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September, 2010

Fall Marks Beer Festivals In Germany

Germany is famous for its great beer and wine festivals. Held in all German regions, beer festivals usually start in September. The Oktoberfest in held in Munich is the world’s largest beer festival with its huge tents and millions of visitors. This year the Oktoberfest celebrates its 200th anniversary (September 18 - October 4) with a special historical tent city, where visitors can travel in time and relive the original Oktoberfest and drink delicious beer. This year the festival is extended by two days.

On September 17, a historic reconstruction of the festival as it was held in prior centuries will be opened, featuring an old Oktoberfest-tent and an exhibition of domestic and working animals of those times. One of the many highlights will be the horse races, to be held twice a day, to remember the origins of the Oktoberfest – a horserace to celebrate a royal wedding in Munich.

The official tapping of the first beer barrel will be celebrated on September18 at noon, as planned. To celebrate the 200th anniversary, the Oktoberfest does however not end on Sunday, October 3, as planned, but will be extended one day to October 4 to allow those unlucky to get seats at the scheduled event reservations the opportunity to get a place at the table. Be forewarned, though, if you plan to attend make sure you have a confirmed hotel reservation as everything gets booked up for this three-week event you may have to sleep at the rail station. Website: www.oktoberfest.de 

In Stuttgart near the Black Forest in southern Germany, the 165^th Cannstatter Wasn is the world’s second largest beer festival and will be held September 25 to October 11. In addition to its lager, the festival is noted for its Swabian pasta, such as spaetzle and family entertainment including lots of carnival rides for the little ones centered around its emblem, a 24-meter-high column of fruit.

Website: w ww.cannstatter-volksfest.de 

Stockholm City Museum Hosts Tours Based On Stig Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy

This summer it seemed that everyone was reading one or all of Swedish crime author Steve Larsen’s Millennium trilogy. Readers are shocked by the dark side of the country that the author portrays in his novels--serial killers, corrupt government officials and institutionalized prostitution rings. Not the land of fair-haired damsels and strawberries and cream. Capturing the popularity of the books, the Stockholm City Museum is

 offering a popular guided Millennium tour in English that walks visitors by many of the sites highlighted in the series, including cafes, restaurants and even the apartments belonging to Larsson¹s anti-hero, computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (photo), and her foil, journalist Mikael Blomkvist. 



Follow along in Blomkvist and Salander’s footsteps while getting additional background information about the characters and the author, as well as a backgrounder on historical and contemporary Stockholm. The walk starts at Bellmangatan 1, where Mikael Blomkvist lives, then passes the Millennium editorial office, Lisbeth Salander’s luxury apartment (photo above) and many other locations mentioned in the books and films. If time permits, the tour ends at the small Millennium exhibition at the Stockholm City Museum. Through September the roughly two-hour tours take place on Saturdays and Wednesdays. From October there is only one tour scheduled on Saturdays at 11:30 am. Tickets cost 120 SEK($17) and are on sale at the museum or the Stockholm Tourist Center. Preorder at www.ticnet.se

Meeting point: Bellmansgatan 1, Södermalm, Stockholm. Metro: Slussen or Mariatorget.

Website: www.stadsmuseum.stockholm.se

Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum To Open in Long Beach, California

The breathtaking art of the South Pacific will be presented at the new Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum (PieAM), when it opens October 14, 2010. The museum is located just south of Los Angeles in Long Beach, near the Museum of Latin American Art (MoLAA).

The museums will features a traditionally peaked building (photo) and a lush sculpture garden with native South Pacific plants. A mural (by Long Beach native Art Mortimer) recreates a traditional Men's House from the Island of Yap on the building's exterior; while inside sculptures, textiles, paintings, wooden tools, jewelry and carvings from across the Pacific showcase the arts of the Marshall, Samoa, Guam, Fiji and Tongan islands. Nationalities represented include Micronesian, Hawaiian, Ni-Vanuatu, Maori, Polynesian, Melanesian, Palauan, and the I-Kiribati. Permanent and rotating exhibits as well as continually commissioned new works will be enhanced with traditional dance performances, interactive cultural demonstrations and learning programs. Website: www.pieam.org

Unlocking the Doors In Rome’s Historic Sites

Now through mid-October visitors can gain admittance to some of Rome’s archaeological sites. This fall, many sites are extending their hours and allowing access to areas that had been closed off to the public. Sites include the Colosseum, which will be open until midnight on Saturdays through October 2. Tours led by archaeologists will stop at Gladiatores exhibition of ancient iron and bronze armor and weaponry and includes a visit to the restored arena area and a wooden platform, rarely open to the public, that allows visitors to look down underneath the Colosseum floor.

Nearby, in the Roman Forum  (photo), the recently restored Temple of Romulus (a misnamed structure that may have been the Temple of Jupiter Stator) will be open Saturday mornings through October 23. This fourth-century pagan monument, which is rarely open, was transformed into a church centuries after it was built, and its walls contain medieval frescoes and decorative elements.

Another set of restored frescoes will be on view at the House of Livia Saturday mornings through October 23. A villa built during the Roman Republic and later adapted into an Imperial residence, the House of Livia has vibrantly colored frescoes dating back to the first century B.C. that depict rural landscapes, architecture and mythology.

Near the Palatine Hill, the Baths of Caracalla will host Saturday night visits through October 23. Although the Baths are the venue for summer opera performances, this is the first time these ruins will be open to the public for tours after dark.

Massive Monet Retrospective To Open At Grand Palais In Paris

The eagerly awaited retrospective exhibition on Claude Monet will open at the Galeries Nationales at the Grand Palais in Paris September 22. The show is the most important show since a major retrospective was presented at the Galeries Nationales in 1980. Since them considerable research has been done on his art, shedding light on little-known aspects of his work. Organized along thematic and chronological lines, the show presents nearly 200 works of both the artist’s well-known and lesser-known paintings.

Claude Monet (1840 to 1926) painted unceasingly for over sixty years, building up a body of work which incarnated Impressionism in its purest form and by the early twentieth century had laid the foundations of modern art. The exhibition at the Galeries Nationales reviews his entire fertile career from his beginnings in the 1860s to his last paintings related to the Water Lily cycle in the Musee de l’Orangerie.

The show runs to January 24, 2011. Website: www.monet2010.com

Liverpool's Pays Tribute To John Lennon

It's been 70 years since Lennon’s birth and to honor the Beatles legend, the city of Liverpool is gearing up for a two-month long celebration. From October 9 - which would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday, to December 9- the day after the 30th anniversary of his assassination; organizations in Liverpool will join forces to host a series of live music, film, poetry and art events which are estimated to bring tens of thousands of additional tourists to the city.

Events include Lennon Remembered, a major tribute concert at the 11,000 seat Echo Arena; a major birthday celebration at the world-famous Cavern Club; and a Lennon-inspired international poetry competition.

Starting in October, The Beatles Story Museum will make way for an 18-foot-tall piece of art called the John Lennon Peace Monument. The museum also features a special exhibition entitled White Feather: Spirit of Lennon, which documents his life in the words of his family. Website: http://www.visitliverpool.com

Dresden’s Albertinum Reopens After Extensive Restoration

After an extensive restoration and refurbishment, the Dresden’s Albertinum has reopened

as a center of art from the Romantic period to the present day. The new exhibition halls are shared by the Galerie Neue Meister and the Skulpturensammlung. The holdings of both museums, include paintings ranging from Caspar David Friedrich to Gerhard Richter and sculptures ranging from Rodin to the 21st century. Huge glass-fronted display storerooms provide visitors with unprecedented insights into the internal workings of the museum and will open previously hidden works to view on a permanent basis. The new Albertinum as a whole is designed for encounters between painting and sculpture, between the Romantic and the Modern, between East and West and between yesterday, today and tomorrow.

This new structure has created not only a bright inner courtyard with space for a café, bookshop, gallery concerts and theatrical performances but also a second entrance to the museum. From now on, visitors can enter the Albertinum either via the traditional entrance on the Brühlsche Terasse or from Georg-Treu Platz.

Website: http://www.skdmuseum.de/en/museums-institutihasons/albertinum

New Renzo Piano-Designed Exhibition Pavilion Opens At LACMA In October

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) will present three major and diverse

exhibitions to debut its new Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion. The Resnick Pavilion will open to the public on October 2, 2010 with Eye for the Sensual: Selections from the Resnick Collection; Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700–1915; and Olmec: Masterworks of Ancient Mexico. The inaugural exhibitions will highlight the diversity of the museum’s encyclopedic collection and programming, as well as the flexibility of the Renzo Piano-designed pavilion.

The new 45,000 square foot building—the cornerstone of Phase II of LACMA’s ongoing Transformation—will be the largest purpose- built, naturally lit museum space in the world. The opening exhibitions will showcase this vast new space with an equally expansive selection of art, ranging from exquisitely detailed eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European dress, to monumental, twenty-ton ancient Olmec heads, to some of the finest works by renowned painters and sculptors of seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth–century Europe.

Robert Irwin's Palm Garden installation surrounds the Pavilion (photo). The palms, some quite rare, come in a wide variety of sizes, colors and shapes and are set into orderly grids, articulated by Cor-ten steel walls and containers. Website: http://www.lacma.org

Riccardo Muti Joins Chicago Symphony As 10^th Musical Director

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra celebrates the arrival of its tenth music director, Riccardo Muti, with a month of programs that reflect the varied elements of his vision for the entire Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association and it is connection to the city. Ranging from a free concert in Millennium Park and open rehearsals for students and community partners at Symphony Center and other venues, to visits to Chicago public schools and working with youth at risk, and from the Symphony Ball to subscription programs that showcase the Orchestra’s legendary artistry, each piece of Muti’s first month in his new post celebrates a new era in CSO history.

Integral to Riccardo Muti’s vision for the CSO is his dedication to helping redefine an orchestra’s place in its city through community engagement, performances of the highest artistic caliber, creative partnerships and collaborations, education and access. Over the course of his first four weeks in Chicago, this commitment is realized through a broad range of programs and events. This month-long celebration begins on Sunday, September 19, with a day of festivities that start at 2 p.m. with performances by ensembles from Chicago-area youth music programs, schools and partners of the CSO throughout Millennium Park, culminating with a performance in the Pritzker Pavilion at 4:30 p.m. by members of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Children’s Choir. Maestro Muti then leads the CSO in the free Concert for Chicago—which features music by Verdi, Liszt, Tchaikovsky and Respighi—promptly at 5:30 p.m. Audiences should plan to arrive early for first-come, first-served seating on the lawn and in the pavilion.

CSO subscription programming at Symphony Center begins September 23, when Riccardo Muti leads his first Orchestra Hall concerts as music director in an all-Berlioz program featuring Symphonie fantastique and its seldom-heard sequel, Lélio, narrated by French actor Gérard Depardieu. The CSO is joined by the Chicago Symphony Chorus, under the direction of Duain Wolfe, as well as tenor Mario Zeffiri and bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen. On September 30- October 5, Muti conducts the CSO in two symphonies by Haydn—Nos. 39 and 89—both receiving their first CSO performances. Bookended by these are Mozart’s Symphonies Nos. 25 and 34. Website: www.cso.org

Landmark Picasso Exhibition Opens October At Seattle Art Museum

The Seattle Art Museum is presenting a landmark exhibition of the work of Pablo Picasso

(1881–1973. The exhibition, on display October 8 to January 17, 2011, will present iconic works from virtually every phase of Picasso’s legendary career, documenting the full range of his unceasing inventiveness and prodigious creative process.

Drawn from the collection of the Musée National Picasso in Paris—the largest and most important repository of the artist’s work in the world—the exhibition will feature more than 150 extraordinary paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints and photographs. The opportunity was made possible due to the closing of the Musee Picasso for renovations. The Musée Picasso’s holdings stand apart from any other collections of Picasso because they represent the artist’s personal collection—works that the highly self-aware artist kept for himself with the intent of shaping his own artistic legacy.

Every major period from the artist’s prolific output over eight decades will be represented, including the Blue Period La Celestina (1904), Rose Period The Two Brothers (1906), African art–inspired Three Figures Under a Tree (1907), Cubist Man with a Guitar (1911), and the classicizing Two Women Running on the Beach (La Course) (1922). Website: www.seattleartmuseum.org

 

 

May/June 2010

Extensive Exhibition on Cleopatra Debuts At Franklin Institute/Philadelphia

The installation of the 150 artifacts will be on display at the world premiere exhibition Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt at The Franklin Institute, including

two colossal granite statues from the 4th to 3rd centuries B.C. that weigh almost 10 tons. Opening June 5 the exhibition will take visitors inside the present-day search for Cleopatra, which extends from the sands of Egypt to the depths of the Bay of Aboukir near Alexandria.

The exhibition also will provide an inside look at two ongoing expeditions led by modern explorers Dr. Zahi Hawass, Egypt's pre-eminent archaeologist and secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, and Franck Goddio, French underwater archaeologist and director of IEASM. As a highlight, the exhibition will showcase artifacts from Goddio's continuing underwater search off the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, begun in 1992.

The exhibition about the legendary queen, who remains one of history's greatest enigmas, will be at the Mandell Center at The Franklin Institute from June 5 to January 2, 2011. It will then travel to four other North American cities. Website: www.fi.edu

Website Explores World Heritage Sites in Switzerland

The website http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/unesco  is presenting special multimedia reports on Switzerland’s growing list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The multi-language reports invite visitors on a virtual journey through the centuries to discover Switzerland's cultural and natural treasures that are considered by UNESCO to be of "outstanding value to

humanity".

Of the 890 World Heritage Sites in 145 countries, ten

‘Old town’ of Bern

sites are located in Switzerland with the unique 19th century town planning of the watch making centers Le Locle und La Chaux-de-Fonds the latest to be recognized. Switzerland gained entry to the exclusive World Heritage club in 1983 when Bern's old town and the convents of St Gallen and St John at Mustair were listed. Added over the years have been the three castles of Bellinzona (2000), the Lavaux vineyard terraces (2007) and the Rhaetian Railway lines in the Albula and Bernina area (2008).

Switzerland is the only alpine nation to be home to three UNESCO World Heritage Natural Sites: the Jungfrau-Aletsch region (2001), Monte San Giorgio with its Triassic period fossils (2003), and the Tectonic Arena Sardona (2008). Website:

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/unesco

Jazz Legends Perform In Washington DC’s Bohemian Caverns Jazz Club

Washingtonians and visitors to the nation's capital can feel the past and glimpse the future of jazz music by visiting historic Bohemian Caverns, where a rich jazz experience awaits. A jazz spot whose roots date back to 1926, Bohemian Caverns is the city's oldest jazz club and a must-hear, must-see jazz destination. It's located on Washington's legendary U Street Corridor, for many decades a Mecca of hip and cool culture—otherwise known as Washington’s Harlem.

