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Nuit Blanche 2011: A guide for beginners

Image: Nuit Blanche

By: Nicola Hebden

If, like me, you are Nuit Blanche virgin, you are doubtless overwhelmed by all the beautiful installations, performances and collaborative pieces the Nuit Blanche team have to offer you.

Just one look at the website can fill you with confusion. What area to start with? Which installations are best viewed early in the evening? Should others be left til the wee hours, in order to see their full potential?

To help you with these questions, Vingt Paris have sorted out some handy maps with hot suggestions on how to spend your evening.

Disclaimer: These are just suggestions! They tell me one of the best things about Nuit Blanche is wandering around and stumbling upon little gems. So please, enjoy at your leisure.

 

For the wanderer

View Vingt Paris: Nuit Blanche Map 1 in a larger map

 

For the Monmartrophile

View Vingt Paris: Nuit Blanche 2011 Map 2 in a larger map

 

For the film buff

 

View Vingt Paris: Nuit Blanche Map 3 in a larger map

 

Travel: To get to each of your destinations, metro lines 14 and 12 will be running all night. Alternatively, hop on a Vélib or take a stoll - it's set to be a balmy night for Nuit Blanche

2011 Nuit Blanche: Montmartre / Anvers (18e)

 
Image: Frances Dubois
Text: Susie Kahlich

Some very cool stuff is happening around Montmartre / Anvers, where everything is within a stone’s throw of a bar or café open all night to keep your whistle wet and your nuit, well, blanche:

For reasons I have yet to discover, Montmartre is home to frequent parades and Nuit Blanche is no different.  Nuit Blanche 2011 kicks off with Italian artist Marcello Maloberti and his troupe forming a human caravan, parading 70 porcelain tigers through the winding streets up to the Arènes de Montmartre off rue Chappe, where the tigers will be on display throughout the night. The official literature says this performance is somehow supposed to combine art and social utopia, which makes sense if your utopia includes socializing with porcelain jungle cats.

Not to be a big creep about it, but as someone without children it’s a treat to get a peek inside Paris’ elementary schools without worrying about being arrested.  At the École Élementaire Foyatier, Icelander Ragnar Kjartansson’s video installation “The End – Rocky Mountains” will be projected on five screens positioned around the gymnasium, while in the school courtyard artist Virgina Yassef’s mythological paleontology findings are on display.

At the Gymnase Ronsard, get a preview of art collective BGL’s installation “Entertainment + problems”, on exposition in October at the MAC / VAL.  Using recycled materials and found objects to evoke a huge bonfire, the piece is meant to “tickle the urban tribal instinct.”  Kind of like Burning Man, without the sand, hippies and actual flames.

Befitting an area rife with sex clubs, transvestites and hookers, Jesper Just's experimental film No Man Is An Island plays at Le Divan du Monde.  A meditation on masculinity, gender roles and societal masks set in a dying strip club, the film is centered around interpretations of Roy Orbison’s classic broken-heart song, “Crying.”

Montmartre's famous funicular will be transformed to a moving heartbeat in France Dubois’ installation “Extra-systole”.  Bathing the cab in pulsing red light that refer to a beating heart, watch the pulse slow down on the cab’s descent and speed up on the cab’s rise, just like your own heartbeat will be doing if you decide to walk the 200+ steps to the top.

At the top of the hill at Place Louise Michel, just in front of the very Catholic Sacre Coeur, artist Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil recreates his tribute to the 400^th anniversary of Galileo’s presentation of his telescope on Mount Gianicolo.  Using 500 candles, the installation maps out what the sky will look like 100 years in the future on 1 October 2111. And while you’re at the top, visit the Église St. Pierre and watch Adrian Paci’s 35mm film “Per Speculum” a beautiful and pastoral work depicting children playing with mirrors, slings and the reflection of sunlight.

