Until the 24th of July, the Musée du quai Branly in Paris is hosting an exhibition about the Dogon culture from Mali, and the history of art from the 10th century onwards, with over 330 amazing works from international private and public collections, brought together for the first time in France.

The Musée du quai Branly, in the centre of Paris, is devoted to the cultures of Africa, America, and Asia, and is also known as “the museum of the view of the others.” So the latest exhibition is in line with the ethos of showcasing unknown cultures through their arts.

The Dogons are a people from Mali, in West Africa, which inhabit a semi-desert territory in the plateau of Bandariaga, which meets the mounts of Homburi. Though the territory is considered a tourist destination, it’s really only known for its dances, masks and wooden sculptures. Little is known of the hamlet in the fault of Bandariaga, constructed entirely from mud, which has been made World Heritage by UNESCO, due to its unique form of architecture.

Dogon art is deeply linked with its religious practices, which are based in the worship of ancestors, and spirits and deities. Daily life is based round a series of rites involving a range of artifacts. One thing to bear in mind though is that one rite still important amongst the Dogon community is female genital mutilation. It is a tradition so deeply entrenched in the culture that until a woman has been subjected to this awful act, she cannot marry.

Dogon architecture is one of the most impressive uses of space in the whole world. It is all related to the paradigms of the physical; where different parts of the body, and the senses, are related to daily activities and surroundings. The kitchen is an enormous, circular space, and represents the head, and therefore intelligence and thought. The stomach and torso are rectangular spaces dedicated to food, rest and recreation and social life. The extremities are small rectangles and are used for storage, and small chores. And to ward off evil spirits, doors are decorated with artistic figures based on the Dogon cosmology.

The Dogon bolts are perhaps the least known pieces of art, and probably the most interesting of the region. The artifacts, which are used to close the barn and hut doors, are made in the shape of animal and human figures, and decorated with geometric patterns. The shapes and decoration are chosen by the blacksmith, who is believed to have religious power due to his skills with metal and fire. Every family has a type of bolt, which is passed down the generations, and determines their place in society.

http://www.quaibranly.fr/es/programmation/exposiciones/pronto/dogon.html?S=qdb

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Nancy Guzman

If you are intrigued by this strange and mysterious culture, and happen to be spending a few days renting apartments in Paris go down to Musée du Quai Branly. Discover the history, culture and art works of the famous Dogon.

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Translated by: Poppy
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La Maison Européenne de la Photographie presents the retrospective exposition El Objeto Fotográfico, Una invención permanente based on the works accomplished in the eighties by the photographer and plastic arts artist Patrick Tosani. This exhibit, commissioned by Annie Cartier-Besson and opened  to the public until the 19th of June, investigates the reasons modern photographers use avant-garde photographic techniques of the 50′s, 60′s and 70′s discarding much easier and modern technological approaches.

This exposition proposes an evaluation of the means that were used to obtain a photo and the process of development  which makes a enormous difference in the final result of the photograph, inviting us to reflect on the verity that every shot is a unique piece

Even if we live in  times of massive improvements and technological possibilities to capture images, there is a returning to the past amongst well known  contemporaneous photographers that see in the artistic creation of the captured image by the avant- garde artists a new approach to the original methods of photography from back in the days. The re-discovery of this artisan practice that demands creativity and extra use of time, of testing and failing, of appropriation of the right speed and light signifies a new path in the field of creation and art.

Patrick Tossani was born in Boissy l’Aillerie in Val-d’Oise, France, in 1954. He studied architecture in Paris and from the beginnings of the 80′s started experimenting with photographic techniques and the resources used by famous photographers of the last century. This pioneering of the past of returning to the origins of photography has given him recognition in the most famous modern art museums of  of the world

Tosani’ photos capture what seem like banal objects, worked under the concept of  fragments that brings back  the essential spirit of life, those small fragments we keep in our memory, sometimes decontextualized but that form a part of a full unit that plays with the mastership of light, framing, exposition, etc.

Even if he is not considered a conceptual artist, his photos play with surrealism concepts that the image directly imposes in the viewers eye, the subjectivity that his images transmit is extremely interesting.

currently he is a teacher at the National School of Fine Arts in Paris and works permanently with new artistic experimentations in photography. Tosani’s work nowadays is centered in the quest of the creation thru less sophisticated technical resources. He has permanent expositions in various international museum and is considered one of the most interesting artists.

More Info: http://www.mep-fr.org/actu_4.htm

Nancy Guzman

If you stay in apartments in Paris treating yourself to a couple of days of luxury go visit this exposition. A great opportunity to get an overlook of the work of Tosani through never before exhibited works.

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Translated by: Marc
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The world of Pornography is one that has been created by men, although men aren’t the only ones who consume it. Women have often felt like they have been pushed into the background, but this is slowly beginning to change. For some time now many XXX films have been made exclusively by and for women – women who were tired of waiting.