The legends are back, among them is renowned bassist Ron Carter, a former member of the awe-inspiring Miles Davis Quintet and perhaps the most-recorded bass player in history. Other top national and regional artists to appear is Philadelphia-based trumpeter Terell Stafford; and vocal jazz legend "Little" Jimmy Scott who got his stage name from the immortal Lionel Hampton.

The club recently celebrated the debut of the Bohemian Caverns Orchestra, whose big band swing sound will be featured every Monday night. They've also hosted Latin Grammy Award-winning band Afro Bop Alliance and master teaching artist and saxophonist Jeff Antoniuk, whose jazz workshops and related concerts further the knowledge of semi-pro musicians and jazz fans.

Bohemian Caverns was originally located under a drug store at 11th and U Streets and became famous for its floor and variety shows. Washington's elite came in droves, dressed to the nines, to be entertained by the likes of Washington's native-son Duke Ellington and Baltimore-nurtured Cab Calloway. Other immortal artists who helped build the club's legacy included Billy Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, and Charles Mingus.

In the 1950's, Club Caverns became known as Crystal Caverns. It was re-named Bohemian Caverns and reached its zenith in the late 1950s and early 1960s. And today it is once again the destination for serious jazz buffs at 2001 Eleventh St. in the Northwest section of the city. Website: http://www.bohemiancav.erns.com

Andre Rieu Announces Second Leg Of His 2010 North American Tour

Violinist Andre Rieu who is known for his energetic and festive live pop concerts, has announced a second leg of his 2010 North American tour. The  Celebration of Music Tour, starring Rieu and his 60-piece Johann Strauss Orchestra, start on November 29 at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona. The tour includes four already sold-out concerts in Mexico City of the ten US appearances on the West Coast, Florida, and Vancouver, Canada. "Music is the most wonderful thing in the world - it triggers emotions," says Rieu. "I want to bring joy with an ode to waltzes, polkas, romantic ballads and many more beautiful melodies. It will be a very special night." Website: http://www.andrerieu.com/site/index.php?id=agenda

Relive Napoleon’s Defeat At Waterloo     

Waterloo, less than 30 minutes south of Brussels, will celebrate the 195th Anniversary of Napoleon's defeat with a weekend filled with activities June 18 to 20, 2010. The weekend will begin with an hour-long Battle of Waterloo-inspired firework and light spectacle at 10:00 pm on June 18. On Saturday, visitors will have the opportunity to travel into the heart of the Napoleonic bivouacs, to discover the everyday life of a typical soldier in the imperial army. The weekend will conclude with a re-enactment of the battle with more than 3,000 soldiers, with Napoleon often being played by an American actor, to give the full effect of the scale of the battle and its place in European history. Website: http://www.waterloo1815.be/en/waterloo/

France Offers Two Festivals For Horticultural Lovers

France’s Loire Valley is the scene for two garden festivals this year at two famous

chateaux. The International Garden Festival at the Chateau Chaumont sur Loire in the

Centre Loire Valley Region has been providing a unique panorama of landscape design all over the world since 1992. Over the course of its 18 seasons, almost 400 gardens have been designed, all of which are prototypes of the gardens of the future. This year's event will takes place from April 29 through October 17. Website: http://www.domaine-chaumont.fr/index-en.php?page=festival&cat=102&expandable=2.

For tomato fanciers, the 12th annual Fêtes des Tomates (Tomato Festival) will be held September 11-12 on the grounds of the lovely 16th century Château La Bourdaisière, in Mountlouis-sur-Loire. Owned by Prince Louis Albert de Broglie (also known as the Garden Prince), the château's unique tomato conservatory features over 630 varieties of heirloom tomatoes in every imaginable size, shape, and color. Festival-goers can take part in the cooking classes and purchase a variety of tomato-based items: books for the gardener and the chef, chutneys, soaps, and even a special line of cosmetics from Ella Baché and Clarins. Website: http://www.labourdaisiere.com/en/expositions-et-evenements/le-festival-de-la-tomate

Dalel Chihuly Exhibition Now Open At Meijer Gardens In Grand Rapids MI

Few American artists can capture the attention of millions the way Dale Chihuly can, and Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, one of the nation's significant sculpture and botanic experiences, will celebrate the masterwork of Chihuly with a breathtaking and exclusive outdoor sculpture exhibition now until September 30.

Chihuly at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park: A New Eden will include thousands of pieces of glass in 15 different settings across the 132-acre grounds. Each site-specific sculpture will harmonize with the surrounding natural environment, and bright, bold horticulture designs will change with the seasons. "This exhibition celebrates one of the world's foremost glass artists and his much-anticipated return to Meijer Gardens," said Joseph Becherer, chief curator and vice president. "Specifically created for this exhibition, Chihuly's sculptural glass infuses his expression of nature with the stunning landscape of our grounds."

For "A New Eden," Chihuly and his team are working with the Meijer Gardens Horticultural team to celebrate the duality of art and nature. Chosen sites span the grounds of Meijer Gardens including the English Perennial Garden, Woodland Shade Garden, Lena Meijer Children's Garden, wetland areas and the 30-acre Sculpture Park.

Citron Green and Red Tower, an explosive, 16-foot-tall sculpture set in the stately English Perennial Garden, greets Meijer Gardens' guests as they enter. Throughout the indoor gardens, Neon Tumbleweed Chandeliers cascade light into the Arid Garden and Polyvitro Chandeliers, Ikebana, Baskets, Macchia and Persians highlight the Lena Meijer Conservatory.

In addition to the exhibition, two permanent installations are on display: Gilded Champagne Gardens Chandelier, in the Grand Atrium, and the newly installed Lena's Garden suspended from the ceiling of the Taste of the Gardens Cafe.

Chihuly's well-known series of works include Baskets, Persians and Seaforms. His work is included in more than two hundred museum collections worldwide. Chihuly's lifelong affinity for glass houses has grown into a series of exhibitions with botanical settings.

Website: www.meijergardens.org

Laugh Yourself Silly At This Annual Funny Festival in Montreal

The world's largest and most prestigious comedy event presents gala performances,

theatre, club shows and outdoor free performances. Every summer, over 1,600 shows, including more than 1,250 free performances amuse an ever-growing public. And this year, the show running from July 2 to 25 at various venues around Montreal is being touted as better than ever. More than 1,500 artists representing 12 countries will perform. Highlights include comedic performances by Irish comedian Andrew Maxwell, Andy Kindler, Cheech and Chong comedy duo, Beardyman and Brad Garrett. Website: http://montreal.hahaha.com/en

Retrospective of Yves Saint Laurent Now On View At Petit Palais In Paris

The Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation and the Petit Palais (the City of Paris's

Museum of Fine Art) present the first-ever retrospective of Yves Saint Laurent’s entire oeuvre. With 307 haute-couture and ready-to-wear garments displayed for the very first time, together with a great many sketches, documents, and films exploring the genius of one of the greatest fashion designers of the century, the exhibition retraces the four decades (1962 to 2002) of Yves Saint Laurent's creations.

The pieces chosen for the exhibition are laid out in a theatrical progression, from Saint Laurent’s early days as a designer at Dior in 1958, with the famous "Trapèze" collection, to the splendor of Yves Saint Laurent silk dresses.

The building of the Yves Saint Laurent style and the background to his work are presented in historical context, illustrated with photographs and films. The richness of his artistic and cultural inspirations is portrayed in spectacular tableaux. The first fashion designer ever to want to cater to the masses, Yves Saint Laurent also dressed the most sublime of women. The exhibition closes with an apotheosis of colors and garments revealing the present-day relevance of the Saint Laurent oeuvre.

The Yves Saint Laurent retrospective runs August 29, 2010. Website: http://petitpalais.paris.fr/en/home 

Rome’s First Contemporary Arts Museum Opens May 30

MAXXI—the National Museum of XXI Cntury Arts--will open on May 30. Designed

by international architect Zaha Hadid of Hadid Architects, MAXXI is the first Italian national museum devoted to contemporary creativity. It joins  MACCRO, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome, which opened in 1999.

The inaugural exhibitions are: Gino De Dominicis: l’Immmortale, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva (May 30 to November 7, 2010); Luigi Moretti Architetto: From Rationalism to Informalism (To November 7, 2010); and Kutlag Ataman: Mesopotamian Dramaturgies, (To September 12, 2010). However, it is the exhibition Space that contemplates the spirit of the museum - and will be the first exhibition of MAXXI’s Art and Architecture collections that runs until January 23, 2011.

The idea for Space was prompted by the dense texture of superimposed spaces of Zaha Hadid’s architecture and fully interprets MAXXI’s interdisciplinary nature. Around 90 works from the Art collection begun in 1992 that includes works by Alighiero Boetti, Anish Kapoor, William Kentridge, Sol Lewitt, Giuseppe Penone, Grazia Toderi and Francesco Vezzoli. They will be exhibited along white resin passageways winding inside and outside the museum, creating a dialogue with site-specific installations by ten international architecture studios (including Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Lacaton & Vassal Architects, and West 8).

Visitors will be guided through an exploration of the vast and complex concept of space, understood in the environmental and the intimate senses, as a place of the imagination and as a political and social dimension. As part of the exhibition, a work by Studio Azzurro Italian Geographies, will occupy a 40-meter area that features an interactive account of the last 60 years of Italian architecture, composed of film clips, interviews, photographs and drawings, freely reinterpreted.

The museum is located at via Guido Reni, 4 A. Website: http://www.maxxi.beniculturali.it/english

Brussels Medieval Pageant Takes Place June 28

The festive Ommegang pageant will take place on June 28 and July 1 in the Brussels

Grand Place. The pageant is a re-enactment of the medieval festival that welcomed Emperor Louis the Fifth and all of his sisters to Brussels in 1549. About 1,500 performers dress up in medieval and folk costumes to parade from the Sablon Church to the Grand The purpose of this show is both to educate the people of Belgium about its history and also to give visitors an overview of Belgian culture, arts, economy and history. On 2 June 1549, the main objective was to show the Emperor and his guests the grandeur and prosperity of Belgium.

This year the annual pageant place on June 29 and July 1 at 9 pm. Tickets are required for seats in the Grand Place but viewing is free along the parade route. Website: www.ommeg.be

 

 

April/May 2010

Matisse’s Painting Dance On Display At The Hermitage Amsterdam

The rarely seen painting Dance (1909-1910) by Henri Matisse is featured in the exhibition Matisse to Malevich at the Hermitage museum in Amsterdam. The artwork is one of the icons of art history and comes from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg where it is rarely loaned out. This monumental painting, measuring 260 x 391 centimeters makes this a key work in Matisse’s oeuvre.

Throughout his life Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was inspired by the theme of the dance. He incorporated it in wood carvings, watercolor sketches, drawings in pencil and charcoal and even on vases. Before he painted the version that is now coming to Amsterdam, he made an earlier Dance (MoMA collection, New York).

Matisse’s The Red Room

In addition to Matisse’s paintings, works by Picasso, Van Dongen, De Vlaminck, Derain and many of their contemporaries have been selected for this exhibition as well as the art of  such Russian contemporaries as Malevich and Kandinsky. The exhibition explores the origins of modern art as an art historical phenomenon, but also looks at the passion of the artists, when at a crucial moment in art history at the beginning of the last century they initiated a revolution in art.

This is the first time that this extensive collection of avant-garde masterpieces will be on display in the Netherlands. This kind of art was collected mainly by private individuals in Russia. After the October Revolution of 1917 many works ended up in the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. The exhibition closes September 16.

Imperial Summer Fete Debuts In Vienna

With 500 formal balls a year, Vienna is home to one of the world’s busiest social rosters. This summer, the Imperial Summer Fête debuts July 10 at the Spanish Riding School.  This first-of-its-kind festival will replicate the Renaissance-era fêtes that Empress Maria Theresa hosted - including the Ladies’ Carousel. “In those days, admission to the balls was granted only to members of the Court. For one unforgettable night, we’ll be resurrecting those fantasy-struck days in exquisite detail. We’ll open up the Riding School to guests and locals alike,” says Elisabeth Gürtler, managing director of the Spanish Riding School. On July 10, the riding area - normally reserved for snowy white Lipizzaner stallions - will be transformed into a magnificent dance floor.

The rapid, twirling elegance of the Viennese Waltz is no thing of the past. Traditionally, the city’s 500 or so balls are held during carnival season, from early November until Shrove’ Tuesday. On July 10, 2010, the Summer Fête Impériale joins this exclusive - and worthy - subset. The net proceeds from the Fête Impériale will benefit exclusively the scientific work necessary to preserve and protect Europe’s oldest cultural horse breed and ensure the continuation of the Spanish Riding School.

Historical references to the Spanish Riding School reach back as far as 1572. After the original structure’s destruction during a siege, Emperor Charles VI commissioned court architect Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach to rebuild it from 1729-1735. 

The new building exhibited yet greater splendor than the original. Even by the artisanal, artistic standards of that age, the Riding School was an architectural masterpiece. The suspended, 10,000 square-foot ceiling was - and still is - a feat to behold.  Another gem of Renaissance architecture is the adjacent Stallburg. In 1565, this structure was an imperial stable. It lay dormant until 2008, when the Riding School threw the first of what was to become a series of now-legendary fundraising galas in the beautiful courtyard. On July 10th, this courtyard will be transformed into a breathtaking ballroom filled with twirling couples in their loveliest finery. Website: www.fete-imperiale.at

If you cannot attend the ball, there’s another treat planned for the Riding School. For

three weeks this summer—July 13 to August 8--mares and colts from the Austrian stud farm Piber will be visiting the Spanish Riding School in Vienna for public viewing. The stud farm is famous for the beauty and showmanship of its offspring, many of which will eventually be sent to the Riding School in their maturity. Vienna’s Spanish Riding School is the world’s oldest continuously operated institution for classical dressage. Here, riding remains a perfect art form—and luckily for visitors the world over, the viewing is superb.

First Copenhagen Photo Festival Debuts May 12

The city of Copenhagen is holding its first festival devoted to photography in May. The festival will present significant Danish and international contemporary photography in art institutions, galleries and urban space offering a wide range of contemporary photography, from art and fashion photography to documentary and photojournalism.

Exhibitions, workshops, artists talks and seminars, along with a private view program of satellite exhibitions are scheduled May 12 to 20, 2010 and are being presented by and at The National Museum of Photography /Det Nationale Fotomuseum, Fotografisk Center; The Museum of Copenhagen (Københavns Bymuseum), Galleri Bo Bjerggaard; V1 Gallery’ Galerie Mikael Andersen; Peter Lav Gallery; Martin Asbæk Gallery; DASK; Hans Alf Gallery; Cinemateket; The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts / Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi; National Gallery of Denmark / Statens Museum for Kunst; Scandinavia House. The show also will have a presence in New York City at the 25CPW gallery.

