Until November 13th, the Gaite Lyrique Gallery in Paris exhibits “Trackers” by Mexican artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. La Gaite Lyrique is a space designed to promote music and digital art, a space in which the work of Lozano-Hemer develops with fluidity but especially his last work piece Trackers fits in like a charm.

Trackers is an interesting digital art piece, where Lozano-Hemmer focuses the viewer into experiencing feelings of vulnerability and fragility when subjected to surveillance, a topic on which he has focused part of his works. His work focuses on exploring the perception of viewers.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer was born in Mexico and lives in Canada. He works with digital technologies in public spaces, what might be called kinetic public sculpture. To achieve this he uses walls, facades and doors, choosing places that represent the society of control, or places where power lies. His  proposal is a radical critique of the system that drives citizens off the roads to build indoor and organized spaces just to have total control over the vulnerable citizen

Lozano-Hemmer is a provocateur who likes to play with messages while  performing his works in places like churches, public institutions, etc.. he defines each of these works as an exploration of the answers, because that’s where the meaning of his work lies at.

Trakers is a unprecedented proposal for Lozano-Hemmer for the  Gaite Lyrique. It is organized around 12 parts and combines interactivity, projections and detection devices that are used to locate things such as a sonar, a GPS or bracelets that put dangerous detainees under control when set free. He uses these control systems to engage the public. Everything is organized to capture all the movements occurring at the moment, using scanners, infrared, powerful projectors and recording systems.

The feeling obtained is as if we were to say: “We have everything under control, so do not try to get out of the system”. This causes restlessness, anxiety and the feeling that even our most intimate thoughts are traced. It is not the machines that control us, it is the mind, it is self-censorship to which we are taken to by control methods of political and economical systems. That is the exploration that disturbs Lozano-Hemmer and subjugates the public attending to see his kinetic sculptures.

For years, Michel Foulcault recognized a similar fusion between the different spaces of enclosure: family, school, church, barracks, jail, shopping center, asylum etc. Despite the different roles they play in society, they all perform the same function of discipline and social control by means of disciplinary coercion. Gilles Deleuze, risks it further by noting that this control model is experiencing a crisis.

It is about this crisis in the Orwellian society of control which we live in, that the works of Lozano-Hemmer turns our stomachs and makes us convulsively think so about other forms of friendlier societies,of freedom and free encounters.

For more information. http://www.gaite-lyrique.net/programmation/theme/rafael-lozano-hemmer

Nancy Guzman

To rent apartments in Paris is the best thing you can do this fall. This way you can reflect on society through the work of this Mexican artist who was inspired by French thinkers and at the same time enjoy this beautiful city.

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Translated by: Marc
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The Centre Georges Pompidou exhibits a retrospective of the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama until the 9^th of January. The exhibition is organized with 150 works that cover the different stages of the artist between 1949 and 2001.

Yayoi Kusama has been part of the art scene during the twentieth century, extensive work is reflected in this exhibition with a selection that takes the different achievements of her career: paintings, sculptures, performances and installations.

Yayoi Kusama actively participated in the New York Pop Art from the 60s, where she lived the excesses of an era of psychedelic experimentation that unbalanced her fragile mental condition, that is why she returned to her native Japan in 1973.

She was born in Marsumoro, Japan, in 1929. She has always had a Rebellious and libertarian spirit. She began painting when she was 10, while playing with her mind hallucinations. The confusing relationship with her mother, a violent woman who was obsessed with the eccentricities of her daughter and push the artist to always keep that emotional distress, which eventually make her mental problems even worst.

Her mind and her creations have always gone hand in hand, as a way of escape that has led her to hallucinations in paintings or drawings that give her work a dreamlike sense. Her trip to Kyoto and then New York was the escape from the unhealthy relationship with her mother.

New York impressed her and she impressed its community of artists, who by that time, was very active socially and politically, product of the Vietnam War it had radicalized the intellectual sectors of the American society, Kusama soon joined the creative energy invading the city.

