A TOPSY TURVY EXPERIENCE
In French the description of the exhibition I was off to see was:- « Le Monde à l’Envers » - When I saw the English title, I was enchanted : “The Topsy-Turvy World” devoted to contemporary carnivalesque practices. Somehow this had more flavor in it for me than in French. I guess that it is not so long ago the carnival was reduced to a childish party or something folkloric. In Europe, the carnival continues to do well, in fact very well indeed. I can’t say that my experience of the Venice carnival was too good. I used to teach at the Padoua university during that period and go to Venice for a few days at the end of the week. You couldn’t move around Saint Marco - on the other hand - all the museums were empty and I had those to myself. Just for the sake of enjoyment, I wanted to see what the MuCEM had to show. This time around, I was a little more impressed with the building on the outside. It’s a shame that the light is not so good on the inside.