Day & Night is the festival’s main exhibition opening on May 12th in the public space of Copenhagen inner city with new contemporary art photography from the international scene. Day focuses on fact and fiction and takes place during daylight while Night focuses on nightlife and excesses.  Night comes alive at dusk by being projected onto storefront windows, buildings and screens throughout the city. Website:

http://www.copenhagenphotofestival.com

New Orleans’ National World War II Museum Offers A Look At WWII

The National World War II Museum in New Orleans offers a firsthand look at the battles and motives behind the 20th-century's most momentous event. The six-acre campus tells the story of the American Experience in the war that changed the world - why it was fought, how it was won, and what it means today. Dedicated in 2000 as The National D-Day Museum and now designated by Congress as America's National World War II Museum, it celebrates the American Spirit, the teamwork, optimism, courage and sacrifice of the men and women who fought on the battlefront and the Home Front.

The cutting-edge Beyond All Boundaries displayed on the Solomon Victory Theater's 120-feet wide immersive screen plunges viewers into the 20th-century's most titanic struggle. The Museum brought in a national creative team to create a jaw-dropping experience in 4-D, a technique that engages all the audience's senses with digital effects, life-sized props, animation, and atmospherics as well as film and sound. Audiences feel the tank treads rumbling across North Africa's deserts, brush snow from their cheeks during the wintery Battle of the Bulge, and flinch as anti-aircraft fire tries to bring down their B-17 on a bombing run over Nazi Germany.

This June, The Museum will celebrate ten years of preserving and sharing the stories of

the greatest generation, a date that coincides with the 66th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

The Museum, founded by noted writer and historian Stephen E. Ambrose, grew from humble beginnings to the nation’s official World War II museum. In 2011 the Museum debuts the next phase of its planned $300 million expansion, the Restoration Pavilion. The 14,000 square-foot facility will showcase Museum artifacts

The Air and Sea Armada exhibit display

with models of Allied attack boats and

planes on D-Day.

undergoing various levels of restoration, all in public view. It will be an opportunity to show off new acquisitions as well as educate about the process involved in caring for them. The first project will be an ongoing refurbishment of PT-305, a Higgins Industry PT-boat that served in the Mediterranean.

Coming additions include three major new buildings which will open in phases: The Campaigns Pavilion is dedicated to the greatest and some of the lesser-known battles, including Guadalcanal, the battle of the Bulge, and the Mediterranean. The Liberation Pavilion documents the Holocaust, POW camps, events surrounding the war's closing months in 1945, and the return of freedom following liberation. The expansive United States Freedom Pavilion will cover all the service branches and will display additional land, sea and air major artifacts. Website: www.nationalww2museum.org.

Dale Chihuly Works Featured in Exhibition at Frist Center for the Visual Arts

During an eight-month exhibition in the Frist Center for the Visual Arts' Upper-Level Galleries in Nashville, Tennessee, the unsurpassed mastery of Dale Chihuly and his Seattle glass-studio collaborators will be on view in nine installations drawn from some of Chihuly's most acclaimed series. Chihuly at the Frist will open May 9, 2010, and remain on view through January2, 2011.

For this exhibition Chihuly and his artisan assistants are presenting new works and works drawn from his most important series of the past three decades in an installation designed specifically for the Frist Center's galleries.

Also on exhibition will be a wall of Chihuly's drawings that serve as independent works of art and "blueprints" to communicate and inspire his glassblowers to bring his designs to life and to improvise on the themes he has created.

In addition to the Frist Center, Dale Chihuly's work also will be seen at the Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art and at performances of the Nashville Symphony. In an unprecedented collaboration, the three institutions are joining forces to cross-promote and offer reciprocal discounts to their members and subscribers. Website: http://fristcenter.org/

This Spring Vienna Offers Glorious Music En Plein Air For Free

The Vienna Philharmonic performs an open-air concert with free admission in the

unique ambience of the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace (photo) on Tuesday, June 8, 2010, at 9 pm. The Sommernachtskonzert Schönbrunn 2010 will be conducted by the Music Director of the Vienna State Opera, Franz Welser-Möst. More information at

www.sommernachtskonzert.at   

Open-Air Opera In The City Of Music

There is a series of free open-air opera events in the heart of the city this spring. After its successful introduction in 2009, Oper Live am Platz returns in May and June 2010 with live broadcasts of selected performances on a giant outdoor screen – entry is free of charge. A 50-square-meter LED video screen will be set up on Herbert-von-Karajan-Platz next to the Opera House and the Ringstrasse. Performances include subtitles. Information about the piece, the performers, the Vienna State Opera and its work is provided 45 minutes before the concert starts and during the intervals.

In total, 17 performances by the Vienna State Opera will be shown on the big screen in May. Highlights include Georges Bizet’s Carmen (May 3, 6 and 9), Gioachino Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri (May 22, 25 and 28) and Jules Massenet’s Manon (May 18 and 21). In June,15 more live broadcasts are planned-- among them Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin (June 6), Parsifal (June 30) and Tannhäuser (June 16, 20 and 27) and Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (June 8 and 11). Website: www.wiener-staatsoper.at

New Pompidou Metz Museum Opens In May

Considered an architectural masterpiece, the new Centre Pompidou-Metz (rendering shown in photo) will open in May. The new museum was designed by Shigeru Ban Architects (Japan) and Jean de Gastines (France). The 10,700 square-meter space offers a wide variety of programming possibilities, with the Grand Nave dedicated solely to large-scale installations.

The inaugural exhibition entitled Chefs-d’œuvre? looks at the notion of the masterpiece, past, present and future. Is this notion still relevant today? Who decides what is a masterpiece and what isn’t? Once a masterpiece, always a masterpiece?

On display are major works from the collection of the Musée National d’Art Moderne at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Of the 780 works on show, 700 have been loaned to the Centre Pompidou-Metz by the Centre Pompidou. Some have rarely been loaned before, such as Calder’s Josephine Baker IV, Klein’s Grande anthropophagie bleue (ANT 76), and Picasso’s Woman with Red Head. The exhibition also includes specially commissioned pieces by contemporary artists.

The exceptional group of works thus assembled fosters thought on notions of taste, collections, museums and aesthetic judgment, and covers the entire time period and artistic disciplines in the Centre Pompidou’s collection: painting, sculpture, installation, graphic art, photography, video, sound art, film, architecture, design etc. Masterpieces? is a constant reminder of the multi-disciplinary approach for which the Centre Pompidou is renowned. Metz is located one hour 20 minutes on the highspeed TGV from Paris. Website: www.centrepompidou-metz.fr

Retrace Martin Luther’s Footsteps In Coburg    

Preparing for the 500th anniversary of the Martin Luther’s Reformation in 2017, Germany is already offering many diverse Luther-related products in the towns and

cities’ where the famous reformer lived and worked. Luther hid from prosecution in 1530 for half a year in the Coburg fortress in the small Franconian town of Coburg, not far from Nuremberg. It was in the fortress that Luther began to translate the bible from Latin into German.

Today the Luther memorial rooms and the Luther chapel give a vivid impression of the Reformation era and display many artifacts and paintings by Abrecht Dürer and a full-length portrait of Luther by Lucas Cranach the Younger.

In the vault of the impressive 15^th century Coburg fortress (photo) that overlooks the town, there is a 15-minute-film in English about Martin Luther. Luther’s original letters are housed in the fortress and in Coburg’s Public Records Office, The State Library of Coburg possesses about 700 of Luther’s documents from the 16th century as well as valuable Lutheran Bibles. Website: www.coburg-tourist.de

 

 

March/April 2010

Cool Art Destinations in Germany

St Patrick’s Day As Celebrated In Ireland

St Patrick’s day is celebrated in style all over the country, with festivities kicking off in

the Republic’s capital Dublin in the week leading up to March 17th. In Dublin, the revelry breaks out with parties, parades and night spectacles to entertain the revelers. But things aren’t too tame around the rest of the country, either! In Limerick, as well as the parade, the International Band Festival and Spring Fest will delight spectators with marching bands from literally everywhere in the world; Waterford puts on an amazing Skyfest fireworks display over the River Suir; in Galway, performers take to the city for a fabulous walking parade; Armagh and Down pay tribute to the patron saint with the largest celebration in Northern Ireland; Cork boasts a veritable fiesta of colors; while Belfast resounds with a carnival-like atmosphere for the big day. In fact, across almost every town and village in the country, this special day for the Irish is remembered in style.

Street theatre, music, comedy, outdoor spectaculars, dance, visual art and all that’s just a taster for what is planned for Ireland’s largest national celebration. Celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2010, St. Patrick’s Festival brings the nation alive, and promises six lively days and nights of free celebrations and encompasses a feeling of what it means to be or just feel Irish. Website: www.stpatricksfestival.ie  

Mummies of the World Exhibition Debuts In Los Angeles July 2010

The California Science Center is presenting an exhibition Mummies of the World, this summer, the largest traveling exhibition of mummies ever assembled. A never-before-seen collection of both accidental and intentionally preserved mummies will allow visitors to delve into the past lives and rich history of the world's cultures. Opening July 1 for a limited time, the traveling exhibition will feature more than 150 objects and artifacts from the four corners of the globe.

The collection includes ancient mummies and important artifacts from Asia, Oceania, South America and Europe as well as ancient Egypt. The exhibition features specimens in varied states of preservation, from nearly every continent. Mummies of the World also demonstrates how mummification is often a natural process; one which occurs in hot, dry desert sands of Peru around 1400 A.D. or resulted from extreme acts of nature as in the eternal ice of the Italian Alps; as well as in remote European moors and bogs, and will display the famed Capuchin Monk mummies on loan from the Museum of The Catacombs of Palermo.

Mummies of the World also features an Egyptian antiquity gallery with mummies and artifacts dating as far back as 6,500 B.C. Through engaging interactive exhibits, the exhibition illustrates how current science tools enable us to study mummies in new and non-invasive ways, allowing unprecedented insights to past cultures and civilizations.

The concept for the exhibit began after the German Mummy Project discovered 19 specimens within the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums in Mannheim, Germany. After researching and learning about mummies and the process of mummification, both accidental (natural) and intentional (artificial), it was obvious the collection had a story to tell.

The three-year tour will visit museums and science centers in six other prominent cities in the United States.

Salzburg Festival Celebrates Its 90^th Birthday

The Salzburg Festival celebrates its 90th birthday this year with a performance schedule that features 200 events at 12 performance venues in the genres of opera, concerts and drama. Accompanying the festival is a multi-part Festival Exhibit filled with the content with which Festival’s directors and artists filled 90 years’ worth of Festival. Beginning on July 17, the entire city is to become a stage while a series of exhibits entitled Grand World Theater will display nine decades of musical and dramatic presentations at different venues including the Salzburg Museum, the Residence Gallery, St. Peter and Mozart’s Birthplace.

The Salzburg Festival was conceived and founded during World War I as a peace project opposing the crisis of meaning and identity, a protest against the loss of values of the individual, but also of entire peoples. The festival founders were the writer Hugo von Hofmannsthal, director Max Reinhardt and composer and conductor Richard Strauss.

 The entire summer program, background information and online ticket sales are available at www.salzburgfestival.at.

Renovated Home of Denmark’s Crown Prince Open To Public For Limited Time

The newly renovated palace home for Denmark’s Crown Prince and Princess will open its doors to the public from February 27 to May 30, 2010, prior to the Royal Family’s moving in. The renovated 18^th century Frederick VIII’s palace, part of the Amalienborg Palace complex near the city center of Copenhagen, underwent extensive interior renovations in the past six years, but the grand classical rococo façade has been preserved. As part of the renovations, ten Danish artists were selected to create new art for the palace.

The public opening will include two main floors of the palace – the ground floor and first floor – which, in the future, will be used for official receptions and administrative offices. Opening hours are Tuesday–Sunday, from 10 am to 5 pm; Wednesdays 10 am to 9 pm. There is an admission fee except for children 14 and under.

Universal Orlando Resort To Open The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Inspired by J.K. Rowling's compelling stories and characters - and faithful to the visual landscapes of the films - The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventure in Orlando Florida, will provide visitors with a one-of-a-kind experience complete with multiple attractions, shops and a signature eating establishment. This completely immersive environment will transcend generations and bring the wonder and magic of the amazingly detailed Harry Potter books and films to life.

The expectations of Harry Potter fans are high and Universal Orlando Resort is collaborating closely with J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros. Consumer Products and the Warner Bros. Harry Potter brand team to ensure that The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be an experience of a lifetime. Guests will be able to sip Butterbeer in Three Broomsticks, buy Extendable Ears at Zonko's and experience a state-of-the-art attraction that brings the stories of Harry Potter to life in a way never before imagined. "All of the action and adventures of Harry Potter's world will come to life here at Universal Orlando Resort," said Tom Williams, chairman and CEO, Universal Parks and Resorts.  "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be unlike any other experience on earth and we can't wait to see the looks on our guests' faces as they enter this rich environment." It opens this spring.

Jazz à Juan Jazz Festival Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary In July

In 2010, the prestigious international jazz festival Jazz à Juan, the oldest in Europe, will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. Antibes Juan-les-Pins, the capital of jazz, has chosen to pay tribute to the great musicians who have performed ever since 1960 in the legendary setting of the Gould pine grove. On the strength of the festival’s international recognition, the town is also preparing the future generation of young artists with the "Jazz à Juan Révélations"—a series of concerts promoting young jazz musicians on stage.

As early as the 1920s, Antibes Juan-les-Pins was the meeting place for the intellectual and modernist elite, in the manner of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway. They brought with them jazz and a new art of living. The city of joie de vivre, dear to the heart of Picasso, was also the adopted homeland of the great saxophone player Sidney Bechet. Created in 1960 as a tribute to Bechet, "Jazz à Juan" sparked many other festivals, which spread across the whole of Europe.

The concept was revolutionary. For the first time, the general public could discover, up close, the jazz greats in a beautiful setting—under the centenarian pine trees of the Pinède Gould, facing the Mediterranean Sea. It was certainly a risky gamble, but came off brilliantly, leading to a permanent festival celebrating jazz in all its forms: New Orleans, Gospel, Blues, Swing, Be-Bop, Latin Jazz, Cool Jazz, Hard-Bop, Free Jazz, Jazz-Rock, Modern Jazz and Electro-Jazz.

The favorite festival of Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Miles Davis—and more recently, Keith Jarrett, Sonny Rollins and Jamie Cullum—is now preparing to welcome once again, upon the occasion of a half-century of existence, an exceptional variety of artists including bassist Marcus Miller, pianist Keith Jarrett, bossa-nova great Carlinhos Brown, sax-player David Sanborn, and drummer Manu Katché. The festival takes place July 15 to 25 in the resort town of Juan-les-Pins.

Normandy Celebrates Its Impressionist Heritage

Normandy has been described by the writer Jacques-Sylvain Klein as "the cradle of Impressionism." It was here, in 1872, that Claude Monet painted his famous Impressionist Sunrise, a painting, which would subsequently give this new artistic movement its name. 