A year after arriving in New York, she had her first solo exhibition, which was called Infinity Nets and presented five large paintings with classical networks. The show was a hit and two great critics, Ashton and Judd, compared her with the great American painter Jackson Pollock.

Far from the intention of fitting her into a stream of contemporary art, she has said too many times that she is just an obsessive artist, who only fought to survive in the midst of bohemian artists and writers of all kinds of avant-garde, movements such as the beatnicks, hippies and other countercultural groups, seeking to change the world and end the wars, colonialism and capitalism.

Kusama has been defined as a deeply political artist and lover of politics, attributing this last one to her family. She defended her performances where naked men appeared covered with painted spots, as some works whose political background were the rejection of the hypocrisy of the war. Kusama is an artist who has done everything in life, even her books are known and have good sales ranking.

For more information:

http://www.centrepompidou.fr/Pompidou/Manifs.nsf/AllExpositions/4F8E5815BF637B0CC125782500325246?OpenDocument&sessionM=2.2.2&L=1&form=Actualite

Nancy Guzman

If you plan to come and relax a few days in apartments in Paris this is a good opportunity to do so. Come and visit the Pompidou and admire the works of Yayoi Kusama and buy some stuff for the new season.

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Translated by: Hans
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There is no doubt that the mere mentioning of ancient China, one that forged an exquisite culture in the shadow of the Forbidden City, brings us back to a mythical time! This fascination has caught equally ordinary people as well as great artists, from Puccini’s Opera (1926) Turandot (1926) to the better-known Bernardo Bertolucci film The Last Emperor (1987) there have been many artists who have fallen for this fascinating culture. Maybe part of this interest lies in both its cultural exoticism (from the European or Western standpoint of view) and the secrecy with which it has surrounded itself since immemorial times .

Nothing should be more remembered than the Forbidden City, now a favorite destination of international tourism but that was almost two days ago a place only accessible to a privileged elite. The communist regime present during most of the twentieth century was also very unfavorable to the opening of it to the foreign community. While this is different nowadays, and China now seems to be popular, it is still a city unknown to Western public. Today, after the success of the great staging of the last Olympic Games of 2008 and that China is in the news on a daily basis for its starring role in the current economic climate it seems that we are in the new golden age of China and the Chinese have had to think something like that as to present this fabulous exhibition at the Louvre Museum.

Entitled “The Forbidden City in the Louvre. China’s emperors and kings of France “, at the Parisian temple of art, this exhibition is on display from September 29th until January 9th, 2012 a unique exhibition with paintings, furniture, calligraphy on silk, bronze and ceramic sculptures belonging to the Chinese royal palaces . Together with a model of the Forbidden City, it will be displaying art objects that are dated from the twelfth century until the mid-nineteenth century. The enigmatic calligraphy on silk are shown in Richelieu Hall (do remember, this  space retains Louvre bibliographic jewels, engravings and drawings of all ages and all continents).

If we observe calmly we can get an idea of ??what led to the Forbidden City to become the  center of power and governance of the various dynasties of emperors. The imperial sites consists of a walled area of over 72 hectares on which are situated about 900 buildings and 8500 rooms. Perhaps only the Versailles Palace is able to overshadow in enormity and luxurious materials. The Forbidden City is built on a complex symbolic model in which each space, orientation and color has a meaning. Precious woods, rich porcelains, exquisite silks and decorated luxury objects adorn the palace, now a World Heritage Site. For this exhibition at the Louvre a total of 130 pieces of all kinds has been chosen to show Western audiences the secrets of more than seven centuries of imperial splendor. If you want more practical information

check the link to the official website:

http://www.louvre.fr/llv/exposition/liste_expositions.jsp?pageId=1&bmLocale=fr_FR

Candela Vizcaíno

Remember that some groups (families, friends of the museum, professionals) have free access to the this exhibition so don’t forget to rent some fine apartments in Paris in advance.

