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35 Parisian New Year's Resolutions

Image: I Still Shoot Film

Text: Guillermo Martinez de Velasco

1-Don't go to the Eiffel Tower on New Year's Eve

2-Actually do that thing where I pick an area of the Louvre per week, and visit it very attentively

3-Buy a bicycle and throw away my carte imagineR

4-Actually go to Château de Vincennes, not just talk about going

5-Promise to go to one of the presentations/lectures/workshops at Beaubourg or the Fondation Cartier per month

6-Don't cheap out on French Vogue or Egoïste

7-Finally get my membership for the Hôtel-de-Ville Library and The Bibliothèque Fornier / Go study in these libraries

8-Get photographed by The Sartorialist, at least

9-Volunteer at Shakespeare and Co. (But also check out the Abbey Bookstore)

10- Promise to learn more about wines, it's embarrassing that you always go for the 4-5 euro Bordeaux

Get Comfy in the Maison of Photography

Image: Edu Simões

Text: Kristen Cammack

When you need to get out of the bitter cold this winter, I suggest getting cozy in the Maison Européenne de la photographie.

Open late until 8pm Wednesday though Sunday, it’s a great Museum to visit before grabbing drinks with friends. You can impress them by chatting about the current exhibitions covering subjects from the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé to early photography in Albania.

The MEP has always had a penchant for Brazilian photographers, and it continues to take visitors deeper into the culture. In 1951, José Medeiros offended the believers of Candomblé by dissecting into their sacred secrets and exposing their unique rituals. Edu Simões shows how a simple lunchbox can define the very person you are.

And right after admiring delicious warm meals of construction workers, Fernanda Magalhães sends you on an adventure for the ideal body of a woman. Using nude photos of obese women, their boobs, their legs, their fesses. 

L'Hôtel Particulier: Une Ambition Parisienne

Image: Gaumont
Text: Hannah O'Brien

Hôtels particuliers have been glorified by French literature, bringing us the haunting image of the luxury and beauty of Parisian life. The wonderful L’Hôtel Particulier: Une Ambition Parisienne exhibition at Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine invites us to step into the private realm of these hotels. Through a combination of stunning paintings, busts of the original occupants, re-models, striking murals, interactive touch-screen guides and a detailed documentary, visitors are invited to learn about the origins and historical importance of these impressive buildings.

As someone who was sceptical as to whether they would enjoy such as an exhibition, I cannot avoid declaring my delight at what I saw. This exhibition contains the rare balance between written fact and visual information. Each section offers new treats and secrets to be uncovered. It is filled with a sufficient amount of priceless paintings and quaint artifacts to make even the lowliest of historians squeal with delight. This exhibition doesn’t just give us examples of wonderful art and architecture, but it allows us to envisage the society, the people and above all the splendour of a Paris long lost, but whose traces are indelibly etched on the fabric of this great city.

In other words I had become so intoxicated by the grandeur and mystique of this lifestyle that I had forgotten about the people of the hôtel particulier.

Paris is not black and white..It’s grey!

A conversation between Susie Hollands, Director of Vingt Paris and Philip Tonda, artist and curator.

Image: Kristijan Radakovic

Philip: When did you first get the idea of creating an artist-in-residence program?

Susie: I got the idea when I came to Paris in 2003 or 2004 to pursuit my own artistic ambitions. I met a lot of people and everybody seemed to have something in common - they came because Paris is a good place for creative souls. However, it's really hard to find a place to live and work here!

At this time I was also starting an art gallery with some friends. While this was not necessarily a sustainable undertaking, it did give some insight to the Parisian art scene and the situation for artists: Rents are sky high and there are very few spaces available. But artists need space to work.

Then we developed a community of people who nevertheless lived here, artists, photographers, writers etc. And this community has grown to what Vingt Paris Magazine is today. The idea of a residency project is really an extension of this.

Paris Design Week 2011

 

Text: Anne Ditmeyer, Prêt à Voyager

This September 12-18 the first ever Paris Design Week comes to town. With over 100 locations open to the public, six routes have been created featuring a different neighborhood each day: Austerlitz, Bastille/Republique, Champs-Elysées/Etoile, Les Halles/Le Marais, Madeleine/Opera and Saint Germain. Inspired by what's happening in other major cities, the event is designed have the same spirit as Maison Objet (the trade only show, held September 9-13 at Paris Nord Villepoint), but in an urban context, geared both towards trade events, as well as involving the general public. Throughout the neighborhoods showrooms, art galleries, institutions and restaurants will open their doors to inspiration. The ultimate goal: to attract 8,000 international designers and creative businesses and help put everyone in touch within a creative environment. 