Created to celebrate the many links between Normandy and Impressionism, the first Normandy Impressionist Festival (www.impressionism-normandy.com) will be the major cultural event this summer in France. From June to September 2010, more than 200 events celebrating Impressionism will take place across Normandy. Although the festival will focus mainly on painting, there will also be events dedicated to contemporary art, photography, music, cinema, theatre and dance.

A highlight of the festival is the exhibition A City for Impressionism – Monet, Pissarro and Gauguin that opens June 15 in Rouen, the provincial capital of Normandy. The city played a major role in the history of 19th century art. Although the city had attracted artists since the Renaissance, it reached the height of its popularity during the Impressionist period, thanks to its vibrant industry, spectacular location and unspoiled architectural heritage. This city which Pissarro found "as beautiful as Venice" quickly became an emblematic center of modern art. Around one hundred paintings by late-19th century artists, including Monet, Gauguin and Pissarro, will be brought together to explore one of the last main themes in the history of Impressionism: the Norman city as a laboratory for modern art, poised as it was between urban activity and rural tranquillity, old monuments and a rapidly expanding industry, all reflected in the tranquil waters of the Seine.

In addition to presenting the 100 works on display at the Musee des Beaux-Arts, the exhibition catalogue will demonstrate the vast amount of research carried out for the exhibition and will contain essays by international art experts on Impressionism. The show closes September 26, 2010. Website: http://www.rouen-musees.com 

As for the festival per se, the festival will encompass a variety of artistic forms, including painting, contemporary art, video, music and theater. Traditional guingettes (restaurants with music), sound and light shows and "déjeuner sur l’herbe" picnics complement the festival events.

Still Time To Purchase Tickets For Oberammergau Pageant

It only takes place every ten years and tickets are going fast. Just a short time to go before the premiere of the Passion Play 2010 on May 15 in the Bavarian town of Oberammergau just an hour away from Munich that will kick off the 41st edition of an inspirational theatrical event. The re-enactment of the passion of Christ features 148 performers with speaking roles, and up to 1,000 people on the open-air stage in the crowd scenes against

the enchanting backdrop of the Ammergau Alps. Performed on an open-air stage, the five-hour play—there is a three-hour intermission-- starts with Jesus entering Jerusalem, continues up to his death on the cross and finishes with his resurrection.

This year, there is a new production, directed by Christian Stückl - a local, who is also manager of Munich's outstanding Volkstheater. He is supported by the artistic team that staged the Passion Play in 2000. Orchestra and choir perform the uplifting music that was composed in the 19th century by Rochus Dedler, again a resident of Oberammergau.

Visitors can expect powerful performances by the performers, who must have lived in Oberammergau for at least 20 years or have been born there, accompanied by a stunning stage design. For the first time ever, performances will start in the afternoon at 2.30 p.m. and last until approximately 10.30 pm including a three-hour break for dinner. The pageant closes October 3, 2010. Website: www.oberammergau-passion.com

Los Angeles Museums Promise A Blockbuster Year of Art Exhibitions

This year premier museums in Los Angeles are offering larger than life exhibits. Here's a sampling:

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) celebrates its 30th birthday, with its largest installation ever. MOCA’s First Thirty Years presents more than 500 works created during the past 70 years that are displayed in chronological order throughout the museum's two facilities through May 3. Website: www.moca.org  

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is presenting Renoir in the 20^th Century

through May 9. The study offers an unprecedented look at the last three decades of Renoir's career, when he abandoned impressionism and turned to art that was decorative and classical. His paintings from this period have never before been studied, and the exhibit serves to bridge the divide between art of the 19th and 20th centuries. Website:

www.lacma.org 

At the Getty Center in LA, a new show Leonardo da Vinci and the Art of Sculpture: Inspiration and Invention opens March 23 and runs to June 20, 2010. This show is the first display of works by Leonardo da Vinci in Los Angeles in decades. It features original drawings by Leonardo and important works by artists who inspired him -- and those who were inspired by him. Website: www.getty.edu 

At the Getty Villa in Malibu, a new show The Aztec Pantheon and the Art of Empire runs from March 24 to July 5, 2010. Organized to celebrate the bicentennial of Mexican independence, this exhibit showcases masterworks of Aztec sculpture. In the 16th century, European colonization of the Americas coincided with the Renaissance rediscovery of classical antiquity and parallels were routinely drawn between the Aztec and Roman empires. Website: www.getty.edu  

King Kong to Roar Back to Life at Universal Studios Hollywood

King Kong, among the screen's most powerful and enduring icons, will re-emerge this summer as a new signature attraction created under the direction of Peter Jackson on the famed Universal Studios Hollywood Studio Tour. King Kong 360 3D will combine thrilling visceral effects to create a next-generation theme park experience. In the new attraction, guests will be given special 3-D glasses as they enter a darkened soundstage aboard the Studio Tour trams and will be transported— via the magic of Surround Digital 3D projection —deep into a tangled jungle location. They'll survive a close encounter with a swarm of hungry raptors, only to be confronted by the terrifying presence of 35' tall dinosaur behemoths, intent on attacking the tram and Studio Tour guests. Website:

www.universalstudioshollywood.com

Shanghai Gears For The Opening Of Its World Exposition

Expo 2010 Shanghai opens on May 1 with more than 20,000 cultural events to be held during its 184-day run. Some 70 million visitors are expected to tour the more than 30

venues offering a variety of events. More than 200 countries and international organizations are expected to participate. The first world’s expo in several decades, the theme of Expo 2010 is "Better City, Better Life," which represents a central concern of the international community for future policy making, urban strategies and sustainable development. In 1800, 2 percent of the global population lived in cities. In 1950, the figure was raised to 29 percent; in 2000, almost half the world population moved into cities; and by 2010, as estimated by the United Nations, the urban population will account for 55% of the total human population. Through different sub-themes, Expo 2010 hopes to create blueprints for future cities and harmonious urban life styles, providing an extraordinary educational and entertaining platform for visitors of all nations to the fair.

Website: http://en.expo2010.cn /

Germany Celebrates 300^th Anniversary of Porcelain Making  

Porcelain, the white gold that is part of Germany’s legacy as a leader in design and handicrafts celebrates its 300th anniversary with special exhibitions and events throughout the year. Several large exhibitions are in Meissen and Dresden. One exhibition Triumph of the Blue Swords at the Japanisches Palais in Dresden (May 8 - August 29) focuses on the first 100 years of the manufacturer and will show large parts of the rich holdings of porcelain collections that are usually in storage and not publicly displayed. The exhibition also includes loans from museums and collections around the globe. Other exhibitions include the All Nations are Welcome exhibition in Meissen (January 23 - December 31); Philosopher’s Stone collection in the original factory in Castle Albrechtsburg near Dresden (May 8 - October 31); and a 500-piece exhibition in the Ephraim Palace in Berlin (May 9 - August 29).

Founded in 1710 the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory is one of the most successful German brands in the world. The production center and its connected museum offer a great insight into the history and presence of the brand.

Another highly acclaimed porcelain factory is based in Munich, in the beautiful Nymphenburg Palace (www.nymphenburg.com/us/nymphenburg) where at its adjacent museum more than 1,000 pieces of Nymphenburg porcelain from different periods are exhibited.

Several smaller porcelain producers offer a close look into the art of making the white gold and visitors can even try it themselves. At the Fuerstenberg factory in northern Germany near Hanover (www.fuerstenberg-porzellan.com) visitors can explore three centuries of porcelain making in the museum adjoining the factory, where both historical and current collections are on show and pottery courses are available.

The Ludwigsburg factory (www.porzellan-manufaktur-ludwigsburg.de) is located in a magnificent royal palace to the north of Stuttgart. Visitors can attend guided tours of the factory at which every piece of porcelain is made and decorated entirely by hand.

Germany also boasts two Porcelain Routes linking places of interested associated with the manufacturing of porcelain. Along the 340 mile long route in northeastern Bavaria visitors can discover famous factories such as Arzberg and Rosenthal or visit the Porzellanikon museum complex in Selb, a former Rosenthal porcelain factory that closed in 1969 and now houses the European Industrial Museum of Porcelain, the Rosenthal Museum and the European Museum of Technical Ceramics  (www.porzellanstrasse.de). A second themed route in Thuringia features factories where porcelain is made and decorated and where visitors can visit factory outlets, demonstration workshops and several museums (www.thueringerporzellanstrasse.de).

Belfast International Film Festival Celebrates Its Tenth Year

The Belfast Film Festival is celebrating its tenth birthday next month; and to mark this milestone, this year’s festival will be extended to run over 16 days from

April 15 to 30. The film festival has grown exponentially from being a small element within a bigger community festival, to becoming one of the key cultural events in Northern Ireland with upwards of 16,000 people attending its events in 2009.

The Tenth Belfast Film Festival boasts over 30 UK/Irish premieres with 125 screenings and events at different venues from over 25 countries including, Russia, Japan, Iran, Argentina, Israel and South Africa.

The Festival opens on April 15 at the Moviehouse, Dublin Road with the UK/Irish premiere of Triage starring man of the moment, Colin Farrell. On closing night, director Francis Ford Coppola’s Tetro is being shown. Starring Vincent Gallo, Tetro is Coppola’s first original screenplay since The Conversation. Shot in black and white, the film is set in the bristling streets of Buenos Aires.

Where To Find Cool Art In Germany

Diversity has a name--the Magic Cities of Germany, a German alliance that includes the cities of Berlin, Cologne, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart. These cities put the cool in contemporary art with its contemporary art collections that combine art, design and architecture in an exciting new mix. Website: www.magic-cities.com 

Düsseldorf is one of the German centers of design, fashion and architecture. The new

annual highlight of Düsseldorf’s art scene is the second Quadriennale, a series of high-caliber exhibits in nine of the city’s major art houses and galleries. Entitled Presence of Art, it features contemporary art in and from Düsseldorf over the past 50 years. It runs from September to January 2011. Website: www.artcity-duesseldorf.de 

On time for the Quadriennale 2010 the K20 will reopen in July. Both venues, the K20 and K21 host impressive art collection of the 20th and 21st centuries. Not far from the museums is the newish KIT (Kunst im Tunnel) located beneath the promenade along the Rhine Embankment in a dormant space between the bores of the road tunnels. The innovative gallery is a stunning rendezvous for contemporary art, both established and emerging. Website: www.kunst-im-tunnel.de  

And in the NRW Forum through August 15, 2010, photographs from Robert Mapplethorpe are now on exhibition. The collection includes all facets of the photographer’s work from portraits and self-portraits, homosexuality, nudes, flowers and the quintessence of his oeuvre the photographic images of sculptures, including early Polaroids. Website: http://nrwforum.posterous.com/tag/robertmaplethorpe

Frankfurt also lays claim to a lively art scene that has its center along the River Main with the Museumsufer (museum embankment). Here the Schirn Kunsthalle is one of Europe’s most renowned exhibition institutions with works of popular contemporary artists as well as themed exhibitions dealing with explosive issues of modern society. The current exhibition running until May 14, 2010 is "Figure in Space" which showcases works of Georges Seurat, a French Neo-Impressionist who is one of the most important artists of Pointillism. Website: www.schirn.de

The Museum of Modern Art in Frankfurt is known as "slice of cake" by locals, due to its triangular shape. The museum’s architecture is characterized by a succession of elements linking the different exhibition rooms, which show works from Beuys to Warhol. Website: www.mmk-frankfurt.de  

Leipzig: Since the turn of the century there is an undeniable buzz around the art scene of Leipzig in the eastern state of Saxony. The "Leipzig School" including artist Neo Rauch draws artists from all over the world. The center of this movement is the Baumwollspinnerei. Once the biggest cotton-mill factory in continental Europe, it has become one of Europe’s top exhibition spaces for modern art and culture of the 21st century. The old cotton-mill factory accommodates hundreds of artists’ studios and 11 galleries, plus resident workshops, architects, designers, jewelry and fashion producers as well as the "Spinnwerk" drama workshop, an international dance and choreography center under one roof. Website: http://www.spinnerei.de/from-cotton-to-culture.html 

Munich: The center of Munich’s art scene is the Kunstareal with a total of 12 museums and collections. The newest addition to the Kunstareal came in 2009 with the Brandhorst Museum and its unique architectural design and neon facade. Paintings, sculptures and installations of the museum offer the possibility of aesthetic experiences of an unusual presence and variety. The collection of over 700 works from selected artists includes masterpieces by Warhol and Twombly. Website: www.museum-brandhorst.de 

Stuttgart: Famous for the outstanding car designs of Porsche and Mercedes, Stuttgart in the southwest also features some of the most well designed museums. The Museum of Fine Arts with its spectacular glass cube architecture is located right in the heart of Stuttgart on Palace Square. Hosting three or four major special exhibitions a year, often of works by contemporary artists, the largest portion of the museum is hidden in a disused system of tunnels, whose scale and openness is always a surprise to the first-time visitor. Currently an exhibition of Katinka Boc’s artwork—sculptures, films and installations—is on display until May 6, 2010. The artist tries to create new ways of seeing our immediate environment by making temporal structures and spatial and dimensional relationships visible by revealing their hidden structures with the help of natural materials, including clay, paper, wood, metal, and rock. Website: www.kunstmuseum-stuttgart.de 

The world famous Weissenhof Estate just outside of Stuttgart is one of the most significant architectural landmarks by the international movement Neues Bauen (New Building) in the 1920s. Once constructed as an international showcase of modern working class housing by architects like Gropius, van der Rohe, Sharoun and LeCorbusier, today the museum presents exhibitions that reflect societal and cultural changes of the twentieth century. Website: www.weissenhof.de 

Cologne: Cologne is known for its lively and friendly atmosphere. Within this buzzing city on the Rhine, the neighborhood of Ehrenfeld is one of Cologne’s trendiest boroughs in the heart of the city. Ehrenfeld is characterized by popular residential areas and shopping streets, including Design Post Koeln with its international design collection, the media center "Coloneum" with the most modern production and movie studios and a large, vivacious free cultural scene with many artists' studios, theaters and clubs. Website: www.koelntourismus.de 

Dresden: Being one of the most vibrant cities in Germany’s east, Dresden offers a fascinating contrast between historic architecture and modern lifestyle. The Aeussere Neustadt (new city) is actually one of Dresden’s oldest quarters, but it also is the alternative center of the city. Its unique flair results from the exciting juxtaposition of restored and old houses, narrow lanes, and secluded courtyards with bars, restaurants and shops covering the whole range from elegant to extravagant. A visit to the Outer Neustadt should include the Kunsthof Passage between Goerlitzer Strasse and Alaunstrasse with interesting architecture, craft-art shops and restaurants. Website: www.dresden.de

Berlin: Germany’s capital is now probably the hottest place to be in the world and the destination of artists and art collectors. Even in New York where it is the major star of The Armory Show’s contemporary pavilion, its prominence takes front stage. Berlin is at the cutting edge of music, art and lifestyle trends with its wealth of museums, orchestras and theaters. Drawn to the capital by its wealth of creativity, more and more artists from around the world are transforming Berlin into one of Europe's most innovative metropolises. Berlin has over 170 museums packed with the world's art treasures and fascinating historical exhibitions spanning the centuries and a host of art galleries. But is also home to an amazing creative pool of art producers - more than 6000 artists and cultural workers busily creating the dynamic young art for tomorrow's collections.