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Translated by: Marc
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Until the 29th of January, the Ville de Paris Museum of Modern Art exhibits the sculptural work of the German neo-expressionist Georg Baselitz. Th exhibition proposes a retrospective look to the work of Baseltiz, exhibiting previously unseen works in France, where there are 40 sculptures on painted wood that were made between 1979 and 2010.

Baselitz’s sculptures have been important in the outlook on his work, and that’s what the exhibition focuses on, but they’ve also taken paintings and engravings to give a global and coherent look on the totality of his work and, for that, they’ve selected seven paintings and different works of engraving on paper.

Georg Baselitz, was born in Deutschbaselitz, Germany, in 1938. Painter, sculptor and engraver, he’s considered one of the main exponents of neo-expressionism, and he studied and began his artistic work in East Germany. He changed his real name, Hans Georg Kern, when he fled to West Germany in 1958.

He became known after a police action against one of his paintings where a child masturbating appeared.In his first individual exhibition at Werner & Katz Gallery in Berlin, he provoked public scandal. Two of his paintings were decommissioned for allegedly having images of high sexual content. With this, he was directly accused of obscene.

His work and studies were focused on the subject of anamorphosis, and the studies regarding the art of the mentally ill, which have him new figurative elements exploring an alien reality of what’s considered normal.

He baffled the world of art with his inverted images, where he tried to subvert the look on the world and mark his opposing position to expressionism and abstractionism, making of the painting, uncomfortable company. Baselitz swam against the tide in art, and he rejected the incorporation of art in the commodity of living rooms, as it had happened to Picasso or the impressionists that were born to provoke and ended up decorating the walls of living rooms.

Baselitz has been a innovating and restless in the search of new forms to represent his creations, to the point where he’s partially eliminated the brush to replace it with fingers, in the same way that little children do.

He’s an author of extensive, intense and controverted works, which art critics and historians have tried to reduce many times labelling it anachronistic and even obscene. His rebel art, irreverent of the ‘grotesque’ paintings, of the ‘inverted’ images, tries to reach a new image from the anti-aesthetic, from the deconstruction of reality, in a permanent confrontation with the history of art.

If you look in history and the work of the artist, together with his thoughts on the essential condition of painting and sculpture and fragments of his manifesto ‘The painter’s weapons’, you can say that Baselitz is an outsider of painting.

For more information: http://mam.paris.fr/fr/expositions/baselitz-sculpteur

Nancy Guzman

To enjoy a few good days in apartments in Paris you have to make plans that suit the style that this city gives you, as well as going to the Ville de Paris Museum of Modern Art to find the magnificent work of Georg Baselitz.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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At the risk of appearing monstrously frivolous, it is easy sometimes to fall into the temptation to say, that from a certain perspective, Death did not quite get it right with Edvard Munch in 1909. Somehow it’s as if, to use one of the iconic Scandinavian culture images of twentieth-century, death had neglected after playing in a seemingly unbeatable chess game of which the duration of the days of the Norwegian painter depended, to win that game.

Munch himself was soon to checkmate the king ending the game, leaving the painter who perhaps best represents the link and or transit between Symbolism and Expressionism in the hospital where attending (it is difficult to say “waiting to be cured” as everyone seemed to agree that the computation of this possibility was practically zero) an acute nervous crisis, accompanied by a decade plagued by severe illness, and that should have made death win that cursed game he insistently tried to win and failed

At the end of the day, Edvard Munch was quite possibly the artist who, through a series of unique works (characterized, apart from their high emotional content and expressiveness, completely intertwined in subject and symbol)  took huge steps beyond the more advanced painters of that period, representing with a masterful touch the themes and obsessions of the last decade of the nineteenth century and its extension in the aftermath of the early twenties. They are all present in his work during these years: the figure of Salome, the femme fatale, the transmutations of the feminine and the terror of female sexuality, vampirism, desire, jealousy, science, melancholy … Even implementation and embodiment of the principle that the modern artist must risk and jeopardize his skin to give life and shape to his  own creations.

