Tag: art

03/01/13 6:20pm

Your Month Untapped: March Events in Paris

As we springtime arrives in Paris, events start to bloom as well, so here’s a list of events in Paris for the month of March.

EVENTS

Paris Fashion Week
Up to March 6, 2013
Fashion Week hits Paris until the March 6, so check out the Ready To Wear Fall/Winter Collection schedules. Whether you have front row seats at the runway shows or just watching the Fashion Week goers from the sidelines, Paris Fashion Week is always a thrilling experience, and a great opportunity to bask in the world of fashion.

Visit the Place de la Republique Construction Site
March 7 – June 1, 2013
The Place de la Republique has been undergoing a major reconstruction since 2011, and has therefore been a big headache and eyesore to woeful Parisians as of late. But don’t be so irritated, because organized visits to the construction site will be taking place starting March 7th through June 1st! Only twenty people can visit the site on a first-come first-serve basis, and you can book your place by emailing infoplacedelarepublique@paris.fr your preferred dates (check out the program schedule here). The new Place de la Republique is set to be unveiled in the spring.

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art, events, Music

Arts & Culture

by jenna warnecke

02/12/13 12:03pm

Strong And Light: Paper Architecture at Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine

by jenna warnecke

Architecture is thought of in terms of strength, stability and fortitude. But an exhibit of paper architecture on view now at Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine shows us how delicate, beautiful and intricate a building can be.

The incredible exhibit, which incorporates wall-wide hand-cut paper designs as well as laser-cut sculpture cities and collage dreamworlds, is stunning in its combination of simplicity and complexity, and, well, flammability.

Each artist’s work is accompanied by a biography that includes the artist’s origin, favorite type of paper, and preferred method of slicing and dicing.

These constructions by the likes of Ingrid Siliakus, Peter Callesen, Béatrice Coron, Stéphanie Beck and Mathilde Nivet show us that strength lies not only in stability, but also in ingenuity, flexibility and patience.

5€-8€ (Free on 1st Sunday of the month)
Through 17 March 2013

This article originally appeared on Paris Cheapskate.

architecture, art, Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, culture, design, paper art

Events

02/01/13 11:16am

Your Month Untapped: February Events in Paris

Here are some curated events happening in Paris for the month of February. If you have any events you’d like featured for the month, please leave us a comment and we’ll add it to the list.

EVENTS

Paris Face Cachée
Event: February 1, 2 and 3
Paris Face Cachée invites Parisians and visitors alike to flirt with the forbidden, to encounter the unknown and to unearth the original facets of Paris in 70 different organized events in Paris and its environs. During February 1, 2 and 3, visit airport runways, discover an artisanal beer laboratory, or participate in an Urbangaming competition in Montmartre. Head over here for more information, or visit the Paris Face Cachée events page.

Paris, the Capital of Fashion – CinéMa Ville
Forum des images, 2, rue du Cinéma, Forum des Halles
February 1 – 26, 2013
Every month, organized around a director, an actor, a theme, a time period, or a neighborhood, CinéMa ville proposes an exploration of what makes the city tick. February’s theme is fashion. Watch or re-watch classic films about the major designers: Pierre Cardin, Christian Dior, Coco Chanel, and many others. More info and film listings here.

Chinese New Year
Feb 12, 2013
Celebrate Chinese New Year in Paris’ very own Chinatown, between Place d’Italie and Porte de Choisy. Expect dancing, firecrackers, giant paper serpents and music – just the way the usher in the year of the Snake. For more Chinese New Year events, the Paris City Hall website has a more exhaustive list of celebrations.

Paris Carnaval
Feb 10, 2013
A tradition dating back to 1274, the annual Paris Carnaval Procession (or Promenade du Bouef Gras – Fat Cow Parade) will start at the 1pm at Place Gambetta in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, will pass by Belleville and end at Place de Stalingrad in the 19th arrondissement at 7pm. This year’s theme will be “The World of Toys”. Join the trumpets and street dancing to shake your winter blues away. Visit the official site for more details.

ART

Marjane Satrapi, Paintings
Jerome de Noirmont Gallery
January 30 – March 23, 2013
Fans of Marjane Satrapi, author of the famous comic book Persepolis, will be happy to know that the artist will be exhibiting her paintings at the Jerome de Noirmont Gallery in the 8th arrondissement. The subject of the twenty-one paintings on display are women, with their knowing eyes and pensive expressions. Her bold use of colors and beautifully composed portraits give Satrapi’s narrative characters a certain air of mystery and melancholy.

Un Nouveau Festival
Centre Pompidou
February 20 – March 11, 2013
The fourth edition of the Centre Pompidou’s Nouveau festival invites the public to discover the diversity of visual culture of our time and understand the expansion of the territories of contemporary creation. For three weeks, special guests will share their cross-disciplinary work in the various spaces of the Centre Pompidou. There will be a laboratory of contemporary visual creation, a “book machine,” a space for “imaginary and invented languages,” and more. For more info, check out the museum’s official site. Entrance is free.

Circulation(s): Festival de la Jeune Photographie Européenne
Galerie côté Seine, Parc de Bagatelle 75016 Paris
February 22 – March 1, 2013
After two successful years, the Circulation(s) Festival of Young European Photographers returns, featuring the works of 43 young emerging european photographers. Contemporary, artistic, and innovative, the festival aims to introduce the works of these photographers to the public and give them a push towards the professional world. There will be commentary visits by the artists, visual projections, workshops and more. The festival will run for one month, open every day at the Parc de Bagatelle in the 16th arrondissement. For more details, check out their website. Entrance is free.

