| If you are unable to display the newsletter properly, go to: /en/Lettre-d-information/p-902-lg1-n-20-February-2010.htm |  |
The Grand Palais newsletter |
|
 |
|
n°20, February 2010 |
|
Front pageI have a dream © Coll. Grand Palais, carte blanche to guest photographer Raphaël Gaillarde With plans being made to set up a new, ambitious operator for the Grand Palais, key questions for the building's future are on the agenda. These include defining a cultural and scientific project, and setting out the missions for the future operator whose mandate will encompass both the Grand Palais and the Réunion des musées nationaux (RMN), which currently runs the Galeries Nationales housed in the building; not to forget the important strategic decisions regarding the role of emerging digital technologies. These crucial issues will be examined by three task forces set up by Jean-Paul Cluzel, President of the Grand Palais and of the Board of the RMN, as part of the mission entrusted to him by French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Minister of Culture, Frédéric Mitterrand. At the two sessions in February and March, these 38 experts carefully selected from a wide range of cultural backgrounds (managers of French and foreign institutions, independent commissioners, producers of events and entertainment, organisers of trade shows, scientists, and specialists in digital technologies) will discuss ideas, and contribute their experience and vision for the Grand Palais/RMN project. Frédéric Mitterrand, Minister of Culture and Communication will attend the first meeting, and Jean-Paul Cluzel will submit his report to the President of the Republic on March 31 2010. Three questions for…David Edwards David Edwards. DR Quadriges: You founded the Laboratoire à Paris. You are a writer, a professor of biomedicine at Harvard… how would you describe your career so far? Creation is what interests me. Creating means listening, talking to people, having dreams, imagining, getting things wrong, being innocent, surprising, listening and discovering. Putting people into boxes like "scientist", "artist" or even "banker" is sterile, creates an intellectual straightjacket, and leads to insensitivity. Quadriges: You are a member of task force 1, focusing on the "cultural and scientific project for the Grand Palais of the future". How are you approaching these meetings? Have you already given the subject much thought? I think the idea of guiding the Grand Palais towards a unified, human, committed culture is wonderful. It's a great ambition, paradoxically easier to achieve for a small organisation. Human organisations on a large scale typically develop through specialisation. However, you cannot merge arts and sciences through a policy of specialisation. So I'm bringing one leading question to the table: how do you make such an ambitious cultural programme succeed without sacrificing the dimensions of the project? I am thinking about the lessons we learned from the Silicon Valley… Quadriges: What does the Grand Palais mean to you? Since the 1900 Universal Exhibition, the Grand Palais has been a visionary cultural centre. Through the big Motor and Air Shows of the past, and the exhibitions at the Palais de la Découverte and today's FIAC, the arts and the sciences have been mixed and still are. I like the idea of a Nave where art and science come together in a way that is even more explicit, more firmly anchored in the creative process than in exhibiting innovative results. FocusMonumenta 2010 © Coll. Grand Palais, François Tomasi Christian Boltanski's installation at Monumenta 2010 has already proved to be a huge success, the exhibition running till February 21. On February 6, Polvere, an original work for cello, instrumental ensemble and choirs, by composer Franck Krawczyk featured soloist Sonia Wieder-Atherton. The concert staged in the Nave, in the heart of the Monumenta exhibition, was preceded by a Prologue in the Champs-Elysées Clemenceau metro station. Holders of entrance tickets and passes for the exhibition on the day had the opportunity to discover this work commissioned by the Opéra-Comique and the Sacem action fund, co-produced by the Centre national des arts plastiques and Plein jour, with the support of the Fund run by Agnès Troublé, alias fashion designer Agnès B. The Saut Hermès at the Grand PalaisThe Web site is on line In the January issue of Quadriges we told you that horses and horsemanship would soon be back in the Nave with the Saut Hermès in the Grand Palais. The programme for April 3 and 4 will feature four CSI5* show jumping events, an equestrian spectacular entitled Charivari by the internationally renowned trainer Bartabas, and plenty more surprises... Tickets will be on sales as from February 4 on the event's newly opened Web site. France-Russia Year under wayThe Russian National Exhibition in the Grand Palais A ceremony was organised at the French Foreign Office, Quai d'Orsay on January 25, and attended notably by Frédéric Mitterrand, French Minister of Culture, to mark the start of Franco-Russian Year. More than 350 events will take place in France and Russia as part of this major rendezvous for the two countries. The Russian National Exhibition in the Grand Palais will be a highlight of Franco-Russian Year. From June 12 to 16, the Nave will pay tribute to the quality and efficiency of Franco-Russian collaboration, contributing to the development of strategic, economic and commercial partnerships, and stimulating cross-investment and innovation between the two countries. What goes into restoration? A special series on craftsmanshipThe south-east loggia © Coll. Grand Palais, François Tomasi Quadriges continues to explore the crafts that are involved in a restoration project. In January we looked at staff, an important part of the Alexandre-III restoration. This month we focus on the mosaic in the south-east loggia, located on the avenue Winston-Churchill side of the building. 