Anna Arrowsmith, known in the pornography world as Anna Span, has been a director of pornography for no less than 12 years, and she has been fighting for the rights of women and their freedom for sexual expression for just as long. What is the difference between her films and ‘conventional’ pornography? According to her, the films she makes don’t feature women dressed as schoolgirls, nurses, babysitters or desperate housewives. Nor are there any gangsters, multimillionaires, drug dealers or sex machines to be seen.

Erika Lust, another director, assures us that it is myth to say that women don’t like porn. But she does admit that the majority of films are made by and for men and that they aim to satisfy male viewers, using women as objects.

Lust has already directed three films and written three books about the theme. On her webpage Erika Lust states that she and everyone involved in making her films make love, ‘not porn’.

These are just two out of the many female directors currently involved in the world of pornographic cinema. Each has their own style, but one thing they all have in common is that they try to appeal to both men and women equally, not just providing satisfaction to one gender.

MiLK

If you feel like enjoying some erotic films together with your partner then remember that there is nowhere better to do so than Paris – city of love and lovers. Rent one of the apartments in Paris and treat yourselves to a night in after spending the day seeing the city’s many sights.

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Translated by: Ben Palmer
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Located at number 10, Avenue Pierre-Ier-de-Serbie, the charming nineteenth-century neo-classical palace of the Duchess of Galliera has, since 1977, housed the extraordinary Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris (The Paris Fashion Museum).

Its collection of over one hundred thousand pieces ranges from exquisite pre-revolutionary garments to creations by the best contemporary designers. At the collection’s heart you can find 300 pieces by Madam Grès, many of which make up the Madame Grès: la couture à l’œuvre exhibition, open to the public until July 24.

Over the course of the history of fashion there are few cases that can be compared to that of Madame Grès (1903-1995). She has always inspired – even after her death – unconditional admiration in her peers: from Yves St Laurent (founded on her example according to Pierre Bergé) to Azzedine Alaïa, Alber Elbar to Yamamoto, and Halston to Maíz Bowles. However, she is largely unknown to the public, tragically forgotten by the vast majority over the course of the last thirty or forty years. In fact, her death, in the south of France in the middle of ruins so amazing that they could have come out of a poem by Verlaine, went by almost unnoticed. She had always shunned publicity, marketing and interviews, often commenting “I don’t have anything to say, but I have everything to show.”

The reason for her rapid decline and fall from grace was her refusal and/or inability to work on ready-to-wear clothing lines. She was the designer’s designer par excellence, both rigorous and a purist, gifted with undeniable talent. Madame Grès always considered herself a sculptor who worked with fabric, creating her pieces from outside the fashion world. Her dedication exclusively to haute couture came from her concept of design as a process in which the personal relationship and dialogue between the creator and the client was essential.

Few designers have respected the female body as much as she did or have exalted it to such an extent, as can be seen both in her emblematic pleated evening gowns or her minimalist dresses for day wear. They are always comfortable and easy to wear and reveal her interest in ancient Greece, India, North Africa and Japan.

Paul Oilzum

Despite, or perhaps because of this designer’s uncompromising attitude to her work, it remains both modern and relevant to our times, as you will be able to see for yourself if you rent apartments in Paris

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Translated by: Ben Palmer
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Sex, without a doubt, has a big effect on a person’s mood, and specialists have even recommended it for relaxation and improvement of health. But now, a new study has revealed that some women are actually happier when they are in a sexual relationship.

So if people were already thinking this, science has gone one step further and confirmed it. The person in charge of the investigations, Susa Davis, from Monash University in Australia, asserts that many of the things which society takes as a given are little more than rumours – and that this was something they wanted to prove.

Scientists have confirmed that many of the problems suffered by women are related to sex – pleasure, desire, and satisfaction are just three of these topics. This is often a problem in women which is not taken into account by doctors, or given any serious thought – because it is not something that can be “seen” – unlike for example erectile dysfunction in men.

The study was carried out on 300 women, and whilst scientists say they have to continue with their investigations, the preliminary results are promising.

One of the key points to mention about the survey is that it wasn’t performed by a private business (a pharmaceutical company for example), and so therefore did not have any financial motives, suggesting total authenticity.?

MiLK

You already know that sex makes women more happy – so if you are one of them, or you have a girlfriend you want to please, rent apartments in Paris and experience one of the most romantic cities in the world.

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Translated by: Poppy
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Christened Lucy Schwob in October 1894, Claude Cahun was the unisex name officially adopted for her work as writer, artist and performer. Her uncle was French writer Marcel Schwob (1867-1905), who was associated to literary figures such as André Gide, Alfred Jarry, Stéphane Mallarmé, Octave Mirbeau, Paul Valéry, Colette and Oscar Wilde, who dedicated his poem La Esfinge (1894) to him, “with friendship and admiration.” Schwob, along with Adolphe Retté and Piere Louÿs collaborated with Wilde in the French editing of the work of Salomé.