FAIRS

Expolangues
February 6 – 9, 2013
Missing the sound, the accent, and the interaction in your native language here in Paris? Head over Porte de Versailles on February 6 to 9 for Expolangue, an exposition for multilinguists, culture geeks, and globe trotters. Meet up with language schools and organizations, translation companies, embassies and cultural centers, and language study organizers. You’ll get to mingle, interact, and discover languages you’ve never heard, or have always wanted to hear… and maybe finally you’ll get to enroll in that foreign language class you’ve always wanted to take.

Salon International de l’Agriculture
February 23 – March 3, 2013
Celebrating its 50 year anniversary, the Salon International de l’Agriculture returns to Porte de Versailles. The salon will revolve around four main themes: the animals (where you can pet cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, dogs, cats and birds… the true stars of the show), products and gastronomy, crops and plants, and agricultural professions and services. There will be a lot different activities, from animal shows for children to agricultural competitions and bar and wine cellars, so be sure to drop by.

FOOD

La Chandeleur
February 1 – 2, 2013
With Voisins Solidaires, La Chandeleur is offering free crêpe tastings at 6 tasting points in Paris: Place des Ternes, Place de Clichy, Porte Maillot, Town Halls of the 7th, 15th & 17th. Also in several Franprix stores in Paris. See the full list of locations here. The crêpe giveaway will last from 3-7pm, but we suggest going early if you want to be sure to get one!

MUSIC

Festival Air d’Islande
Point Ephémère
January 31 – February 1, 2013
For five years and running, Icelandic music scene has been given its proper homage here in Paris, and this year is no different. Head over to Point Ephémère to discover and rediscover Icelandic wonders like Ghostigital, Michael Wookey and Olof Arnalds. Pop, folk, electronic, rock, electro, freak folk, toy music… if it’s from Reykjavik, you’ll be hearing it here.

art, events, Music

Arts & Culture

by the good life france

01/28/13 1:12pm

Simon Beck Creates Monumental Snow Art in Savoy

by the good life france

Events, Paris, Urban Getaway

1 Comment

High in the mountainous area of Savoy (Savoie) in France, strange apparitions, not unlike crop circles, appear in the snow in the winter months. There is no speculation about UFO and extra-terrestrials here though. These creations are the work of snow artist Simon Beck whose fame has spread far and wide thanks to his extraordinary and unique configurations.

Skiers are stopped in their tracks when they come across the sight of snow art and the first question everyone asks is “How does Simon Beck create those amazing designs?” We’ve heard people think he does it by pushing a tire through the snow, with a rake or other instruments on a pole and various other weird and wonderful techniques.

The truth is even more extraordinary.

Simon Beck creates magnificent patterns by walking in the snow wearing raquettes (snowshoes). This very physically demanding performance allows him to transform vast areas into stunning if transient artworks.

Asked how it all started, Simon, who works as a mapmaker, says that he owns an apartment in the ski resort of Les Arcs, Savoy, and spends most of the winter there. He began walking in the mountains of Les Arcs as a way of getting more exercise in 2004. For fun he started to sketch pictures in the snow. He started by drawing a simple star shape. Since then the intricate patterns have become bigger and more complicated and Simon spends hours alone on the snowy slopes and ice covered lakes of Savoy.

Simon_Beck_Snow Art_Snow Shoes_Les Arcs_France

3D snowflake design, shot from the top of the Varet gondola

Simon first draws the patterns on paper and then using a compass and measuring tape, string, and an anchor with a clothes line attached, Simon paces the snow creating curves, triangles, geometric swirls and complex configurations. Some of the patterns cover an area as large as six football pitches. He says that on average it takes him 10 hours to complete a creation and that the freezing temperatures he endures are “not fun.” However finishing a pattern is tremendously satisfying especially as “usually the last several hours are at night using a head torch. Sometimes when it is nearly complete, a snowcat will drive along one of the nearby pistes [slopes], and the effect as its lamps light up the drawing is awesome!”

Some designs are chosen from the world of geometry or “crop circles.” Some are even named, and Simon Beck says that his three favourites to date are Mandelbrot set, Koch curve and Sierpinski triangle. The creative process in the snow requires patience and stamina and the ability to withstand the extreme cold. When asked, Simon advises “What I would really like would be a means of projecting a spot onto the snow so I could simply create drawings by following the spot and not have to do any surveying.” A lot of the inspiration for the snow art comes from the gardens in the temples in Kyoto “where sand is raked in patterns that are the closest thing I have seen elsewhere to the effect I achieve with snow.”

The very nature of this art, created from the temporary medium of ice and snow means that all that hard work and inspired formation can literally disappear overnight if fresh snow falls. This isn’t always the case, if there is no heavy snow fall “ghost” traces remain, sometimes for an entire season.

Simon Beck photographs his work and posts the photos on Facebook where he has a large and fast growing group of fans and admirers. Taken from above and in certain lights there is a mystical and breath-taking quality to the sight of the sophisticated and elaborate snow art displays. It is incredible to think that a lone artist can create such beautiful and enormous images. Simon says that his neighbours in Les Arcs at first thought him “a bit mad” but these days his snow art is creating huge publicity for the resort as his fame has grown.

When asked what the future holds for him as a snow artist Simon says “What I would like most would be a remote control aircraft for aerial photography. Something that can lift a heavy camera and hold it still for a good photo. The other thing I would like would be a good lighting system for night photography.” Judging from comments on his Facebook a lot of his fans would like to see more photos too.

There has been great snow but not much sunshine in Les Arcs so far this year and Simon has been disappointed with conditions. He says that he is considering visiting the Southern hemisphere from June to August, maybe Norway if conditions are expected to be good. A truly driven artist…

See more of Simon Beck’s snow art on his Facebook page. This article was originally published on our partner site, The Good Life France.

art

Events

01/14/13 11:00am

Your Month Untapped: January Events in Paris