The up and coming area of this metropolis now is Friedrichshain, formerly the workers area of East Berlin, now a melting pot of ideas. Friedrichshain has very few classical attractions but is brimming with urban culture. Abandoned warehouses and rail yards along Muehlenstrasse have been gentrified into enormous nightclubs. Strolling along the streets of Friedrichshain will convey a strong surge of hope for the future to you as well as a picture of Berlin’s historical past. Today’s longest stretch of the Berlin Wall is located in Friedrichshain sprayed with various graffiti works. Website: www.visitberlin.de 

 

 

February 2010

Mediterranea Festival To Highlight The Sea’s Environmental Issues

From February 25 to 28, 2010 Antibes Juan-Les Pins will be the venue for

Mediterranea—International Underwater and Adventure Film Festival.  More than just a festival for photographers or video directors, it is geared toward the environmental protection of the Mediterranean, long considered through the ages the center of the world. Today the Mediterranean’s fragile ecosystem is threatened and the festival aims to bring world awareness to this situation. During the festival, marine-life enthusiasts will have the opportunity to see a variety of films, documentaries, slide shows, photographs, and listen to lectures by some of the world’s top a marine biologists and environmental scientists, who will discuss the economic and ecological issues involved. The festival takes place at the Convention Centre in Juan-les-Pins. More information at www.antibesjuanlespins.com.

Tribute To Princess Di Exhibit Opens At The Atlanta Civic Center

Direct from the Althorp Estate in England, ancestral home of the Spencer family for 500

years, Diana: A Celebration is on exhibit at the Atlanta Civic Center from January 23 to June 13, 2010. Multiple galleries showcase jewels and artwork owned by the aristocratic Spencer family; childhood home movies, family photo albums and her tiny toy car; 28 outfits from Versace, Valentino and other renowned designers; her charities; tributes by her brother, Charles Spencer, and Sir Elton John; and two diamond tiaras.

Nine galleries will hold more than 150 objects, including Diana's royal wedding gown, 28 designer dresses, diamond tiaras and the original text of  her brother Earl Spencer's tribute to his sister at her Westminster Abbey funeral.

The show traces Lady Di's life, from her shy schoolgirl years, to her early career as teacher who captured the attention of Prince Charles, to her royal wedding, motherhood and her advocacy for various charities.

The Royal Wedding gallery features her gown, 25-foot-train, diamond tiara, veil, shoes and parasol. The exhibit also includes portraits of her ancestors, family heirlooms and jewelry, paintings, home movies filmed by her father, news video, photos and letters. Original copies of the musical score and lyrics of the Elton John-Bernie Taupin adaptation of "Candle in the Wind," including their handwritten notes and signatures, played by John at Diana's 1997 funeral, also will be displayed. Website: http://www.atlantaciviccenter.com

US Artist Cy Twombly Creates Permanent Work For The Louvre

Selected by a committee of international experts, Cy Twombly is the third contemporary artist invited to install a permanent work at the Louvre--a painted ceiling for the Salle des

Bronzes. Prior to Cy Twombly (photo), the Louvre’s commitment to living artists has resulted in invitations extended to Anselm Kiefer in 2007 and to François Morellet for an installation unveiled earlier in 2010. These three artists also follow in the footsteps of a long line of predecessors including Le Brun, Delacroix, Ingres and, in the twentieth century, Georges Braque.

Born in Lexington, Virginia in 1928, Cy Twombly is one of the leading American artists of his generation. Encouraged by his close friend Robert Rauschenberg, the two men attended together the 1951–52 sessions at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, whose teachers at the time included John Cage and Robert Motherwell. Early in his career, Twombly demonstrated a fascination for classical literature and history, which would play an important part in the development of his artistic language and his oeuvre. He has lived in Italy since the late 1950s.In 2001, Twombly received the prestigious "Golden Lion" award at the Venice Biennale and the Centre Pompidou presented a retrospective of the artist’s graphic works in 2004. Commemorating Twombly’s 80th birthday in 2008, the Tate Modern presented a major retrospective of the artist’s work, including nearly 400 paintings, drawings and sculptures, an exhibition that would travel to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao in 2009.

At the Louvre, Twombly’s monumental approach will be showcased on the ceiling of one of the museum’s largest galleries, a 300 square meter space. The Salle des Bronzes, situated in one of the oldest sections of the museum, has undergone numerous alterations. Its current unfinished state dates back to 1930. The white suspended ceiling supported by colossal gilded ravens was recreated at that time. Twombly’s project, as suggested by the sketches of his design, is an abstract composition on a blue background complementing Georges Braque’s ceiling in the adjoining gallery. This nearly monochromatic work, on which the names of the most celebrated classical Greek sculptors of the fourth century are inscribed, calls to mind a series of paintings executed by the artist in the 1960s. Twombly’s work has often been characterized by continuity between past and present, and this painted decoration is in many ways the culmination of years of artistic exploration.

And on exhibit:

As part of France's Year of Russia celebrations, the Louvre is hosting a major exhibition devoted to the history of Christian Russia, from the 9th to the 18th century--Holy Russia: Russian Art from the Beginnings to Peter the Great.

Opening March 5 and on display until May 24, 2010, the exhibition begins with the appearance of the reference to "Russians" in the historical record and the rivalries and power struggles between Latins, Vikings and Byzantines; and through the ensuing centuries, the religious history is documented through the 18^th century with the sweeping political and aesthetic changes imposed by Peter the Great.

Renamed 2010 Philadelphia International Flower Show Opens February 28

This year, the 2010 Philadelphia International Flower Show has a new name and will take visitors on a globe-trotting, exotic plant-filled adventure. The ten-day garden show runs from  February 28 to March 7 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in center city.

Produced by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, this year’s presentation, Passport to the World, will feature a host of exhibitors from around the world. Six Showcase Gardens take visitors on a trek to an Indian wedding, with soaring palm trees, golden columns entwined with jasmine, lotus-filled pools and elaborate ropes of marigolds. A life-size floral elephant topiary offers an animated perspective to the joyous scene, while 100,000 flower bulbs will bloom in an authentic Dutch canal garden. The American Institute of

Garden display from 2009 show

Floral Designers (AIFD) will provide a tangible artistic presentation of the Zulu culture. Hand-thatched huts, live drummers, a chandelier of floral birds, and sculpted wildlife provide an enchanting entry to a walk-through display that invites visitors to inspect tribal headdresses and masks that depict the vivid colors and patterns found among the native people.

Other attractions include a recreation of Brazil’s Amazon jungle, a recreation of a Singapore botanical garden filled with orchids, and New Zealand’s rugged beauty

will be captured by Stoney Bank Nurseries in three designs that depict traditions of the native Maori and the alluring plant life found in exotic New Zealand. The Aura Garden, with its thermal pools and sculpted dragon created by artist Greg Leavitt, presents an appropriate setting for the native plants of this northern island. Giant tree ferns, hand-carved Maori tikis and flax rope complement the landscape that includes a bog Garden of English and Scottish tradition, and the Kiwi Garden which showcases New Zealand’s popular calla and Casablanca lilies.      

Designers throughout the Show will celebrate the exciting landscapes and plants of China, Japan, Thailand, England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, the Caribbean, and an artful perspective on the northern polar region’s Aurora Borealis.

Learning to garden from the experts is a highlight of the visitor experience. Students, faculty and professional horticulturists explore a variety of today’s trends in gardening and sustainable landscapes in exhibits, including “green walls,” vertical and roof-top gardens. A complete schedule of presentations and attractions is online at www.theflowershow.com.

February Is Carnival Time On The French Riviera

The month of February is known as carnival time when many countries wildly celebrate a few days before the first day of Lent, known as Ash Wednesday. Exotic parades and goings on take place in Rio, New Orleans, Venice and elsewhere before its denizens sober up for 40 days of “repentance” leading up to Easter.

However, in southern France three festivals take a different road that pay tribute to the natural bounties of the region. The celebrations last for two weeks with lavish floats, performances and lots of good food.

In Nice, from February 12 to 28, 2010, the King of the Blue Planet will reign on the 126th edition of the Nice Carnival, the biggest winter event of the Côte d’Azur. For 15

days, his Majesty will open the doors of his blue planet.

Dive into his history, his nature and its astonishing biodiversity, to the abysses and wanderings of humans, before concluding with this intimate conviction: protection and preservation of nature is definitely the most important goal of this century. Though truly ecological (complete with recycling workshops), this popular carnival remains faithful to its original spirit: humor, scorn and poetry will be in order.

Around the Place Masséna, 20 allegorical and burlesque floats will parade with bands and comedians from the five continents.—a spectacled around-the-world journey in 80 minutes! New 360° open floats will parade all along the seaside Promenade des Anglais, decorated with roses, carnations, or mimosas, representing the floral patrimony of the region. Elaborate costumes, dances, and flower battles complete the festive scene. Websites: www.nicecarnaval.com  or www.nicetourisme.com .

Close to Nice, the Mimosa Festival takes place February 12 to 21. The sweet-smelling, bright yellow mimosa is the town's largest (and most popular) industry and it is celebrated annually with a huge parade—and, of course, lots of mimosas (not the drink). This year’s festival is themed Myth and Legend and will have a series of processions throughout the week, culminating in a huge parade and battle of flowers on the 21st—the perfect colorful ending to the dreary winter season. More details on www.mandelieu.com In the beautiful town of Menton, the Lemon Festival will be held February 12 to March 3. As the name implies, the event is a celebration of the lemon, a big agriculture for the area. What was once a few carts loaded with orange and lemon trees in the early 1930s has turned into a sprawling citrus carnival attracting more than 200,000 people from across the globe.

Huge constructions made of oranges and lemons sway through the streets at the Menton Lemon Festival. Fruit-studded floats depicting everything from Buddhas to giant mosques glide down the packed Promenade du Soleil for Sunday's Parade of Golden Fruit and for the spooky Thursday evening Moonlit Parade. On Tuesday and Friday evenings, visit the Gardens of Light, a spectacular sound and light show in the Jardins Biovès; while you’re there, be sure to check out the permanent Citrus Exhibition, an around-the-world cultural tour through elaborate fruit statues. Websites: www.feteducitron.com or www.tourisme-menton.fr.

It also is a good time to visit the Riviera--no crowds, lots of sun and moderate temperatures. Swimming may not be great but there is plenty to do otherwise at these vibrant carnivals.

World’s Tallest Building Unveiled in Dubai

The world's tallest building was unveiled early this month to an estimated crowd of over 400,000 and the world, in a crescendo of fireworks, lasers and fountain displays.

 The official height of the tower, unveiled as Burj Khalifa, was announced as 828 meters (2,716.5 ft). Developed by Emaar Properties (http://www.emaar.com), it is the world's tallest building according to the three criteria of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat: Height to Architectural Top, Height To Highest Occupied Floor, and Height To Tip. The tower is 320 meters taller than Taiwan's Taipei 101, which had held the title of world's tallest building since 2004.

Burj Khalifa'comprises luxury residences and offices, the world's first Armani Hotel, and the world's highest observation deck, which is located on the tower's 124th floor. Around 90 per cent of the tower's offices and apartments have been sold. The handover of offices and apartments starts in February, and the Armani Hotel Dubai will be opened by its designer, Giorgio Armani, on March 18. More than 60 leading consultants including South Korea's Samsung Corporation and New York-based Turner Construction International realized the design for Burj Khalifa by Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM).

Istanbul Named 2010 European Capital of Culture

The cosmopolitan city of Istanbul, celebrates its status as European Capital of Culture in 2010 with a year-round schedule of electrifying events ranging from artist workshops to historical retrospectives. Youthful, vibrant and forward thinking, Istanbul promises a veritable feast for arts and culture seekers in 2010. A wealth of events are scheduled for the year including an international ballet competition in July, a puppet festival in March; and a special exhibition that takes a look at the misconceptions surrounding Turkey in the Western world and aims to dispel the myths surrounding the country.

In preparation for 2010, the city also has made major renovations to landmark attractions and opened new museums. These include refurbishing the Atatürk Culture Center and opening the Maslak Cultural Center as a new venue for performing arts; initiating a Frank Gehry-designed opera house; renovating the famous Topkapi Palace museum and one of the world’s most famous churches and mosques, Hagia Sophia; and restoration of numerous monuments. For more information and a schedule of planned events, visit www.istanbul2010.org or www.goturkey.com.

 

                        

                                    Cultural News Briefs

December 2009

Musée Jean-Jacques Henner Reopens After A Major Renovation

The Musée Jean-Jacques Henner reopened its doors to the public in November after

closing for renovation in 2005. Housed in a lovely hôtel particulier (built in 1876-78), the museum is dedicated to the works of the Alsacian artist Jean-Jacques Henner (1829-1905), considered at the beginning of the 20th century to be one of the greatest painters of his time. The museum was originally opened in 1924, and follows the chronological itinerary of the artist from his native Alsace to Paris, where he settled, and his stay at the Villa Medici after receiving the Prix de Rome.

Formerly the private mansion and studio of Guillaume Dubufe (one of Henner’s contemporaries), the museum was totally refurbished to resemble as closely as possible its 19th century origins, while modernizing the structure to today’s standards. The new hanging, displayed on four levels, emphasizes the multi-faceted art of Jean-Jacques Henner, presenting simultaneously the artist (through letters, photos, and documents) and his art (including paintings, drawings, and preparatory sketches). The museum is located at 43 avenue de Villiers in the seventh arrondissement. Website: http://musee-henner.fr/en/musee

Unique Books For Holiday Giving

Paris and Her Remarkable Women

Author: Lorraine Liscio; Publisher: The Little Book Room;  Price: $19.95 hardcover

Here’s a new kind of guide to Paris hot of the presses-- Paris And Her Remarkable Women, by Lorraine Liscio. The book tells the stories of sixteen women, from the Middle Ages through the Twentieth Century, and the way that they were both inspired by—and changed the landscape of—the city they inhabited. In this way, the reader is given a historical and mesmerizing tour of Paris, as well as a physical guide to the city, so that you can visit the places where these women’s stories took place. Liscio’s tales enable the visitor to look at Paris and see, everywhere, traces of the influential women who have inhabited it.