More installations and performances are scattered around the Butte, but one of the most interesting is Belgian artist Filip Gilissen’s installation at the Église St. Jean de Montmartre just across from Place des Abbesses.  Titled “The Winner Takes It All”, the work will only be activated once during the night, when the 5000^th visitor triggers a golden explosion inside the beautiful Art Nouveau church.  Easily revisited in between verres du vin, check in repeatedly to try and catch the 5000^th visitor, or park yourself at one of the cafés across the Place and start counting. If you haven't had too much to drink, race across the Place and into the church as soon as you get to 4999.  Bonne Nuit!

 

Tragédiennes de l'Opéra

Image: Exposition Official Poster   
Text: Natalie Turturro

Opera is a religion, and the house that Charles Garnier built is the cathedral where Paris comes to worship its divas.  As I walk up and down the Grand Staircase and through the Grand Foyer trying to find my way to the exhibit “Tragédiennes de l’Opéra,” it is as though I’m walking through a hall of ghosts.  There is a rehearsal going on inside the auditorium, and I can hear faint operatic shrills in the background.  It’s eerie, yet appropriate.  I find the exposition tucked away in what seems to be a dusty back corner on the second floor.  It is shrouded in darkness with chiaroscuro spotlights on fading black-and-white photographs.  There are headphones attached to the wall, so I take in the exhibit while listening to celebrated arias by long-dead sopranos.  It feels just like when the lights dim in the theatre before the curtain goes up.  I become appropriately soothed and embrace the spookiness of it all.

The terms diva and tragédienne dance in my mind, and I wonder if Beyoncé's song “Diva” was inspired by the classic tragédiennes of French opera. Are the famous tragédiennes: Gabrielle Krauss, Rose Caron, Lucienne Bréval, etc... ‘female versions of a hustla’ from a former generation?  How can divas of today continue to carry their "ardent torch of beauty"?

"Tragédiennes de l'Opéra" teaches us how:

1. Obliterate the image of runway models on nicotine and champagne diets from your aesthetic memory.  A tragédienne’s life is usually hanging on by the thinnest of threads; at the very least one can hold onto one’s ample proportions!  Thus, we must look to the voluptuous Adele, and eat sumptuous treats from Dalloyau.

2. It is a requirement to own at least one fabulous headdress and subsequent matching jewelry.  For daily purposes, a well-adorned sparkly headband from Le Bon Marché will suffice.

Bodies, Music, Movement: Compagnie Julien Lestel

Text & Image: Philip Tonda

Creating a dance piece takes a lot of creativity, discipline and direction. It also takes a good amount of communication skills, and Julien Lestel, director of Compagnie Julien Lestel, enjoys communicating with people. This is clear when seeing him give directions to the dancers that he works with, and even clearer when seeing his high spirits on stage during and after a performance. Having danced at the Ballet National de Marseille for years, he has now decided to quit this job and focus completely on the direction of his own dance company.

I met Julien Lestel in a basement studio of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on a Friday afternoon. There was a friendly ambience in the room where the group of 11 dancers, including Julien himself, were working hard on rehearsals of Corps et Âmes - an energetic and aesthetic dance piece made in close collaboration with the music composer Karol Beffa.

Dimanche Rouge: Sunday Afternoon Counter-Culture

Text & Image: Susie Kahlich

“Paris is no Berlin!” cry the twenty-somethings I know on a regular basis. “Where’s the alternative lifestyle? Where’s the counter-culture? Where’s the underground?” they demand. 

But to find the underground, you have to look under things, and sometimes behind things, and a little off to the side...

Behind the Pompidou Centre and a little off to the side of the Marais is exactly where you’ll find Chapon Rouge, an artists’ collective that opens its doors every third Sunday for Dimanche Rouge, an afternoon of international performance art, shared appetisers and drinks. Don’t be fooled by that description; it sounds a lot more high-falutin’ than it is.