2/ Mosaic cutters and setters: painting for eternity The art of mosaic is almost as old as civilisation itself. We know that it existed as early as the third century BC and was considered as "painting for eternity". At the time, mosaics were set directly in place. There was no room for mistakes and mosaic workers were among the most skilled craftsmen. Since then, techniques have changed. We put three questions to Richard Boyer, manager of the Paris branch of the company Socra, which restored the mosaic floors of the loggia on the avenue Winston Churchill side of the Grand Palais. Why did the mosaics in the loggia need restoring? Originally, the floors in the loggias were paved with marble mosaics, but these were modified in the 1960s to make way for glass tiles intended to allow light into the rooms below. When these glass pieces were removed to reproduce the original layout, it became clear that some mosaic was missing and some had been damaged. Half of our work consisted of replacing the missing tesserae and the other half of restoring what had been damaged. So what exactly is a mosaic? Generally it s a figurative or geometrical decoration made from small cubes assembled together. These tesserae can be made from different materials: glass, marble, ceramics, or terracotta. The tesserae in the loggia were made from limestone or marble. How many tesserae did you use? Given that it takes over 6,000 tesserae to cover one square meter, and that the area of the loggia is around 126 m2, we used some 756,000 tesserae! The whole job took nearly six months. Tuesdays at the Grand PalaisThe movies In February, the Grand Palais and the publisher Presses universitaires de France invite you to a new cycle of lecture/debates devoted this month to the cinema. Tuesdays at the Grand Palais are moderated by Arnaud Laporte, producer and presenter of the Tout arrive ! radio show broadcast on France Culture. Tuesday February 2: Biopics, adaptations: can the cinema still make up stories? With Serge Toubiana (director of the Cinémathèque française film library), Laurent Storch (CEO of TF1 Films Production and programme director at TF1), Guillaume Laurant (screenplay writer) and Alain Viala (professor of literature and director of the collection Les Littéraires, PUF). Tuesday February 9: Is cinema still the stuff that dreams are made of? Tuesday February 16: Digital, 3D, special effects: is the cinema giving way to artificiality? Next month's cycle will be devoted to architecture. |
A word from the presidentWhen the French President and the Minister of Culture entrusted me with the task of renovating the Grand Palais and making it a key part of an ambitious project for the greater Paris area, I did not consider my mission in purely administrative and financial terms. The Grand Palais may be the ideal meeting place for culture, in the many forms that it takes today, and audiences that are equally diversified. This is why I decided to involve people from many different backgrounds and countries in the new project, so that the Grand Palais of the future would benefit from the widest possible range of input, know-how and imagination. I shall build the feedback from this broad consultation process into the proposals I shall be submitting to the French authorities on March 31. Jean-Paul Cluzel President of the Établissement public du Grand Palais FigaroscopeIn its February 3 issue, the popular Figaroscope magazine devoted a special feature to the Grand Palais, offering readers a chance to find out more about a building described as "the place to be", with a look ahead to all the year's upcoming events. Don’t miss thisMonumenta 2010. Christian Boltanski, Personnes January 13 - February 21 Nave of the Grand Palais For its 3rd edition, Monumenta has invited leading French artist Christian Boltanski. His original installation is conceived as a powerful psychological and physical statement, a spectacular and emotional work that questions the nature and meaning of humanity. Turner and his painters February 24-May 24 Galeries nationales du Grand Palais The exhibition explores and illustrates the development of Turner's very personal vision, through the many chance or deliberate, but always opportune and enriching meetings that influenced his remarkable career. Nearly 100 paintings and other graphic works from major collections will be on show. What the dinosaurs ate. Till May 2, Palais de la Découverte So just what did the dinosaurs eat? Find out at this stunning exhibition, in a spectacular décor with animated, life-size dinosaurs, guaranteed to thrill! Clay, a story with a future Till August 29 Palais de la Découverte From the first Palaeolithic statuettes to lubricants for aircraft engines via paper coatings, clay has been used in all kinds of applications. AgendaArt Paris + Guests March 18-22 Nave of the Grand Palais The artistic event of the Spring, Art Paris returns to the Grand Palais with a brand new concept. The way of Tao March 31-July 5 Galeries nationales du Grand Palais This ambitious event is the first ever of its kind in Europe to be devoted to Taoism, which, along with Confucianism and Buddhism, is one of the three main Chinese philosophies. RER : 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 |
 |
|
|
Cancel your subscription to the newsletter
"In accordance with French legislation on the protection of physical persons in connection with the processing of data of a personal nature (Law N° 2004-801 of August 6 2004) amending the prior legislation relative to information technology and civil liberties (law N° 78-17 of January 6 1978), all users having directly or indirectly supplied personal information may request that such information be communicated to them and demand the rectification thereof."
Executive editor: Jean-Paul Cluzel, President La Réunion des musées nationaux – Grand Palais Chief editor: Marie Senk © Grand Palais, 2011 |
|
 |
|