In 1925, came the public statement in homosexual-leaning magazine Inversions: “My opinion of homosexuality and homosexuals is exactly the same as my opinion of heterosexuality and homosexuals – it all depends on the individual and the circumstances. I believe in the right to behave how you like.”

It was probably this statement about the freedom of the individual which was the key reason for her involvement with the surrealist group, who always held her in high esteem and admiration. Her friend Pierre Marc Orlan wrote the preface for the strange and fascinating book “Aveux non avenus” (a cult piece when it was published in 1930, and today considered a great example of Surrealist literature). Andre Breton thought so highly of her that he considered her one of the four or five most extraordinary spirits of the generation, and wrote her personally to tell her how essential it was that she continue writing and publishing her work. In 1936, after the publication of the seminal article “Watch out for domestic objects” in magazine Cahiers d´Art she participated in a surrealist exhibition at Paris’ Ratton Gallery, and collaborating in the big surrealist exhibition in London.

However, her permanent retirement to British Jersey after the Second World War caused her name to be gradually forgotten. Then, when her photographs were included in exhibition L´Amour fou: Photography and Surrealism at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington in 1985, she was rediscovered, and her work was reevaluated, in modern, feminist terms. In her pioneering self-portraits – to which artists of the 70s and 80s such as Cindy Sherman owe a lot – Cahun experiments with her own body through the adoption of different characters and disguises (not unlike Duchamp’s Eros Sélavy) – suggesting the possibility of a multiple persona and identity – and sexuality – which is not definable, but imprecise.

At the permanent collection at the Pompidou Centre in Paris you can see you some of those created in 1919, as well as seven of her unforgettable photographs.

Paul Oilzum

Eight amazing pictures which still have the ability to surprise. Going and seeing them wouldn’t be a bad idea when you rent an apartments in Paris

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Translated by: Poppy
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This is the eighth edition of the Agora festival, organized by the Pompidou Centre in Paris and IRCAM (Institute for Research and Coordination Acoustic/Music). This festival of contemporary music, held over the course of 10 days, will feature various artistic disciplines such as theatre, dance and the visual arts. Its diversity provides the festival with a special richness.

The last edition of the festival focused on the theme ‘prototypes’, inspired by the work of Marcel Proust. Over the course of 12 days, numerous acts from a variety of artistic disciplines performed or exhibited their works in different locations around the beautiful city of Paris. This year the Pompidou Centre will be one of the spaces dedicated to the festival, while IRCAM have allocated a series of sites, distributed around the city, to host contemporary music from 8 to 18 June.

This 2011 edition places more emphasis on modern classical music and contemporary dance. Among the performances that festival-goers will be able to enjoy is Tales of the Bodiless, held in the Pompidou Centre and presenting some of the best contemporary dancers between the 10 and 11 June. As regards the musical side of the festival, there are already various artists confirmed on the official webpage of the festival, including Mèridien Stockhausen, Diego Tosi and Remix Ensemble.

The opening of the festival will feature the first comedy opera by the composer Marco Stroopa, based on a story written by Verdi, and titled Re Osro. Another not-to-be-missed show takes place in la Cité de la Musique, a space dedicated to the vocal arts, where you can hear new opera, cantata and madrigal singers such as Bruno Mantovani, Johannes Maria Staud and Ivan Fedele. Information about ticket prices and the programmed events will be updated throughout April.

Here you have the link to keep up-to-date with the latest information: http://agora.ircam.fr/

Luz Obscura

The Agora Festival is a perfect meeting point for lovers of the contemporary arts. If you’re one of them then rent apartments in Paris and come and enjoy this city of art and beauty.

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Translated by: Ben Palmer
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Up until the 15 of June in Paris you will have the opportunity to take a walk thru the rich assortment of worlds multi-culture ethnicity in the Maison des Cultures de Monde where the Festival de L’Imaginaire will take place. This 15 year old festival wants to  unlock intellectual frontiers thru the communal knowledge amongst countries and different races. With this idea in mind, expositions, audio visual projections, concerts, dances and conferences will take place

This year a special programming that congregates the life and culture of the “French oversea territories” has been included and will be represented with dances and the ceremonial activities of Reunion Island, a paradise found in the Indic Ocean right in front of the island of Madagascar, where the ceremony of Bal Tamoul,primed with songs about legends and accompanied by dances that talk about the birth and death and the lovers of the Goddess Valli, who was born thru the union of a deer and a ascetic

The Guyana culture will be present with the dance of the Amerindian culture, in this case, the Wayapi Tribe, who will perform at 101 Raspail Boulevard of the sixth district of Paris.  The Wayapi originate  from the region of Oyapock near the Amapori River in Brazil, which border limits with the French Guyana. During the XIX century, its population was decimated by an plague that reduced its population from 6000 members to 600 in only one year. Presently they have recovered part of their population and have recuperated  their ancestral culture with ceremonial rites and religious dances.