So its  not too difficult to think that Munch should perhaps have died earlier, culminating the masterpiece that had been his life, in that hospital in 1909, since when we remember almost exclusively his work in the art production before that time.

But Munch keept playing the game with death and continued to for decades, although we never pay any attention to the work done during that long period, he was a great modern artist who did not hesitate to enter open unexplored territory for new arts like photography and film (was it not, strictly speaking, the conception of The Frieze of Life, essentially cinematic in its grandeur?) as can be seen at the remarkable exhibition under the title Edvard Munch, the modern eye (1900-1844) which the Georges Pompidou Center devotes to starting the next 9th of January 9.

More Info: http://www.centrepompidou.fr

Paul Oilzum

This is a comprehensive and ambitious exhibition which aims to shift the focus on the Norwegian artist and celebrate the quality of the work of that other Munch laughing at the face of Death while hospitalized, who after didn’t do such a bad job and continued to live. Do not miss it when you rent apartments in Paris

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Translated by: Marc
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It would be frankly quite difficult to write a history of modern art which excluded gallery owners and art dealers. From the figure of Ambroise Vollard – the famous art dealer for, among others, Gauguin, Matisse, Cézanne, Renoir or Picasso – made into a giant by his wonderful memoirs, an unforgettable book which constitutes one of the key documents of the artistic and bohemian Parisian world from the Belle Epoque, to the legendary Leo Castelli, the trajectory of 20th century art has been decisively marked by the role of the middle men who present themselves alternatively, sometimes even in a simultaneous way, whether it is as pirates without manners who are responsible for the valuation of the work of the artist depending on exclusively commercial criteria, or as visionaries who are able to gamble their life, fortune and reputation to defend passionately a series of creators who, without them, would have been unable to gain the consideration of museums and art critics.

Whichever their role is in the 21st century, however, it’s as uncertain as the type of society that we will have and the energy sources which will be available in ten, twenty or thirty years. The dangers which threaten our lifestyle, with the threat in the background of the Mayan year, are of such extraordinary magnitude that it’s difficult to state that our habits and customs won’t suffer a radical transformation which is hard to even imagine, despite having been predicted in different ways in  literature and film through works such as ‘Code 46′ or ‘Mad Max’.

However way it is, one of the main characteristics of the traditional Contemporary Art Fair which celebrates its 37th edition at the Place de la Bastille in Paris from October 28th until November 1st, http://www.joel-garcia-organisation.fr/pdf/evenements/198-0-bastille-2011-10-28-presse.pdf is precisely the absence of all types of middle men, as if it was preparing us for a possible return to certain ways of the past.

It’s an event which has always tried to encourage the taste for collecting among the people who have still not made any acquisition of works of art. With this objective, it invites over 500 artists from different fields (painting, photography, sculpture…) to defend their works for themselves – exhibited both on the pavement of the square and in the interior of a duly enabled room – with the conviction that there’s nobody better than the very own artist to convince the potential buyer of the genius of his work.

This way it also tries to create a climate of co-existance and closeness with the artists which separates them from the conception of prima donnas isolated from the world and lacking proximity with their admirers. With them being artists which aren’t yet very well known and leaving out the figure of the middle man, the visitors find themselves with an enormous variety of works which they can acquire at reasonably moderate prices, which possibly explains in good measure the great success that this singular fair has been enjoying in recent years.

Paul Oilzum

This year’s subject is the woman as a muse and the expression of eternal feminine of Goethian roots, which doesn’t stop riming extraordinarily with this fair’s contemporary character, which seems to take us back to another time with all of its exhibitions. Maybe you’d enjoy this trip in time if you rented apartments in Paris

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Festivals are a lot more common in summer and, as the sun distances itself from Europe, the amount of festivals diminishes notably. But in Paris there’s still one more which is a must for all those who love good music. It’s Pitchfork Music Festival 2011, which will take place in the City of Love.

