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My Bike on at Merci

Images: Merci

Text: Anne S. Ditmeyer

In recent years in the design community, bikes have been far more than a means to get from point A to B, but part of a style lifestyle. With more choices and accessories than ever, one's bike can be a means of expression. Put a bike into context, and depending on where you live – Copenhagen or Amsterdam – a bike is a necessity of life. But now, in other places of the world, such as Tokyo, there's a movement to live life at a different pace, with an emphasis on quality of life, known as SLOW BIKE.

The timing of Merci's installation, MY BIKE: Transportation Dans la Ville, on January 18 through February 18, is noteworthy, as this past week was the latest edition of the mega design trade show, Maison Objet. Design is not limited to what is in one's home, but rather extends to the world outside (and beyond the expo center).

Mia Funk: Meta Art

Nuavecabacus 2012 © Mia Funk, acrylic, gouache, antique wallpaper

Images: Mia Funk                                        
Text:  Susie Kahlich 

Talking to the artist Mia Funk is a slightly unsettling experience, like being surprised by fizz in a drink you thought was flat.  It’s a bit of a shock at first, but then you realize it’s a pleasant shock and yes, you will have another glass of that, please.

And that’s how it is with Ms. Funk. Very direct and extremely articulate, she throws you right off balance the second she starts speaking, but leaves you wanting more.  An Irish-German Chinese-American, she physically resembles the Chinese side of her family but, although born and raised in Seattle, her 10 years in Ireland and over a decade in France has inflected her American vocabulary with a hybrid accent that comes across as vaguely German. 

And for all her intensity and intelligent observations about art, history, film, pop culture and literature, there exists an underlying social satire that is dark and deliciously addictive yet playful, like a soda designed by Edward Gorey: exotic and mysterious, probably poisonous, but delightful nonetheless.  In other words, an unexpected fizzy drink.

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

The War of Law and Words

Image: Bibliothèque publique d'information

Text: Emily Ruck Keene

Of all of the reasons for which France is known, it is her vibrant contribution to the world of literature that has given her the title of one of the most culturally relevant cities in the world. The French are passionately proud of their nation's active role in cultural history and it seems more pertinent than ever, with the exploding presence of media giving us the ability to learn about history and current events, to take a look back at the crucial moments that have marked the path that literature in this country has taken.

The Pompidou Centre is currently holding an exhibition on the relationship between the editor and the law in France from 1945 onwards. Whilst there are plenty of important events that took place before, this date seems a natural choice: with the end of German occupation, fresh dialogue was able to emerge within the disciplines of economics, politics and ethics amongst others. It is these fields to which the exhibition Editeurs, les lois du métier hopes to opens the floor in an era within which freedom of expression has never been such an international question.

Despite France’s post-war liberation, freedom of the press saw itself threatened by a law in 1949 intended to protect young readers from supposedly dangerous publications. The role and responsibility of the editor as well as the writer was brought into the spotlight as they fought with and against censorship. The exhibition contains examples of legal cases involving the State and publishing houses, often resolved internally due to the importance of reputation for any editor.