A few of our favorite picks in each neighborhood:

Austerlitz: Check out the brand new Cité de la Mode et du Design, working to promote and commericialize the works of designers, editors and creative brands. At NOW! LE OFF be sure to check out the fantastical scenes by Frédérique Morel34, quai d'Austerlitz, 75013

Bastille: Don't miss the recently remodeled glass-domed Sentou showroom intended to welcome professionals, architects and international distributors of Sentou, which will house an exhibition during Paris Design Week. Sentou's 3rd location is located at 14, rue Moreau, 75012

What Next For Jeudi Noir?

Text: Aidan Mac Guill
Image: Flickr CC Neno°

In January of this year riot police entered 22 avenue Matignon, a 4000 square metre office building in Paris' prosperous 1st arrondissement. They had been tasked with evicting a group reportedly made up of students, political activists, parliamentary assistants, office managers and journalists who had been occupying the building, which had lain unused since 2006. The occupation had made news headlines around the world, as the top floors of the building, owned by the insurance group AXA, looked down onto the neighbouring Elysée Palace, home of President Sarkozy.

The group was Jeudi Noir, so called after the day of the week where many students can be found desperately scanning the small ads in newspapers and magazines in search of a place to live. Their stated aim, according to their website, is to "denounce the government's indifference to a housing crisis that is becoming critical as the property bubble swells."

Laurent Grasso At The American University Of Paris

Image: Florian Kleinefen

On March 29 join VINGT Paris at an exclusive evening with French artist Laurent Grasso at the American University of Paris, presented by The Arts Arena. If you would like VINGT to reserve a place for you then head over to our Facebook page and click "I'm Attending".

Grasso is a world renowned multimedia artist, working mostly with video and installation. He lives and works in Paris. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.

In 2008 he received the Marchel Duchamp prize. Recent solo exhibitions have included 'The Horn Perspective' at the Centre Pompidou and 'Gakona' at the Palais de Tokyo. Grasso was also included in the 9th Sharjah Biennial in the United Arab Emirates.

20 Questions

Elliott Barnes is an architect.

1. What initially inspired you to move here or visit?
A reading of Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast.

2. Earliest Paris memory?
When I was six years old.

3. Best neighbourhood you've ever lived in?
2nd arrondissement, in the year 2000.
 
4. What's the best meal you've eaten in Paris?
My most memorable was Taillevant in 2006, because it was my son’s first three star experience.
 
5. Sexiest moment you've had in Paris?
Can’t be printed here!
 
6. What do you hate most about living in Paris?
The fact that the spontaneity of the Parisian experience has given way to pre-planning and reservations for any outing.

Japanese Gardens: Escape The City

Text: Anna Bromwich
Image: Flickr CC nikoretro

These last few weeks, fed up and exasperated with the cold, I’ve been dreaming incessantly of spring. I am waiting impatiently for the moment when Paris is walkable and picnic-able again and in particular, I’m waiting for the cherry blossom in order to explore a number of Japanese gardens I’ve come across, hidden around the city. Many of these gardens I have stumbled on by accident, stowed away behind museums or on rooftops, waiting to be discovered. They fit, by their very calm and controlled nature, perfectly into the density of the city, providing a welcome relief from it, just for a moment.

The appearance of Japanese gardens in Paris dates back to the nineteenth century when ukiyo-e woodblock prints began to arrive in Paris, kicking off a craze for all things Japanese, aptly named japonisme. La Pagode Cinema in the 7th arrondissement is a fantastic example of this phenomenon: originally a ballroom, it was built in 1896 in Pagoda style architecture, and restyled into a cinema in 1931.  The auditorium is decorated with ornate Edo style frescoes and the surrounding garden is planted with bamboo and guarded by bronze lions.

The Gaîté Lyrique Swaps The 19th For The 21st Century

Text: Aidan Mac Guill
Images: Manuelle Gautrand

The Théâtre de la Gaîté Lyrique first opened in it's current location on the rue Papin in 1862. That incarnation was itself a reconstruction of the original Théâtre de la Gaîté, which had opened on the boulevard du Temple in 1808, but was destroyed in the construction of the boulevard Voltaire. That itself had been what would nowadays be termed a "rebranding" of the first theatre to be erected on that spot, the Théâtre des Grands-Danseurs du Roi, which first opened in 1792. Which, we can all agree, is a very long time ago.

Over the years the Gaîté played host to numerous premieres, from the first operettas of cellist Jacques Offenbach to the ballets russes of Serge Diaghilev, as well as productions by Willy Thunis, Patrice Chéreau and concerts by the tenor Luis Mariano. In 1974 the actress Silvia Monfort turned the Gaîté into Paris' first centre for street theatre. In 1989 it briefly became an ill-fated, science-themed amusement park, following which, bankrupt and in near-fatal disrepair, it lay dormant for 20 years.