SHARING WITH ME

After Marseille, we are to visit a very strange city. First of all you should know that our « Monumenta » takes place each year in the Grand Palais. The Minister of culture invites an internationally renowned artist to take over the 13,500 square metres or 145,312.79 square feet with an installation. Whichever measurement you look at,  it is huge. I have seen all the installations, Anselm Kieffer in 2007, Richard Serra in 2008, Christian Boltanski in 2010, Anish Kapoor in 2011, Daniel Buren in 2012 ( ART AND EXCENTRIC LIGHT )  and now Ilya and Emilia Kabakov take over the Nave. Internationally renowned? I certainly didn’t know either l of them.  Ilya Kabakov, ( 1943-) we are told, is an international figure on the Art scene. Russian of course and started working as a full time artist in the 60’s. Installations, sculptures and paintings. His wife, Emilia graduated from the Faculty of Music, studied Spanish literature at the Moscow university. Since 1989, they l...

  Late afternoon on our first day, we went by the « Maison de l’Artisanat et Des Métiers d’Art ». It was closing. 6pm. Two women coming out informed us that the exhibition on at the moment was to be prolonged until the Friday. "It was a MUST", they both said. With those few words, the centre closed very firmly. It’s strange in these southern countries. Closing time is closing time. Opening time can be variable. 

So of course, we came back to see it. Absolutely nothing about the exhibition being prolonged and there we were until ten minutes after the official opening hours, waiting….. THE ADVERTISING POSTER The women were right, it was a fascinating experience. In many parts of Asia, Shadow theatre and marionettes are part of the cultural heritage. From Hinduism, to Islam, Buddhism….the art is celebrated with systems of worship which are destabilized by puppet and shadow theatre. Sometimes the Royal court, sometimes from the streets where the locals ...