Each chapter brings you to a new place in Paris, and tells a new woman’s story. The reader will not be able to visit Place de la Concorde without thinking of revolutionary Manon Roland’s execution, or to walk down the Left Bank without remembering the backlash Simone de Beauvoir received for The Second Sex. It will be impossible to stroll past Coco Chanel’s swanky boutique on rue Cambon without recalling how she, in fact, simplified women’s fashion, thinking first of the women inside her dresses, and introducing plentiful buttons, rubberized raincoats, and faux bijoux into high-fashion. A walk around Paris will also recall tales about Marie Curie, Georges Sand, Paris’ patron saint Geneviève, and many more truly remarkable women. This book is the perfect holiday gift for any francophone—or for someone who wants to discover the city, and its women, anew.

Lorraine Liscio is a writer and editor who currently lives in New Hampshire. She was previously the Director of Women’s Studies at Boston College.

Caribbean Houses: History, Style and Architecture

Author: Michael Connors; Publisher: Rizzoli; Price: $60 hardcover

The lavishly illustrated Caribbean Houses is a comprehensive history of architecturally

significant houses in the West Indies. The author Michael Connors examines the venerable houses that remain as a testimony to the area’s rich history and vibrant lifestyle as it once was and continues to be, an important part of Caribbean culture. Divided into five chapters one for each European heritage that brought its own influences and designs—the Spanish, Dutch, English, French and Danish. The authoritative text sheds light on the areas rich architectural and interior design history and gives a unique view of houses that combine the tradition of European styles with the vernacular island forms and decorative motifs. The stunning photos—there are 250—capture the varied exteriors and provides a rare look into the interiors of these historic houses with exotic tropical hardwoods, indigenous stone, that blend local crafts and handwork with antiques and contemporary furnishings.

La Cucina: The Regional Cooking of Italy

Author: Italian Academy of Cuisine; Editor: Judith Jones; Publisher: Rizzoli; $50 Softcover

The soft-cover tome covers 2,000 recipes that represent the patrimony of Italian country

cooking. Each recipe is labeled with its region of origin, and it’s not just the ingredients but also the techniques that change with the geography. Sprinkled throughout are historical recipes that provide fascinating views into Italy’s folk culture of the past. The book is an excellent everyday source for easily achievable recipes, with such simple dishes as White Bean and Escarole Soup, Polenta with Tomato Sauce, and Chicken with Lemon and Capers. Not arranged as methodically as one would like, the book, nevertheless, is an important reference for Italian cuisine aficionados.

History of Paris In Painting

Authors:  Georges Duby, Guy Lobrichon, Father Guillaume de Berteier de Sauvigny, Geneviève Brunel, Paul-Louis Rinuy, Daniel Russo and Pierre Vaisse;

Publisher Abbeville; Price: $235. Hardcover with 350 full-color illustrations plus four gatefolds

This stunning book brings Paris to life in paintings that range from the medieval to the modern. The story and grandeur of this beautiful city are revealed in the 350 full-color illustrations, including four breathtaking gatefolds, that present Paris from its days as a medieval city on the Ile de la Cité, in the middle of the Seine River, through the tumultuous days of the French Revolution, to the “Haussmannization” of Paris, when much of the city was razed to make way for broad boulevards emanating from the Arc de Triomphe.

The rich heritage of painting in Paris is broadly represented in this collection. Home of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, Paris nurtured generations of French artists and displayed their work in the Salon. As the Impressionists broke with the authoritarian standards of the Academy, Parisian art became even more diverse and increasingly abstract—a trend that continued through the twentieth century.

Proust Was A Neuroscientist

Author: Jonah Lehrer; Publisher: Mariner Book/Houghton Mifflin Co.; $14.95 soft cover

Author Jonah Lehrer demonstrates in his book that science is not the only path to knowledge, but that, in fact art got there first. In his debut book, Lehrer takes a group of 19^th and 20^th Century artists—a poet, a painter, a chef, a composer and several novelists—to show how each one discovered an essential truth about the mind that neuroscience is now only discovering. For example, author George Eliot understood the malleability of the brain; another example is how French chef Escoffier intuited umami (the fifth taste); or how Cezanne worked out of the subtleties of vision. The moral of this book the author writes “is that we are made of science and art.” His look at Proust reveals what the latter knew: “that the past is past.” As Lehrer concludes, “As long as we are alive, our memories remain wonderfully volatile. In their mercurial mirror, we see ourselves.”

This fascinating book makes a welcome addition to anyone’s library.

Vancouver Celebrates Winter Solstice With Lantern Festival

Winter solstice, on December 21, is the shortest day and the longest night of 2009, and it has been celebrated by cultures all over the world for thousands of years. The dance of the sun and earth has inspired celebrations of the human spirit, expressed through art and music, throughout the ages. Honoring many cultural traditions, the annual Winter Solstice Lantern Festival held in Vancouver illuminates the longest night of the year with lanterns, fire, singing, drumming, music, and dancing. Now in its 16th year, the festival illuminates the longest night of the year with lanterns, singing, drumming, music and dancing in five different Vancouver neighborhoods: Granville Island, Yaletown, Chinatown, Strathcona and East Vancouver. These five little festivals are community-based and reflect the unique nature of each neighborhood. Each invites audience participation and has its own special attraction. The festival is held on December 21 from 6 to 10 pm.  Website: www.secretlantern.org

New Year’s In Tokyo Is Japan’s Most Important Holiday.

Visiting Japan during New Year (shogatsu) can be rewarding, but it can also be frustrating, as many tourist attractions, shops and restaurants are closed, and getting around can be inconvenient.

If you are in Japan during New Year, the crowds are doing hatsumode (photo above), the year's first visit to a shrine or temple. Hatsumode festivities are held at shrines and temples across the country.

There is a festival atmosphere with various food stands and thousands of people making wishes and purchasing lucky charms for a fortunate new year. Most atmospheric is a visit to a temple at midnight on New Year's Eve, when the temple's bell is rung repeatedly.

Some of the most popular shrines and temples, such as Tokyo's Meiji Shrine, Kyoto's Fushimi Inari Taisha, Osaka's Sumiyoshi Taisha and Kamakura's Tsuruoka Hachimangu each attract more than a million visitors so expect to line up for more than an hour at the more popular hatsumode sites in order to reach the offering hall for a prayer. It is a custom to dispose the old year's lucky charms during shogatsu.

Stockholm Announces Big Plans to Celebrate A Royal Wedding in June

To celebrate the forthcoming marriage of Swedish Crown Princess Victoria to Daniel Westling next summer, Stockholm city planners have put together a dynamic two-week festival leading up to the couple's June 19, 2010, wedding in the city. Love Stockholm 2010 will run June 6 to 20, and commences on Sweden’s National Day, June 6. The festival intertwines the joys of love with the Swedish capital’s engaging culture. For a fortnight Stockholm’s streets and squares will bustle with music, art, culture, food, fashion, design, and history.  Other happenings planned include concerts and singing performances at Kungsträdgården, a special children’s program, poetic love celebrations with art and culture along Strandvägen, and a Stockholm of the future exhibit, and much more. “The royal wedding is an opportunity to show the entire world just how beautiful – and environmentally inclusive – our city is,” says Stockholm Mayor Sten Nordin. “The City of Stockholm strives to combine a sustainable and good urban environment with growth.” In recognition of this successful endeavor Stockholm earned the European Commission’s Europe’s Green Capital 2010 award, the first of its kind; and Stockholm was recently named the Best Municipality for Quality in Sweden.

Website: www.visitsweden.com

Celebrating A Russian Christmas In Nice

Christmas in Russia usually does not conjure up images of sunshine and warm weather. However, this year there is a Russian Christmas in Nice planned from December 5 to January 6, 2010, Nice will celebrate the holiday season with their 14th annual Christmas Village, this year with a Russian theme in honor of the France-Russia Year 2010.

Nice’s Place Masséna will be transformed into a wintry wonderland, with a forest of 750 pine trees, an ice skating rink, an ice sculpture, and 60 chalets selling the hand-made wares of French and Russian artisans (several dedicated exclusively to Russian crafts). Festivities will take place over the month—including a Christmas parade, daily concerts, and other live entertainment relating stories from Russian folklore. Open daily from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m., the Christmas Village is fun for adults and kids alike, with a giant Ferris wheel and a variety of children’s rides.

From January 5 to 13, 2010, Ruskoff, the Russian Arts and Cinema Festival will be celebrating its 11th Anniversary at the Nice National Theater, taking a look at the Russia of yesterday and today.

Russians have been vacationing in the Côte d’Azur since the 19th century. During the Revolution of 1917, many Russians settled in Nice, and formed a lively community surrounding the Russian cathedral. Well-known Russians in Nice included writers Yvan Bounine (winner of the Nobel Prize for Russian literature), Marc Aldanov, Georges Adamovitch, painters Marc Chagall and Boris Grigorieff. These talented artists gave back to their adopted home in remarkable ways. Few expat communities have conserved the memory of their Russian ancestry in the way Nice has. There are still 300 Russian families who live in Nice today.

Largest Floating Christmas Tree in the World Inaugurated in Brazil

The traditional inauguration of the largest floating Christmas tree in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records - 85-meters-tall (equivalent to a 28-story-high building)

is on display in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The lighting of the tree is considered the city's third largest event after Carnival and New Year's Eve. An international reference for Christmas, which, according to the mayor's office, attracts nearly 80,000 visitors per day, the tree will remain on display until Epiphany Day, January 6, when it will be lit up for the last time.

The tree, which has been a focal point of Christmas celebrations in Brazil and abroad since 1996, was decorated for the first time with traditional Christmas garlands representing the full range of everybody's year-end holiday wishes. Created by Brazilian designer Abel Gomes, the tree presents a magnificent show of lights and colors: 11 sequential patterns, illuminated by 2.9 million miniature bulbs, 52 kilometers of illuminated strands and 1,600 strobes (small bulbs with a flashing, stroboscopic effect), producing a twinkling star effect. The light and color display is powered by biodiesel generators that help reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the atmosphere. To optimize the use of fuel, a computerized telemetry system is used that activates the generators based on the requirements of the programmed lighting. The CO2 emissions into the atmosphere caused by the set-up, exhibition and dismantling of the 2009 edition of the tree will be neutralized by the planting of trees.

 

 

Culteral Briefs

The New York Scene

The London Scene

International Art Fairs

International Performing Arts

International Museum Calendar

 

November 2009

Louis XIV, The Man And The King New Exhibition At Palace of Versailles

The beautiful Palace of Versailles is paying homage to its famous builder, Louis XIV, with the exhibition Louis XIV, the Man and the King from October 20, 2009 to February 7, 2010. The exhibition goes beyond Louis XIV's public image to explore his personal

tastes, and for the first time at the Palace of Versailles puts this famous monarch centre stage, with over 300 pieces from all around the world, never previously brought together, some of which are being shown in France for the first time since before the Revolution.

The King's public image, shaped by the sovereign himself and his advisors, was continually evolving to embrace the roles expected of him. This near-mythical image is reflected in the excellence of the artists with which the King surrounded himself: the paintings and sculptures of Le Bernin (Bernini), Girardon, Rigaud, Cucci, Gole, Van der Meulen and Coysevox who all contributed to the royal mystique.

But the exhibition also aims to provide an insight into the man behind the monarch by revealing his own personal taste. As a royal patron of the arts, and a royal collector, he was competing against other European sovereigns who were genuine connoisseurs. Louis XIV benefited from Mazarin's legacy, and developed his taste through direct contact with artists and the personal relationships he established with them: Le Brun and Mignard in the case of painting, Le Vau and Hardouin-Mansart in the case of architecture, Le Nôtre in the case of garden design, Lully in the case of music, and Molière in the case of the theatre. In bringing together those works which the King admired, the true picture of an enthusiastic art lover and true man of taste emerges through the jewellery, cameos, medals, miniatures and objets d'art, as well as the paintings and sculptures, with which he liked to surround himself in his private apartments at Versailles. He took a personal interest in all manner of artistic projects, inquiring daily after the progress of Le Brun's works, contributing to the design and layout of the gardens with Le Nôtre, taking part in ballets performed at court, or co-ordinating the construction works for the Palace of Versailles with Hardouin-Mansart and Le Vau. More information at http://www.chateauversailles.fr; exhibition website: http://www.louisxiv-versailles.fr

Paul McCartney Begins Fall 2009 European Tour In Hamburg

British rock star Paul McCartney kicks off his first European tour in five years in Hamburg, the city that launched The Beatles. "This is my chance to bring our current show home to where it all began" says McCartney.

The announcement of Paul McCartney’s seven-date European tour has already set a frenzy as fans rush to get tickets to see the former Beatle live. December 2, the opening date of the tour, will see McCartney return to Hamburg, the city which nurtured The Beatles, leading them to become the most famous band of all time.

The Beatles began their world-conquering career with a series of early gigs in various clubs and venues in the cultural metropolis of Hamburg set on the waterfront. The city was one of the first places to embrace The Fab Four; so much so, that the late John Lennon was quoted as once saying: “I was born in Liverpool, but I grew up in Hamburg!”

Since the 1960s, Hamburg has continued to be an epicenter of new music and is famous for pioneering new bands long before anyone else. In September this year, Hamburg played host to the incredible Reeperbahn Festival, which once again brought together some of the globes most exciting bands, to perform across a series of the city’s world famous music venues.

After his December 2 opening, McCartney performs December 3 in Berlin; December 9 in Arnhem; Paris on December 10; Cologne on December 16 and 17; and Dublin on December 20 before ending his tour with a Christmas show at London’s O2 Arena on December 22.

Hamburg also plays host to one of the world’s largest collection of Beatles memorabilia at the recently opened Beatlemania museum, which houses countless items of music history. One such piece is the recently secured original recording contract signed by The Beatles and music mogul Brian Epstein. For more information, visit www.reeperbahnfestival.de  www.beatlemania-hamburg.com; and  www.paulmccartney.com.

Czech Republic Commemorates 20^th Anniversary Of The Velvet Revolution

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain. The Velvet Revolution took place between November 17 and December 29, 1989 and is known as the six-week relatively peaceful and bloodless period of demonstrations that saw the overthrow of the Soviet regime in former Czechoslovakia.

Czech Republic will commemorate the 20th anniversary with a whole range of events that includes a concert entitled “Twenty years without the curtain” of top young Czech artists performing at the Old Town Square. Website: www.oponaops.eu

The National Museum (www.nm.cz) will host an exhibition Bee Free from

November 17 to July 6, 2010. The show recreates the era of the communist regime – including a hot-air balloon from which Radio Free Europe dropped anti-communist pamphlets across former Czechoslovakia.

Other exhibitions includes a photography exhibition at the Stone Bell House in Prague from October 28 to January 3, 2010 showing how daily life was lived during the Communist regime. Another at The Museum of Communism vividly describes the life under totalitarianism from 1948 to 1989. Visitors will see an interrogation room, propaganda and artifacts, from statues and flags to a noose. Website: http://www.muzeumkomunismu.cz/. A third show  “Revolution Posters 1989” showcases posters and flyers that hung in public places around Czechoslovakia during the Communist Era. The exhibition is located front at Kampa Park in front of Mlynska Kavarna, Ricni 1, Prague 1. More information at www.CzechTourism.com.

