A Museum about Place

Musee de Montparnasse
January 23, 2009

PARIS - We have seen goofy photographs of artists that hung out in Montparnasse in the early part of the 20th Century. Pictures of Picasso in a toga, surrounded by others going to a costume ball. One very famous photo places the group on a little cobblestone street that is obviously a dead end (because there is a building at the end of it: an impasse, as the French say). Very little commercial traffic goes on this street and it is covered by an arch of ivy. Ivy covers the buildings on both sides of the little street. And all the artists in the picture are clowning and laughing. This is today where the Musee de Montparnasse is located today. It was formerly the studio of Russian artist Marie Vassiliev.

The building at the end of the impasse is called the Espace Krajcberg. Inside this little place is the work of Franz Krajcberg, which relates nature to art. The museum likes to use this space to relate the two areas because that was the purpose of Krajcberg life's work. We got to see about 10 sculptures of this artist that were made in Brazil from found wood - remnants of a forest fire and other natural events - that he has then refined into sculptural forms that he could sell in a gallery.  These were done in the '70s so they were very progressive. Today, my friends and I are always wandering the woods and pointing out or picking up cool things like this. We tend to arrange and leave them there, and call it "Land Art," but none-the-less we are following in this tradition. Up close, the work was nice - better than the photos.

In the main museum space, were photographs by several International artists about living in a foreign country. They were nicely done, and interspersed with a native inhabitant that will not leave its home - the ivy. Many of these images were very thought provoking - the graves of Chinese in different countries. The tight quarters of students (Yes, even smaller than our tiny rented apartment in Montparnasse.) Below you can read more documentation about the exhibition, called Déplacement, which has the very nice ambition to be about calling attention to foreignness in a time when there is global mobility. And note that it is partially sponsored by the post office.  



Exhibition Info:

Déplacement

10 décembre 2008 - 25 janvier 2009

Les photographes
Yannick Aleksandrowicz, Neckel Scholtus, Hortense Soichet, Julien Spiewak, Jasmina Tomic, Lorraine Turci,
Julien Vasquez, GAO Xin Wei, GUO Yi, JIN Xiang Yi, LI Chun Guang, LI Su, LIU Yong, SONG Yang, XU Ke, ZHU Jiong

Direction artistique
Hortense Soichet et Zhu Jiong

Direction du projet
Christian Mayaud et SU Zhi Gang \ CHENG Qiang
La mission photographique Le Voyage, initiative de l'Université Paris 8 et de l'Académie du Film de Pékin (Chine), est invitée à présenter le deuxième et dernier volet de ce projet dans le cadre de la programmation "Déplacer/Recréer".  L'exposition Déplacement propose un état des lieux de la société à l'ère de la mobilité généralisée.
La mission photographique Le Voyage est réalisée en partenariat avec La Poste.

Horaires d'ouverture :
Tous les jours sauf lundi, de 12h30 à 19h

Tarifs d'entrée :
Plein : 5 euros / Réduit : 4 euros

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Le Musée du Montparnasse et
l'Espace Krajcberg sont heureux
de vous présenter le programme
des rencontres
 
DÉPLACER / RECRÉER 
  De l'art et de l'écologie

MERCREDI 10 DECEMBRE 2008
Rencontre à l'Espace Krajcberg de 19h30 à 20h30
 
De l'importance du Manifeste du Naturalisme Intégral aujourd'hui
- En présence de Claude Mollard, expert culturel et co-auteur de La traversée du feu avec Pascale Lismonde, biographie de Frans Krajcberg.
- Baptiste Lanaspeze, philosophe et éditeur, mène un projet éditorial en ligne Wildproject.

VENDREDI 16 JANVIER 2009
Rencontre au Musée du Montparnasse 15h à 18h

Regards sur la Chine : déambulation sur les territoires en mutation
- Hortense Soichet est co-directrice artistique de la mission Le Voyage. Elle est photographe et doctorante en esthétique.
- Zhu Jiong est co-directrice artistique de la mission Le Voyage. Elle est photographe et enseignante
- Zeng Nian, photographe, il fait des reportages entre la France et la Chine.

JEUDI 22 JANVIER 2009
Rencontre à l'Espace Krajcberg de 19h à 20h30

Une charte pour une production culturelle responsable
- Sylvie Bétard, Co-fondatrice et directrice de développement de La Réserve des arts
- Jeanne Granger, Co-fondatrice et directrice de projets de La Réserve des arts

Réservation souhaitée : contactez Sonia Legros au 01 42 22 90 16