The festival has been taking place since 2006 in Chicago, becoming one of the most respected in the United States. During all of this time, the people of Pitchfork were working to bring this festival to Europe and the chosen country was France. The great day (or days) will be the 28th or 29th of October at La Grand Halle at la Villette, and at the festival you’ll be able to enjoy some of the best bands of today and, also, some which already have plenty of history and experience behind them. There’ll be around 20 bands to which they will add DJs.

The agency which is in charge of organizing everything is SUPER!, which was chosen by Pitchfork so that they would transfer all the ideas and values which the original festival represents, from its birthplace Chicago to Paris.

The capacity of the place is of around 5,000 people, who will be able to dance to the rhythm of the best music and vibes with people with the same style as them, who they’ll be able to mix with without any problems.

Some of the most important bands which have already been confirmed are Bon Iver, Aphex Twin, Lykke Li, Wild Beasts, Cut Copy, Kathleen Edwards, Pantha du Prince and many others which are still to be confirmed.

More information: http://pitchfork.com/news/43044-announcing-pitchfork-music-festival-paris/

La Grande Halle de la Villette: 211, avenue Jean Jaurès, 75019, Paris, France

MiLK

If you want to get to know a spectacular city, listen to some of the most important bands of today’s music scene and attend the first Pitchfork Music Festival outside the USA, you just have to rent apartments in Paris

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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The Musée du Louvre in Paris is one of the most famous cultural landmarks in the world. Thousands of literary works have been inspired by this magical building, home of some of the best art of the ages. A veritable temple to culture, painting and sculpture, visiting the Louvre is both a pleasure and a duty for all tourists to the city.

In addition to the permanent display, temporary exhibitions offered by the museum are often exceptional and well worth the price. From October 2011 until January 2012, the Louvre will be presenting an exhibition called “In the reign of Alexander the Great – Ancient Macedonia”, which will show various aspects of the reign of Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia from the 4^th century BC.

There are over 500 exhibits, many of which have never been displayed before. Thanks to these wonderful artworks, visitors will be able to experience a tour through the entire history of ancient Macedonia, starting in the 15^th century BC and ending with the Roman Empire of our era.

Another interesting thing about this exhibition, as well as the historical value of the works, is that they are distributed in chronological order. Thus visitors will be following the history of the reign of Alexander the Great step by step. They will learn how the kingdom was organized, what education was like in those days, how people thought about men, women, family, religion and death.

Alexander the Great was one of the most famous kings of Macedonia. His father had prepared him for rule by providing him with military training and sending him to learn from Aristotle. Although he died young (32), King Alexander was very active and made many changes to society, emphasising culture and intellect above all things, promoting development and, of course, conquering new lands.

That’s why long before the time of his death, Alexander had already begun to be seen as an almost mythological figure. His deeds seemed too great to have been accomplished by a mere mortal man, so many attributed special powers to him, likening him to a god.

There has always been an aura of mystery around this ancient character. But there can be no doubt that Alexander the Great had a huge impact on the history of Europe. Even today, over 23 centuries later, his deeds are legendary. That is why visiting the Louvre is an invaluable way for visitors to Paris to learn more about the history of Europe and of mankind in general.

For more details please visit: http://www.louvre.fr

d.b

If you rent apartments in Paris you will be able to visit some of the city’s wealth of museums, monuments, churches, cafés and restaurants. And of course, you will also be able to visit the exhibition entitled “In the kingdom of Alexander the Great – Ancient Macedonia” in the Louvre.

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Translated by: Ben Palmer
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An exhibition of unreleased works by Norway’s famous painter Edvard Munch, who wasn’t just a pinter, because his artistic curiosity and talent brought him to experiment in different types of art, for many, unknown works by the artist.