Book your trip at www.traveldeals.czechtourism.com

Prado Museum Expands With Addition Of 12 New Galleries & 176 Artworks

One of Madrid’s leading art institutions has opened 12 new galleries and is exhibiting 176 works – several recently acquired and some never exhibited before – all from the 19th century.  A New Century in the Museo del Prado, represents a key step forward in the Prado’s collections plans known as The Collection: The Second Extension.  On

October 6, more than 170 new works were added to the permanent collection and now, for the first time, visitors to the Prado can see an uninterrupted overview of the development of Spanish art from the 12th century Romanesque painting of San Baudelio de Berlanga up through the early 20^th century work of Sorolla which runs parallel to the century’s earliest avant-garde movements.

Among the 176 paintings, watercolors and sculptures finally on view are several acquired in the last several years: José de Madrazo’s The French Cuirassier acquired this summer; Penitents in the Lower Church at Assisi by José Jiménez Aranda (acquired in 2001), and Large Landscape (Aragón) by Francisco Domingo Marqués (acquired in 2000).  Maria Figueroa as a young girl dressed as a Menina by Joaquín Sorolla, also purchased in 2000, joins the artist’s And they still say fish is expensive!, a masterpiece of social realism and Boys on the Beach, one of the Prado’s most celebrated modern paintings.

The Museum has the world’s foremost collection of Spanish paintings – some 4,600 – dating from the Middle Ages to the 19th century including outstanding masterpieces by Berruguete, El Greco, Goya, Murillo, Ribera, Sorolla, Velázquez and Zurbarán.  In 2007, an extensive expansion designed by Rafael Moneo increased the museum’s space by 50 percent. Organized chronologically, the new galleries begin with Goya (the Prado has 140 of his works), Neoclassicism and the Origins of the Museum, followed by Romanticism, Federico de Madrazo, Rosales, Fortuny and Rico and Raimundo de Madrazo There are two rooms with historical paintings and one gallery with landscapes. The final galleries highlight Naturalism, Sorolla and landscapes by Aureliano Beruete, donated by the artist’s family. Website: www.museodelprado.es/en/

Verdi's ‘Nabucco’ To Be Staged At Historic Masada Fortress Next June

A 5,500-seat amphitheatre will be constructed at the base of the towering plateau fortress of Masada located south of Jerusalem in the Dead Sea region of Israel for use for one weekend only June 3 - 5, 2010.

Ya'lla Tours USA is the only tour company in the United States to be actively promoting the tickets to the concerts and that has access to area accommodations. To round out this chance of a lifetime, Ya'lla has created seven-day and 13-day Musical Israel travel programs that each include a Jessye Norman concert at the Masada venue on June 4 and the Nabucco opera on June 5. Other key highlights of the event include s private recital by pianist Issak Tavior at his mountaintop home; a concert by "Musicians of Tomorrow," a youth group of economically disadvantaged Israeli students that participate in a free music-education program; and other cultural events including a wine tasting tour.

Nabucco is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi that follows the plight of the Jews as they are assaulted and subsequently exiled from their homeland by the Babylonian King Nabucco. Its first performance took place on March 9, 1842 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. The Jessye Norman concert will include opera arias, lieder, folk songs and spirituals; with performances by the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion conducted by Rachel Worby.

More information on Ya'lla, which means let's go in Hebrew and Arabic, is available at www.yallatours.com or by calling 800 644 1595.

India’s Artists Subject Of New Show At Boston Fine Arts Museum

On November 14, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), will present Bharat Ratna! Jewels of Modern Indian Art, an exhibition that presents a selection of outstanding works by some of India’s most celebrated modern painters. Drawn from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Rajiv Jahangir Chaudhri, the exhibition focuses on a generation of artists that emerged in the years following India’s independence from British rule in 1947. Luminaries such as Francis Newton Souza, Maqbool Fida Husain, and Sayed Haider Raza—founding members of the Progressive Artists Group—formed an important and influential artistic avant-garde at this transitional moment in India’s history. Their paintings are an international synthesis of visual traditions, embracing western modernism on the one hand and a heritage colored by the rich narrative of Indian art, myths, and classical traditions on the other.

The exhibition will be on view until Sunday, August 22, 2010.

2009 Nobel Prize Winners Announced In Stockholm

The 2009 Nobel Prizes in Literature, Economics, Medicine, Chemistry and Physics were announced in October. The nominees who will receive their awards at a lavish ceremony in Stockholm’s Town Hall on December 10 are the following:

Memorial Prize in Economic Science: Americans Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson won for their work in economic governance. Ostrom was cited "for her analysis of economic governance," demonstrating how common property can be successfully managed by groups using it. Williamson, developed a theory where business firms serve as structures for conflict resolution.

Literature: Romanian-born German writer Herta Mueller for work that "with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed." Herta Müller, an ethnic German who fled Ceausescu dictatorship in Romania was previously little known outside Germany and Romania, with only four of her 19 books translated into English,. She is only the twelfth woman to win the literature prize since its launch in 1901. “My writing was always about how a dictatorship arises, how a situation is able to occur where a handful of powerful people dominate a country and the country disappears, and there is only the state left,” Ms Müller said after learning of her award.

Chemistry: Two Americans--Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas Steitz--and Israeli Ada Yonath have won the 2009 Nobel Prize in chemistry for "studies of the structure of the ribosome" The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences says the ribosome translates the DNA code into life.

Physics: Three Americans share the prize for their work developing fiber-optic cable and the sensor at the heart of digital cameras. Three scientists who created the technology behind digital photography and helped link the world through fiber-optic networks shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in physics. Charles K. Kao was cited for his breakthrough involving the transmission of light in fiber optics while Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith were honored for inventing an imaging semiconductor circuit known as the CCD sensor. All three have American citizenship.

Medicine: Three Americans share the prize for discovering how chromosomes protect themselves as cells divide. US trio has won the Nobel Medicine Prize for discovering an enzyme which helps chromosomes in cells stay eternally young.

Australian-American researcher Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol Greider and Jack Szostak of the United States won the Nobel Medicine Prize on Monday for identifying a key molecular switch in cellular ageing. The trio was honored for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the role of an enzyme called telomerase in maintaining or stripping away this vital shield. Blackburn has been a professor of biology and physiology at the University of California in San Francisco since 1990, while Greider is a professor in the department of molecular biology and genetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. Szostak is professor of genetics and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and affiliated with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Website: www.NobelPrize.org

Nobel Peace Prize Awarded To US President Barack Obama

The Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo awarded the 2009 Peace Prize, perhaps prematurely, to US President Barack Obama, out of a record number of 205 nominations for this year’s prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said that Obama won

“for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons. “Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.”

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which it says Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

President Obama will receive his award at the Oslo City Hall on December 10.

Concurrent Exhibit At Nobel Peace Center

New Exhibit ‘From King to Abama’ Opens At Nobel Peace Center

At the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo the current exhibit From King to Obama

will portray the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s – the movement that helped pave the way for Barack Obama's historic election victory. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a central figure in the Civil Rights Movement and, like Barack Obama, a source of inspiration to people worldwide. In 1964 King accepted the Nobel Peace Prize. This made him, at just 35 years old, the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The Civil Rights Movement’s slogan: "Thou shall not requite violence with violence", was a central factor cited in the justification for the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s decision. "There are many obvious similarities between King and Obama, both in terms of their values, their political strategies and in their rhetoric and public impact. It has been inspiring and fascinating to create an exhibition of contemporary relevance that is based on these major historic events," says Bente Erichsen, director of the Nobel Peace Center.

Photography will be the key element of the exhibition, together with music from the 1960s. The exhibition will also include films, texts and historic sound recordings. The exhibit ends April 11, 2010. Website: www.nobelpeacecenter.org   

France’s 2009 Prix Goncourt Literature Award Announced

France's top literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, was awarded today to French Senagalese author Marie NDiaye for her novel Trois Femmes Puissantes (Three Powerful Women). It is the first time a black woman has received the award.

NDiaye, 42, published her first novel at 17. She moved to Berlin in 2007, the BBC reports, "after President Nicolas Sarkozy won the election, saying she finds France under his rule 'monstrous' and 'vulgar.' "

Last year, an Afghan who fled his country 24 years ago carrying a few crumpled bank-notes was awarded the literary prize. Atiq Rahimi, 46, won for his first novel in French, a stark essay on the oppression of women in Afghanistan. The Prix Goncourt's previous winners also include Marguerite Marguerite Duras, for The Lover;  Georges Duhamel for Civilization; and Simone de Beauvoir for The Mandarins.

Cultural Activities Beckon During UN Climate Change Conference

From December 7 to18 Copenhagen will host the United Nations Climate Change Conference for government officials and global policymakers. Copenhagen, one of the world's greenest cities, is the perfect venue for a global conference that will address strategies to slow global warming, harness and produce alternative energy and implement simple, effective green public policies While most visitors to Denmark won't be able to participate in the lectures and seminars at the UN conference, there will be a number of "climate-related" events open to everyone. They include Energy, a hands-on exhibition at Copenhagen's family-friendly Experimentarium museum and Climate: From Ice Age to the Future at the National Museum. More information on the Danish Green website http://www.visitcopenhagen.com/green and click COP15 Cultural Calendar found n the lower right column.

2009 Man Booker Literature Prize Announced

Author Hilary Mantel has been named 2009 Man Booker Prize winner for her historical

novel Wolf Hall. Mantel, 57, beat five other shortlisted authors, including Sarah Waters and JM Coetzee, with her book based on Henry VIII's adviser Thomas Cromwell. Judges praised the "extraordinary story-telling" of Mantel.

The author, who received the £50,000 prize at a ceremony at London's Guildhall this month, said it had taken her about 20 years to decide to write the book. "I couldn't begin until I felt secure enough to say to my publisher - just what a publisher always wants to hear - 'this will take me several years you know'. But they took it on the chin," she said. "When I began the book I knew I had to do something very difficult, I had to interest the historians, I had to amuse the jaded palate of the critical establishment and most of all I had to capture the imagination of the general reader," Mantel said.

Mantel, who is now working on a sequel, also beat AS Byatt with the novel The Children's Book, Adam Foulds for The Quickening Maze and Simon Mawer for The Glass Room.

In 1989 she won the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize for Fludd, then A Place of Greater Safety scooped the Sunday Express Book Of The Year award in 1993.

Three years later Mantel was presented with the Hawthornden Prize for An Experiment in Love. She was also shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Orange Prize for Fiction, both in 2006, for the novel Beyond Black.

Mantel had been the bookmaker's favorite to win the award.

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, first awarded in 1969, aims to promote the finest in fiction by rewarding what its judges believe is the best book of the year.

Major Francis Bacon Exhibit Opens In Dublin

A major retrospective of controversial artist Francis Bacon is now on display at the Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. A Terrible Beauty Francis Bacon Centenary

Exhibition explores the celebrated artist’s life. Bacon was born at 63 Lower Baggot Street and lived in Ireland until he was sixteen. Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane houses Bacon's Studio, which was moved to Dublin and opened to the public in 2001.

The Hugh Lane is now acknowledged as the world center for studies on Francis Bacon and his extraordinary contribution to contemporary art will be celebrated with a world-class exhibition of his work. The exhibition will feature a full exploration of Bacon's studio items and artifacts alongside a wide selection of his paintings borrowed from museums and private collections all over the world. Over 500 photographs, books, drawings, and interventions on paper from the studio will be on display to the public and for the first time a scientific study of Bacon's slashed canvases will form part of the exhibition. After the show closes March 7, 2010 it then travels to Compton Verney, Warwickshire, England. Website: http://www.hughlane.ie/

The New Festival Launches At Centre Pompidou For A Five-Week Run

The Centre Pompidou has launched The New Festival on October 21—a five-week celebration of today’s newest contemporary creations. The festival, which runs through November 23, 2009, is hosting an array of daily events—exhibitions, shows, conferences,

screenings, and concerts—dedicated to emerging forms of artistic expression. The New Festival strives to challenge the concept of exhibitions and stage performances, and to assert the Centre Pompidou’s involvement with artists whose artworks explore new forms of expression. Ultimately, it will offer a privileged look into the creations of today’s artists and to examine the age-old question: "What is art?"

Festival venues include the Galerie Sud where Heimo Zobernig's design offers a flexible space that echoes the conception of the Festival itself, with special zones designated for different activities within the larger space. Other venues include Espace 315, to house daily performances of every kind. The Festival is also taking over the Forum of the Centre Pompidou with a special season of Vidéodanse—screenings of two hundred dance films organized around Vincent Lamouroux's Sol.07, a sculptural floor explored both by visitors and a number of invited choreographers. Pierre Leguillon, organizer of the Teatrino Palermo events, designed the giant festival calendar on the Piazza façade of the Centre. The festival program also includes a number of outstanding performance events to be held in the Grande Salle. For more information, visit www.centrepompidou.fr.

The Hague’s Gemeeentemuseum Presents Exhibit of Cezanne, Picasso  Mondrian

Surprisingly since The Hague is known as seat of world government in addition to the Dutch Parliament, there are several world-class museums in The Hague, one of the most prominent of which is the Gemeentemuseum, which boasts the most comprehensive collection of works by Piet Mondrian in the world. Now through January 24, an exhibition of works by Cezanne, Picasso and Mondrian at the Gemeentemuseum should help foster The Hague's reputation as an art city and shine a light on the more creative side of this often overlooked destination.

The exhibition is the first time the works of Cezanne, Picasso and Mondrian have been shown together in a Dutch museum since 1956, and the selection of those three artists was no accident. Fans of Cezanne's work know that he is considered the father of modern art in general and cubism in particular, and Picasso was widely quoted during his life as having been heavily influenced by him. Mondrian's work, with its bold colors and geometric shapes, is considered to have been inspired by both artists.

The paintings are on loan from international collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Art Museum Basel in Basel, Switzerland. This exhibition is part of the official program of Holland Art Cities 2009-2010, which showcases great works from ten major museums in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. Website: a

Holland Dance Festival Now Performing At The Hague

The festival, which is marking its 50th anniversary this year, features more than 60 performances throughout the city, along with workshops and a parade with 1,200-plus amateur dancers. Celebrated Dutch dancers, including Jiri Kylian and Hans van Manen, will be on hand, as will dancers from the dance academies of Rotterdam, Amsterdam and The Hague. The festival closes November 15. Website: www.hollanddancefestival.com

Joint Collaborative Exhibit Opens At San Francisco’s Fine Arts Museum

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Musée d’Orsay jointly announce two consecutive special exhibitions, Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay and Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay which will be on view at the de Young Museum for a combined eight months beginning in May 2010 and ending in January 2011. Each exhibition will include approximately 100 paintings from the Musée d’Orsay’s permanent collection and highlights the work of nearly 40 artists including Cézanne, Degas, Gauguin, Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Rousseau, Seurat, Sisley, Toulouse-Lautrec, van Gogh and Vuillard. The Musée d’Orsay will loan the exhibitions while it undergoes a partial closure for refurbishment and reinstallation in anticipation of the Musée’s 25th anniversary in 2011. The de Young will be the only museum in the world to host both exhibitions.

