I went to Lille, a city in northern France close to the Belgian border, on Friday and Saturday to see the lille3000 art & cultural festival. lille3000 was started in 2004 when Lille was the European Capital of Culture and every year since, the city has hosted the festival with contemporary cultural events all around the city. This year it is called Europe XXL and the theme is eastern European culture starting with Berlin and finishing with Kazakhstan.
I took the easy one hour train from Gard du Nord station, and was met by a very nice young man Yohav Oremiatzki who works in the press office of lille3000. He was kind enough to organize guides to show me the exhibits at various venues around the city. There are over 25 venues and Yohav asked me ahead of time what type of art I was interested in so he can select what he thought I would like.
Close to the train station was the Tri Postal, an old post office that was turned into an art space a number of years ago. The wide open lobby looked like a 70s lounge bar and I was greeted by Caroline, my eager young guide. A common theme I found among the guides, who were mostly student types in their 20s, was their theoretical explanation of the artists and their works. I don't know whether this was self imposed or part of their script but I felt sometimes the work didn't need that much explanation. The show with three installations was called Invisible Borders and the first floor was mostly a black wall with white chalk graffiti by Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi,which made bold political and comedic statements about everything wrong with politics, war, the economy, and the environment. The spirit was much like Keith Haring with simple but effective drawings.
Upstairs was a number of video installations and the most provocative was Katarzyna Kozyra's documenting the famous Budapest baths. In order to infiltrate the men's section of the baths, Kozyra miraculously pretended to be a man by adding a prosthetic life like penis, and somehow making her chest look like a mans, while hiding an almost invisible camera in her towel. Pretty wild, out there stuff.
The second venue was the Saint Sauveur Station, a former train station that has been made into a cultural center that includes an art space, a circus, a playground for kids, cafe & restaurant, and movie theater. (Apparently making art spaces out of old industrial buildings is the rage in Lille). My energetic guide Vincent looking hip-hoppish in his long black shorts and T-shirt took me through Hotel Europa, a set of kitchy rooms decorated in 50s and 60s style which can be rented out for parties or special occasions by the hour. Talk about conceptual art! A photography exhibit by a collective of wild and crazy Russian artists called the PG group show outrageous photo collages satirizing modern Moscow life. The highlight was the hypnotic video The Feast of Trimalchio on three wide screens. The new work by AES+F collective is based on Satirycon by Petronius which depicts a modern day fantasy scenario of eternal youth and unlimited wealth in an exotic luxury hotel where nobody seems to have problems or human issues.
My guide Vincent at Hotel Europa installation.You can rent this room for a special occasion.
The hypnotic video The Feast of Trimalchio
At the stunning Palais des Beaux -Arts Museum (finally, a real art museum), was Istanbul Traversee, an homage by over 20 artists to the great city of Istanbul. The works were not a picture postcard showing off the city but rather a very personal and sometimes political view of the complicated culture of its Greek, Roman,Byzantine, and Ottoman roots. Although most of the work was interesting and well executed, there wasn't anything that jolted me. Maybe the theme was too broad and I also think the splendor of the architecture of the museum itself overshadowed the art.
On Saturday morning I went to yet another converted art space, the L'Hospice Comtesse, a former hospital built in 1237. The show Hypnos has a most interesting theme, a visual history of the unconscious from 1900-1949 including the occult and surrealism with films, paintings, drawings, and sculptures. The informative guide Miriam relayed fascinating stories of some of the artists, many of whom did not consider themselves artists, often having day jobs. Her explanations gave a another dimension to the show so I felt they were justified. Well known artists like Brassai, Duchamp, Paul Klee, Miro, and Max Ernst were represented but I found the work by lesser know artists, some of them outsider artists including Adolph Wolfi to be more fascinating. Victor Brauner's work was outstanding and his striking surreal paintings haunted me.
Palais des Beaux -Arts Museum
Victor Brauner
Last but not least was my favorite show of all, the installation Bornhouse at the 17th century Eglise Sainte Marie-Madeleine, which I almost skipped because I was getting arted out. I'm glad I didn't. When you walk you are struck by three 25 ft. archways crammed from floor to ceiling with stainless steel pots. Behind is the enchanting Bornhouse made of lace and cardboard designed by Russian architect Yuri Avvakumov. Once you are inside the house, you peer into the little peepholes and you find small works by additional architects that are similar in weight and size of a newborn baby, hence the name of the exhibit.
As you know I have a thing for babies, so the icing on the cake was the massive, intimidating baby sculptures in black resin dominating the rue Faidherbe. The first sculpture is the apocalyptic horseman First Rider and the others are the twelve Angels & Demons.
Bornhouse
Angels & Demons
The Apocalyptic Horseman First Rider
I'm so glad I had the opportunity to see lille3000 and if you are in Paris it is absolutely worth the short jaunt to Lille to see something quite special. Thanks again to Yohav for making all my arrangements.
If you can't make it to lille3000, many of the exhibits are at the Venice Biennale 2009.
More about Lille tomorrow.
lille3000
Till July 12, 2009
www.lille3000.com
New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.
Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.
Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.
I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour
includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.
I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com