Amongst the most interesting activities in this festival is the exposition “The power of the Masks” in the Centre de Documentacion sur le Espectacles du Monde Vitre, Masks have been an instrument  used to hide the personality of who wears it and give the mask possessor  a power above all those unmasked. In many cultures they have been used for daily and secret rituals, but also to enjoy furtively illegal pleasures or sinful ones. Masks personify ancestors and the deceased, the spirits of the ones entering the lives of those existing in a world that is vanishing

As in other editions, there will be music from Mexico exemplified by The Lions of the Sierra de Xichu that with their arribeno sound originally from Queretaro and San Luis of Potosi which most likely will have you doing tequila shots in no time at all!

We cannot forget the wonderful songs and dances from Uzbekistan, the Sufi songs of Yemen, the pearl divers of Bahrein, as well as the discovering of Indian musical roots with their motivating regional music that will transport us to the beginning of the instigation of sophisticated music

Look at the world thru the kaleidoscope of races and cultures is a good starting point to create open tolerant societies, that is why this is a great chance to enjoy this gigantic festivity laced with conferences and exhibitions and learn that our world is to a great extent more brighter than out opaque daily routine

More Info:  http://www.festivaldelimaginaire.com/

Nancy Guzman

If you’re in apartments in Paris enjoying the beauty of spring swing by this festival. It’s a great way to spend your time, but the best about it is to meet the many representatives of other cultures and to understand how love and passion are part of humanity.

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Translated by: Marc
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Charles Perrault (1628-1703) was a French writer made famous in the 17th century for adapting the stories which had traditionally been told by word of mouth, such as Sleeping Beauty, and Puss in Boots.

At that time, the stories were very tragic and violent, containing tales of cannibalism, masochism, infanticide. It was Perrault who modified them, replacing much of the violence with a sensual, erotic element.

One clear example of this is Little Red Riding Hood. In the original version, the young girl mistakenly drinks the blood her grandmother, and eats some of her flesh. The French writer changed this, adding an implicit element of sexuality; “Little Red Riding Hood undressed, and got into the bed. She was surprised to find her Grandmother without any clothes on.”

It’s interesting to learn how these traditional tales, which have been told all round the world, in countless different ways, were ordered by the King to be adapted in the 17th century. Nowadays, these stories are much less sexual, and far more adapted for young readers. But it’s also good for grown ups too to where these famous tales come from, and discover their more erotic, violent past.

d.b

This type of old story is perfecting for reading out loud in a bedroom, with a glass of champagne in your hand, and music playing in the background. Renting apartments in Paris you’ll find places like this. Explore erotic literature, history and sensuality with your partner.

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Translated by: Poppy
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At number 24 of Paris street Rue d’ Amsterdam, near Saint Lazare station, is a place called Le Bar Britannia. Like some kind of little special, secret tribute, its name is now the only thing which connects it to its past, as a classic locale of the late 19th century. Back then, it was called Austin’s Bar, and not one of its customers could deny the fact that it was an English tavern. A dark, smoke-filled place, where people came for oxtail soup, roast beef, Stilton cheese, smoked haddock, roast potatoes and vast quantities of beer.

Apart from the vague resonance of its name, this little remembered place – though still serving drinks – has pretty much lost its old identity. Nevertheless, it is an essential point in the borderland between the conflicting sensations of anticipating an event, and the event itself. One of the settings where representation of an imagined, preconceived reality in the baroque party of the viscera results in the cancellation of the desire to live what has been conventionally regarded as the ‘true experience.’ One of the great theatres where, in the conflict between faithfulness and even truth, of the reality that we perceive sensually, externally – and which offers our minds imagination, and desire, the fantasy of thinking that literature and art are more real than reality itself, triumphs. The unsalvageable distance between reality and desire in which the whole of life takes place.

Or, in the words of the protagonist of Huysman’s À Rebours, in reference to his regret about turning dreams to reality, as he is sat in the tavern – at which he arrived with the intention of eating before his train to London, having made a rare decision to leave his house and travel to the city for the sole reason of having been inspired by a Charles Dickens novel, and curious about British life – “What good is being able to desplazarse when a person can travel so wonderfully whilst sitting in a chair? Wasn’t he already in London, whose smells, climate, citizens, food already surrounded him? What could he expect to find there apart from new deceptions?”

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Paul Oilzum

Renting one of the apartments in Paris is always an unbeatable option for a short break away.

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Translated by: Poppy
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