Fête De La Musique 2011

Image: Fabian Charaffi
Text: Aidan Mac Guill

June 21 brings the 30th edition of France's most popular citywide public party Fête de la Musique (and let's be honest, they've got a few to choose from). We've trawled through this year's extensive programme to bring you our 20 highlights below.

- At the Alliance Française there will be an open mic for all international students continuing all day. 101 boulevard Raspail. 12h30.

- There'll be a bunch of punk and garage rock bands playing in and around BMG Cycles, 10 rue Sorbier in the 20th. 18h.

- Pianist Paloma Kouider performs Liszt in Eugène Delacroix's studio. Unfortunately it's a small studio, so there are only 50 seats available. Doors open at 18h30, so get there early. 6 rue Furstenberg. 19h.

- The Ménilmontant Street Band and saxophonist Steve Potts will be playing jazz and more at the Maison des Métallos, on rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud. 19h

- Traditional Irish music from Altan at the Centre Culturel Irlandais. 19h.

- The prestigious French Air Guitar Championship takes place at GLAZART. Competitors choose a song (traditionally something loud and featuring the electric guitar prominently) and then rock out on an imaginary guitar. Awesomest performance wins. 7/15 avenue de la Porte de la Villette. 19h.

- Huge, globally successful minimalist techno DJ Richie Hawtin performs a unique set at Anish Kapoor's huge, globular Leviathan installation at the Grand Palais. Tickets are free and are available here up to a certain daily quota. So if it's sold out when you try, check back early the next day. 20h

- The Orchestre National de France play L’Apprenti Sorcier and Modest Moussorgski at the Auditorium of the Musée d'Orsay. 20h.

- The Calypsociation Steelband will be floating about Chez Prune, 36 Rue Beaurepaire in the 10th, from 20h.

- Jazz Battle at rue de Rome. Two jazz bands try to outdo each other. Winner: everyone watching. 20h.

- Young Parisian talent in the shape of Erevan Tusk, Anything Maria, We Were Evergreen, Lisa Portelli are at La Bellevilloise, 19-21 Rue Boyer in the 20th. Plus live feeds from Fête de la Musique performances happening around the world on five continents. 20h30.

- Le Grand Orchestre Big Band will be performing jazz until 23h at Le Quinze, 15 rue Surmelin, 20th. 21h.

- The Orchestre de Paris play Schumann at the Louvre, under the Pyramid. 22h

- The Yiddish Twist Orchestra at the Musée d'art et d’histoire du Judaïsme, combining traditional Yiddish music with London ska. 22h.

- A good old fashioned Irish céilí, with musicians playing traditional Irish music and some seriously fast dancing until midnight. Place Renée Vivien in the 3rd. The neighbouring Quiet Man pub will likely be supplying the Guinness. 22h.

- Do you like Prince? Or indeed, laughing and dancing? Check out The Sophia Lorenians at (or potentially outside) Le Miz Miz, 6 rue Moret. 23h30.

- The programme of performers at Place Saint-Marthe begins at 18h, featuring song and dance from around the world. But make sure to be there when the Batucada groups start at 23h30, and feel Paris shake.

For those planning on staying up late:

- There'll be house, minimal techno and electro until 5h00 at Quai Saint Bernard, next to the Jardin des Plantes. Starts 18h.

- Washin Mashin, a hipster backed electro party at Canal De L'Ourcq until midnight, then continues indoors at Belushi's 71 Quai de la Seine until 5h.

- On the banks of the Seine around the Batofar, there's free electro-dancey type DJs from 18h until midnight, then €10 will get you onto the boat for performances by the likes of Feadz and The Gentlemen Drivers until 5h.

It's also worth bearing in mind that there will be hundreds of gigs happening that aren't part of the programme, and part of the fun of Fête de la Musique is stumbling across a strange little show happening at a street corner somewhere. That and you can drink on the streets.

Download the app here for more updates and info, or follow #fetedelamusique on Twitter.

