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The Grand Palais newsletter |
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n°6, November 2008 |
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A la UneThe movies move in The new projection room © Coll. Grand Palais, photo François Tomasi The Grand Palais has always been a temple of the creative arts and a home to imagination in every form. As such it badly lacked a permanent facility of outstanding quality in which to celebrate the 7th art. The inauguration of the 100-seater projection room brings it just that, and the cinema will now have its rightful place in the Grand Palais. Dedicated to private screenings, performances, lectures and debates, the facility will offer a high level of comfort with a warm, understated decor – dark wood and brown fabric for the walls, and silver grey velvet seat covers – and exceptional picture quality. In fact it will be the only cinema in Paris to have a Sony 4K digital projector. This fine facility cannot fail to draw movie fans and lovers of audio-visual heritage! Hidden away on the first floor of the building the brand new room will also offer a superb view over the Seine through a strip window, until the lights are brought down to produce the magical intimacy of the cinema. Quiet on the set! Roll! Action! Thrre questions for...Roger Labeyrie, scenographer, and Isabelle Allégret, designer of the projection roomQuadriges: Roger Labeyrie, you designed the scenography for the new projection room in the Grand Palais. How does one go about creating a modern facility in such a historic building? RL: The challenge was to transform a former lecture hall (used by students from the Sorbonne University) into a state-of-the-art projection room using high-definition digital video equipment. It was always going to be something of a feat to reconcile exacting technical demands with the constraints of renovating a listed building. The first challenge was to adapt the available space to get good quality with a big enough screen. This meant lengthy calculations of audience sight lines, and involved some very subtle structural adjustments to gain a few inches in height. Today what we have is a real cinema with superb picture quality in a historic building. Quadriges: Isabelle Allégret, can you explain your choice of materials and colour scheme? IA: A projection room has to be dark. This is why I chose dark brown for the fitted carpet and walls. This contrasts with the silvery grey velvet seat covers, which bring a note of sophistication and are a break with movie house tradition. The grey is a reminder of the dominant tone in Paris and the Seine that flows below the strip window. Of course, the blinds close to enable the complete black-out that is vital for true cinema conditions. Quadriges: What kind of reaction do you hope to get from the audience when they enter the room? IA: The strip window creates a very strong rapport with the outside world, and is almost a material in its own right. I'd like the audience to think that they've never been to see a movie in a room like that! For a cinema auditorium to offer this type of panoramic view over a city is in fact unique. FocusNew for your diaryThe European City of Science What can we do today to make science more popular, notably among the young? This is the question that the European City of Science will be setting out to answer in the Grand Palais from November 14 to 16 as the inaugural event of the Fête de la science. In the Nave a giant city will be represented with locations like Industry Street, the Laser apartment, Light Junction, Moon Place, the Science car park, and even Controversy Square, where debates on themes involving science and society will be held. The exhibit has been designed as a fun, hands-on and easy way to understand intellectually demanding scientific content. Visitors will learn how CO2 emissions can be reduced, how our brains work, and meet the robots that will be helping the elderly in years to come… Guest researchers from all over Europe will help us to appreciate the importance of the scientific issues that directly affect us all. The event is being organised by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research to mark the French presidency of the European Union. Tuesdays in the Grand Palais The Grand Palais, in partnership with the publishers PUF (Presses universitaires de France), is introducing a new event that will be open to all: "Tuesdays in the Grand Palais". These weekly debates will start at 6:30 p.m. every Tuesday evening, and, for an hour and a half, enable lively discussion about contemporary themes. Starting on Tuesday November 25, the first cycle will mark the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Practical information: 6:30 p.m.- 8:00 p.m. Entrance free with advance booking. Grand Palais, projection room, access via the Alexandre III Rotunda. Check out the News page on the www.grandpalais.fr Web site as from November 15 for full programme details and advance bookings. Quiet on the set! Roll! Action!"Musée haut, musée bas" premiered in the Grand Palais… where it was shot The unique and mysterious architecture of the Grand Palais has always appealed to the cinema. Last year Jean-Michel Ribes chose the location to shoot the comedy Musée haut, musée bas, a film adaptation of his highly successful stage play. The film due for public release on November 19 dives deep into the arcane world of art and museums and has a star-studded cast featuring Michel Blanc, Victoria Abril, Pierre Arditi, Josiane Balasko, Isabelle Carré, François-Xavier Demaison, André Dussolier, Julie Ferrier, Annie Gregorio, Gérard Jugnot, Fabrice Luchini, Yolande Moreau, Daniel Prevost, and Muriel Robin. A gallery of colourful characters, Musée haut, musée bas paints the portraits of the growing community of professionals and visitors, the people who work or take refuge in a place where they can meet, enjoy freedom and give free rein to their imagination… |
The word of the presidentYou may wonder why we need to open up new areas in the Grand Palais. The answer is that by doing so we can programme more events, attract new visitors, and make full use of the building's potential. The Grand Palais is a huge complex that still has undiscovered areas. The first milestone in the 2008/2010 action plan will be the opening of the projection room, a state-of-the-art cinema auditorium. The completion of the restoration of the facades at the year of the end and the start of work on the VIP lounge in January 2009 will be the next phases in this truly exciting adventure. Yves Saint-Geours President of the Établissement public du Grand Palais 2008/2009 seasonYves Saint-Geours presents the full programme of events in the Nave through till June 2009 Since June, Grandpalais.fr has been offering you the opportunity the building through a wide range of videos: these include historic footage brought to you in partnership with the Institut National Audiovisuel (INA), and a film of the flag being changed on the roof of the building. Starting now, you can see a new video, presented by Yves Saint-Geours, previewing the events of the 2008/2009 season in the Nave. At the end of the episode, you get a preview of the Grand Palais' flagship project for next year… and Grandpalais.fr will soon be bringing you podcasts. Check it all out! The European City of science November 14-16 Nave of the Grand Palais Interactive group activities, debates, exhibitions: in over 50 separate areas, a chance to explore a panorama of European research. Art en capital November 22-30 Nave of the Grand Palais Five historic exhibitions join forces to celebrate contemporary creativity in a single event. Dans la nuit, des images December 18-31 Nave of the Grand Palais An outstanding event dedicated to the visual arts, bringing down the curtain on the French presidency of the European Union. For fourteen nights, the facade, floor, walls and glass roof of the Nave will be alight with a veritable firework display of visual and digital arts. A huge party that will kick into action as soon as night falls. AgendaPractical informationRER : ligne C / station Invalides Bus : lignes 28, 42, 52, 72, 73, 80, 83, 93 Vélib : Station n° 8029, 1 av. Franklin-D.-Roosevelt / n° 8001, av. Dutuit Parkings : Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées, place de la Concorde, parc François-Ier, Alma Georges-V, Champs-Élysées Lincoln, Matignon. Personnes à mobilité réduite : accès avenue Winston-Churchill |
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Executive editor: Jean-Paul Cluzel, President La Réunion des musées nationaux – Grand Palais Chief editor: Marie Senk © Grand Palais, 2011 |
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