it into another form of art. That was in the 50's and early 60's. What he had done directly onto a wall at the entrance to the collage, was much more interesting that the couple of works inside. 




Jacques Villeglé (1926-°) Metropolis - Ave General Rocca, Buenos Aires 2003

Jacques Villeglé (1926-)Fabrica-Calle Costanera, Buenos Aires, 2003

Outisde creation of Jacques Villeglé


Here is a small idea of what I saw. You like it or you don’t, but it does not leave you indifferent, especially in such an environment. 

Romain Bernini (1979-)

Looking down the nave

engraving carpets

Ingrid Luche (Antibes)

Ingrid Luche (Antibes)

Chen Zhen (Shangai 1955-2000)

Chen Zhen (Shangai 1955-2000)

Romain Bernini (1979-)

Romain Bernini (1979-)

Romain Bernini (1979-)

Romain Bernini (1979-)

Djamel Kokene Dorleans (Algerian 1968-)









Looking at the fountain

Looking down into it

Roman Bernini dresses in western clothes but wears masks coming from differnt ethnic backgrounds in Africa or Ameridien - they seem to be waiting for something......

Cen Zhen discovered that he had an incurable form of anemia. He studied Chinese medicine and saw the human body in a different way. The voice of the migrators is a world map made up of clothing knotted together. On the surface there were speakers which broadcast different voices in different languages telling their stories about life in reply to the artist's questions.....

Ingrid Luche is inspired by the Ghost Dance carried out in Ameridia......

Djamel Kokene Dorleans called his skin, "Musée of the world (extract) between other things......"
 


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