I Am The Wind

Image: Simon Annand / Young Vic
Text: Stephanie Longden
 
In France, it’s usually a good sign when a play starts half an hour late. Unlike their British colleagues, French front of house staff try their very best to squeeze in every single person keen to see a play, regardless of starting-times. And Parisians are not just keen to see this international theatre collaboration between Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse, English translator Simon Stephens and renowned French director Patrice Chéreau -- they’re desperate. 

So, on a roasting Sunday afternoon in Place du Châtelet, a rather good looking guy loiters in front of the sold out theatre, a hand-written sign hung round his neck: “Please can I have a ticket? :-)”. The play is already twenty minutes behind schedule and the box office are still selling tickets to a returns queue snaking round the foyer; ten minutes later and ushers are frantically seating people on every free step down the length of the gangway. 

Was it worth the scramble to see I Am the Wind, the centrepiece of Théâtre de la Ville's second annual festival of European theatre, Chantier d'Europe 2011? Oh yes.

La Chute De La Maison Usher‏

Text: Stephanie Longden
Image: Elisabeth Carecchio / Maison de la Poésie

Maison de la Poésie have thrown everything they've got at their adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. With a running time of just over an hour, the stage variously hosts a piano, a saxophone, a guitar, French and English songs, video footage, an impressive light show, a mime, and a truly creepy ventriloquist's doll.

Director Sylvain Maurice is not just interested in a cross-disciplinary approach to Poe's masterpiece of American Gothic literature. This is a uniquely French interpretation of Baudelaire's translation, that takes its opening epigraph from French songwriter Pierre-Jean de Béranger - Son coeur est comme un luth suspendu, dès qu'on le touche, il résonne.

Eddie Izzard At Théâtre De Dix Heures

Text: Susie Kahlich
Image: Théâtre de Dix Heures

My French sucks.  Sure, I get by on a day-to-day basis and have, on occasion, engaged in polemiques over religion, history, linguistics and government, but have been quietly informed on more than one occasion that at a certain point in my argument I am no longer constructing actual sentences but merely allowing a string of tenuously related French words to fall out of my mouth and have generally stopped making sense.  This is true whether my polemic is lubricated by wine or water.  

My comprehension of French is not much better, so it was with some trepidation that I bought my ticket for Eddie Izzard’s opening night in Paris for his show Stripped – Tout en francais! Mr. Izzard’s French is certainly better than mine, but it’s not perfect and his questions to the audience to correct verb tense, noun gender, sentence structure and the occasional oh fuck-it moments are endearingly familiar to anyone who has gone through the rite of passage of butchering, questioning but nevertheless plowing ahead with less-than-perfect French.

Ithaque at the Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers

Text: Emily Sands-Bonin
Image: Pascal Victor

The Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers has opened 2011 with a visually stunning production of Ithaque, written in 1996 by German playwright Botho Strauss and adapted by director Jean-Louis Martinelli. Inspired by Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, Strauss’ play focuses on the return of Ulysses, twenty years after the Trojan War, to his kingdom Ithaca. There he finds disorder, corruption and moral degeneracy as a crowd of suitors drink his wine, bed his maids, plot the murder of his son Telemachus, and vie for the hand of Penelope, his wife.

The Odyssey continues, more than three thousand years later, to fascinate audiences with its tale of shameless, parasitic greed, lust, hubris, fidelity and heroic vengeance. Botho Strauss’ take on the ancient tale is postmodern, with feminist undertones and contemporary political implications. Ulysses (Charles Berling) returns to restore his island to moral rectitude and political stability. Tension builds as spectators breathlessly anticipate the bloody denouement when the presumptuous suitors finally get their due. Strauss’ version continues after the massacre, undertaking a psychoanalytical examination of Ulysses and Penelope’s marriage, of the war hero’s relationship to his son and to his aged father, as well as his ambivalence, similar to that of any modern day expatriate, about returning home.