Munch was born in Norway on December 12th 1863. He had a complex family life, with his mother and sister dying of tuberculosis when he was young, and a father with religious beliefs which he was obsessed with to the point of controlling all of his actions in his life. That way, the young Munch developed a conflictive personality, attracted by the darkest side of human existence. As he put it himself, “I tried to dissect the human soul in my works”, just like Da Vinci did with the body.

Despite that he’s known best as a painter and engraver, he dedicated a big part of his artistic life to experiment and feed himself with all types of art, among which we can highlight the influence of film, photography and, mainly, theatre. That’s how the Centre Pompidou in Paris will carry out an exhibition with a different outlook on Munch’s work, where they’ll present around 80 paintings, 50 photographs, 30 works on paper and a film. This way they’ll try and deepen into the complete artistic work by Munch, who made valuable contributions to theatre, film and photography as well as his tremendous influence in artistic trends of the time, such as German expressionism, a country where he lived for a long time.

The exhibition, called ‘Edvard Munch, the modern eye’, will inaugurate on the 21st of September 2011 and will be open until January 9th 2012. So there are plenty of months to plan a trip to Paris and visit the Centre Pompidou and the exhibition of this wonderful artist.

For more information visit:

http://www.centrepompidou.fr/Pompidou/Manifs.nsf/0/B7B16198B955CF3BC1257824003508B8?OpenDocument&sessionM=&L=3&form=

Luz Obscura

You can breathe art in the French capital. Rent apartments in Paris and soak in the work of Edvard Munch and the whole artistic offering of the City of Light.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Survival Kit is a new art ideas lab which will discuss the apocalyptic reality, and the impact of the economic crisis of 2008 which left hundreds of shops empty, and many businesses in a precarious position, having been abandoned and considered decadent and unnecessary. International groups of artists have taken on the hundreds of abandoned shops in the deserted city center of Riga, in order to open up a debate about the economic crisis.

This art laboratory will be taking place between the 20th and 22nd of October at the Gaité Lyrique. Organised by Ars Longa, a French group based around the relationship between art, investigation and society – also in association with the Riga Center of Contemporary Art, Letonia, and the Vilnius Center of Contemporary Art, amongst others.

The laboratory is organised around a series of workshops, symposiums, and a conference to bring together artists with scientists, and experts in the fields of new technologies, in order to be able to take a creative look at how to resolve the crisis of economic survival. These activities are open, but with a limited capacity. Amongst the survival workshops are Hype (R) De Olds, a gathering of small groups of women over the age of 77 who get together at the Gaité Opera House for multi-media workshops.

Also invited along will the bilingual newspaper Planet Lab, an art group which has developed an interesting project of conceptual art which, through an investigation into philosophy of science, and technique, seeks to cast a critical eye over our society and its different forms of development. The group is directed by artist Chardronnet Ewen. The texts of the investigation have been chosen by the Gaité Lyrique to be presented in the laboratory, and will be published, and distributed throughout the workshops and conferences.

These different conceptual projects bring together anybody interested in digital design, and help them to become more aware of the different places and communities where we can learn, create and share knowledge.

The laboratories are open spaces, designed for the interaction of knowledge, and the transmission of information about learning, and creativity, and a critical, analytical approach to the role of technology in art and society. The members, artists, engineers, investigators, and designers all come together at these events to join creative forces and attempt to produce a new vision of free culture.

The philosophy of Survival Kit is that if our planet was previously used as a kind of laboratory for the great transatlantic corporations, it is today essential the apply the ethic of “Do It Yourself” – and what better way than to do it together with a group of dynamic creatives and cultural enthusiasts .

For more information http://www.gaite-lyrique.net/programmation/theme/survival-kit

Nancy Guzman

If you want an experience, and take part in an ideas lab, and find out some of the things you could be doing to combat economic catastrophe, come and rent apartments in Paris and join in with this workshop on art, science, technologies. Find out how to resolve the future.

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Translated by: Poppy
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