The first exhibition, Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay opens in the Herbst special exhibition galleries at the de Young on May 22, 2010 and runs through September 6, 2010. This exhibition puts forth nearly 100 works by the famous masters who called France their home during the mid-19th century and from whose midst arose one of the most original and recognizable of all artistic styles, Impressionism. This exhibition begins with paintings by naturalist artists such as Bougereau and Courbet and presents American expatriate James McNeil Whistler’s Arrangement in Gray and Black, known to many as "Whistler’s Mother." Early work by Manet, Monet, Renoir and Sisley are on view as well as a selection of Degas’ paintings that depict images of the ballet, the racetrack and life in "la Belle Époque." Notable works in this exhibition include:

The second exhibition, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post- Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay opens on September 25, 2010 and runs through January 18, 2011. This exhibition presents 120 of the Musée d’Orsay’s most famous late Impressionist paintings including those by Monet and Renoir, followed by the more individualistic styles of the early modern masters including Cézanne, Gauguin, Lautrec and van Gogh, and the Nabis painters, Bonnard and Vuillard. The exhibition will also provide a unique look at the Orsay’s spectacular collection of Pointillist painters including work by Seurat and Signac.

Anguilla Hosts Tranquility Jazz Festival In November

Anguilla in the Caribbean, is just perhaps the perfect setting for a jazz festival. The tranquil island character of Anguilla offers the perfect blend of setting and atmosphere to bring travelers a rich, passionate jazz festival experience.

The seventh annual Anguilla Tranquility Jazz Festival will take place November 12-15, 2009. The star-studded lineup will feature: Dianne Reeves, the distinguished four-time Grammy award winning vocalist who is widely regarded as one of jazz’s pre-eminent artists; Ahmad Jamal, the influential jazz pianist whose legendary career has spanned more than 50 years; Rachelle Ferrell, the one-of-a-kind vocalist who has drawn praise and an ardent following in both jazz and pop music; Elio Villafranca, the esteemed Cuban pianist, composer and bandleader who has collaborated with numerous leading jazz and Latin jazz artists; Jaine Rogers, the Anguillan based, British born vocalist has become highly regarded for her velvet smooth, enchanting vocals, reminiscent of the jazz vocalists of yesteryear, wrapped in modern flair; and British Dependency, a local West Indies trio with a homegrown musical attitude that is all their own.

The festival headliners will be joined by a host of young, talented Anguillan musicians, ready to make their mark in the jazz world.

 

 

October 2009

Cultural News Briefs

Cultural News Briefs

Monteriggioni is a commune in the Province of Siena in the Italian region Tuscany. Sitting on a small natural hillock, this completely walled medieval town was built in the 13th century by the overlords of Siena to command the Cassia Road running through the Val d'Elsa and Val Staggia just to the west of Monteriggioni. Its interior is made up of a large square, Piazza Roma, onto which faces the Church of Santa Maria Assunta, built around a single vaulted nave that terminates in a square apse. The colored facade has a doorway surmounted by an archivolt. The bell tower was added in the 18th century.

October 2009

New Cubist Concert Hall In Copenhagen A Stunner

Copenhagen, a city of architectural innovation, has a new chart-topper: the cool, cube-shaped DR Koncerthuset designed by French architect Jean Nouvel. Opened in January, the new home of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Danish Radio Sinfonietta is covered in an exterior blue fabric skin that is used as a projection screen for images real and abstract. Inside the building are four auditoriums ranging from 200 to 1,800 seats with acoustics designed by Tokyo's Nagata Acoustics, which also designed the acoustics for the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

Events at Koncerthuset will range widely in terms of size and genre: small-scale jazz concerts in the foyer, chamber music, choral, rock and pop concerts in the three smaller concert halls and symphony concerts, guest appearances and large scale rhythmic concerts in the large concert hall.

The 2009 autumn concert season at DR Koncerthuset runs from September 2 through December 16.

East Germany Celebrates 20th Anniversary Of The Fall Of The Berlin Wall

This autumn and winter, visitors to the former East German cities of Erfurt, Potsdam and Rostock -- members of the Historic Highlights of Germany tourism consortium -- will be given the opportunity to celebrate alongside proud Germans as they note the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (November 1989). Substantive portraits into daily life of the "peaceful revolution" before and after the fall of the wall as well as educational offerings into the history, culture and art of Germany are being offered in all three cities. Historic Highlights of Germany has combined the three cities into an easy-to-follow itinerary, Dream Route - Historic Cities of the Former East, with the city histories and sightseeing suggestions outlined in a five-page downloadable brochure, available on its web site, www.historicgermany.com/cities-former-east.  Travel between the cities by car or train takes only a few hours.

Erfurt, which once served as the front line between NATO and the Warsaw Pact forces, is featuring an tour of the 13th-century Predigerkirche, or “Preacher's Church,” which houses documents showing the history of church youth work and the environmental, peace and women’s groups that were part of the opposition against the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the regime that controlled East Germany for 40 years in alliance with the Soviet Union. Website: www.erfurt-tourismus.de.

Cecilienhof Palace (photo), where the Potsdam Conference took place between Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Harry Truman to negotiate the terms of the war's end in 1945, is now open to the public and also serves as a hotel.  Also accessible to travelers is the Glienicke Bridge between Berlin and Potsdam, where the Cold War powers exchanged captured spies. While in Potsdam, travelers can also explore the city’s extended sweep of parks, castles and palaces, commissioned by Prussian kings, including the Sanssouci Palace, the New Palace and Charlottenhof Palace as well as formerly less inviting fortresses such as the old headquarters of the Russian KGB and the KGB prison. Websiwww.potsdam-tourism.com

A “We Are the People” exhibit, featured in Rostock’s Cultural History Museum, a former Cistercian convent, details the activities and demonstrations culminating in the GDR’s collapse. The museum’s formidable collection of art and cultural history is also on permanent display. Website: www.rostock.travel

Additional information on each city’s offerings and highlights may be found at www.historicgermany.com  

The Spectacular Bermuda Tattoo Returns

The popular Bermuda Tattoo this year will be held from October 22 to 24 at the historic Keep Yard at the Royal Naval Dockyard.  Featuring 400 musicians, dancers and other performers from Bermuda and abroad, the performances are replete with artillery guns and fireworks, a fitting showcase as the island celebrates its 40oth year of continuous settlement. Tickets may be purchased online at www.bdatix.bm or toll-free for US and Canadian patrons at 1-800-309-8497 (additional $3 charge per ticket applies for telephone orders).

Masterpieces From The National Picasso Museum, Paris  Opens In Helsinki

The Pablo Picasso: Masterpieces from the National Picasso Museum, Paris exhibition at the Ateneum Art Museum, the National Gallery of Finland, presents a retrospective of the artist’s work. The wide-ranging selection of Picasso's work includes paintings, sculptures, prints and photographs, bull fights, doves and lovers, portraits, landscapes and still lifes – more than 200 works in total. The show runs until January 6, 2010

In a concurrent show 16 works by Finnish artists done in the spirit of Picasso are also on display. It also shows ten prints of Picasso from Ateneum's collections.. Website: Website: http://www.ateneum.fi /

What’s Happening In Paris Museums This Fall

Subversion Of Images: Surrealism, Photography, Film—has opened at the Centre Georges-Pompidou (Beaubourg) in Paris. This exhibition traces the convulsions set off by the Surrealists in the realm of photography, which revolutionized the way one looks at the world and still influence magazines and advertising today.

A broad selection of the finest proofs by Man Ray, Hans Bellmer, Claude Cahun, Raoul Ubac, Jacques-André Boiffard, Maurice Tabard will be shown alongside rarely seen images which reveal a number of surrealist ways of using photography, such as publications in magazines or artists' books, advertisements, collections of images, fascination for the raw print, pictures taken in photo booths and group photographs etc.

The event introduces the public to unknown series of collages by such renowned artists as Paul Eluard, André Breton, Antonin Artaud and Georges Hugnet, the photographic games of Léo Malet and Victor Brauner and highlights personalities like Artür Harfaux and Benjamin Fondane.

The Pompidou is also organizing, on the eve of his 90th birthday, a retrospective exhibition of works by Pierre Soulages (October 14, 2009–March 8, 2010), an artist the curators describe as “the greatest painter of the contemporary French scene.”

Website: http://www.centrepompidou.fr

Across the city, an exhibition Teotihuacan, City of the Gods will open at the Musée du Quai-Branly on October 6 and be on display until January 24, 2010.

One of the most visited archaeological sites in Mexico, featured on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1987, the ancient city of Teotihuacan has fascinated ever since it was first discovered, abandoned by the Aztecs, in the 13th century. At its peak, in the period 150–450 A.D., it covered more than 11 square miles and was home to more 100,000 people (some estimates go as high as 250,000), making it one of the largest cities in the ancient world. But the impressive architectural remains are not the only vestiges, for the site has yielded up many smaller artifacts, including some exceptional artworks.

With 95 percent of the exhibits in the Quai-Branly show coming from Mexican collections, this will be the first time most of these objects will be seen anywhere outside of Mexico, as many of the objects were only recently discovered during archeological digs. Highlights include an enormous statue of a sacred jaguar, fragments of wall paintings from the Pyramid of the Plumed Serpent, and a splendid collection of masks. Website: http://www.quaibranly.fr/

Elsewhere in the city, the National Galleries at the Grand Palais is devoted to a new exhibition on Auguste Renoir---Renoir in the 20^th Century. The show focuses on the artist’s underappreciated late years with over 100 paintings, drawings, and sculptures from the years 1890–1919. Without going back on Impressionism, Renoir sought to make his work more classical, decorative, and timeless, in reference to the historic masters he admired, including Raphael, Titian, and Rubens (which explains the prevalence of female nudes in his final years). Although sidelined today, Renoir’s late works were much admired at the time by the younger generation just then emerging, and pieces by some of these artists—including Matisse and Picasso—have been hung next to Renoir’s, setting them in their context on the cusp of the 20th century’s avant-gardes. This collaborative show, which runs until January 4, 2010, will subsequently travel to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (February 14–May 9, 2010) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (June 17 to Sept. 6, 2010). Website: http://www.grandpalais.fr/en/Homepage/p-617-Homepage.htm

Also opening at the Grand Palais is the exhibition From Byzantium to Istanbul, a Port for Two Continents), with over 300 objects illustrating the long history of the former imperial capital. The show runs from October 10 to January 25, 2010.

At the nearby Jeu de Paume, a show devoted to film director Federico Fellini opens on October 20. Fellini, la Grande Parade is a jointly organized exhibit

by the Cinémathèque Française, the Italian Cultural Institute, and the Jeu de Paume. The latter’s contribution is this multidisciplinary exhibition, which sets itself the ambitious task of providing us with a new reading of Fellini’s oeuvre through an examination of the context in which it was created. Influences of all kinds — history with a capital H, important events in his own life, and borrowings from fiction, as well as anecdotes that tickled him — will be evoked through photographs, sketches by Fellini himself, film posters, contemporary magazine articles, and extracts from some of his now-mythic films. The show closes January 17, 2010. Website: http://www.jeudepaume.org /

The 11th Annual Iceland Airwaves Music Festival To Rock Reykjavik

The stage is set for the 11th Annual Iceland Airwaves Music Festival, rocking Reykjavik, Iceland, October 14 -18, 2009. In cooperation with the City of Reykjavik and Mr. Destiny Event Management, Icelandair is pleased to present this year's festival with more of what you would expect from this tried and true trio.  Concerts, parties and special events will rock music fans from around the globe as they gather to party with the hottest acts in the industry including up-and-coming musicians from around the world.

For details on Iceland Airwaves, along with a complete list of performers and schedules, please visit www.icelandairwaves.com.  For more information about Iceland Airwaves packages please visit www.icelandair.us/airwaves.

New National Public Television Series On Culinary Art Premieres October 2009

Gourmet magazine and WGBH Boston bring the world of cooking vacations to public television this fall with the brand new series Gourmet's Adventures with Ruth, premiering October 17, 2009 (check local listings in the US). The show invites viewers to travel the globe alongside host and Gourmet editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl as well as celebrity guests and Gourmet companions, as they visit exotic cooking schools and experience the local foods and traditions that surround them.

In its first season on public television Gourmet's Adventures with Ruth will visit cooking schools abroad in Mexico, Italy, England, Morocco, Brazil, Laos, and China; and in the United States in Washington and New York, with the series premiere episode set in Tennessee. There, Ruth and American actress Frances McDormand visit Blackberry Farm, a culinary resort that exults farm-to-fork eating by producing its own organic vegetables, honey, eggs, preserves, and artisan cheeses. Gourmet editors Doc Willoughby and Ian Knauer, along with numerous celebrities who share Ruth's passion for food and travel are featured over the course of ten half-hour episodes. For further information about Gourmet's series, visit http://www.gourmet.com/adventureswithruth.

Universal Orlando Unveils Details On Its Wizarding World of Harry Potter Park

Universal Orlando Resort in Florida has unveiled details of its new theme park opening next spring that will recreate the fictional world of author J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books and the Warner Brothers-produced Harry Potter films.

The theme park will have more than 20 acres of attractions, shops and restaurants and will include elements of the village of Hogsmeade as well as a reproduction of Hogwarts castle. There will be three main rides at Wizarding World. Dragon Challenge will be a twin roller coaster based on the Triwizard Tournament. Guests will choose to ride the Hungarian horntail or Chinese fireball dragon. The Flight of the Hippogriff is a family ride that will simulate a Hippogriff flight. The featured attraction will be Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey in Hogwarts castle.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter is being developed in cooperation with J.K. Rowling, Warner Brothers and Consumer Products. Website: http://www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter/

 

 

July/August 2009

New Acropolis Museum Opens In Athens

Athens has a new museum that opened in June after five years of construction. Located in the historical area of Makriyianni, southeast of the Rock of Acropolis, the New

Acropolis Museum will house ancient Greek art and sculpture. Built at the cost of 130 million euros, the museum provides 14.000 square meters of space for permanent and temporary exhibitions. The building’s uppermost glass-walled gallery gives sweeping views of the Acropolis and other historic sites in the city.  Website: www.theacropolismuseum.gr

Oberammergau’s Passion Play To Be Presented In 2020

It is not too early to order tickets for the Passion Play presented every ten years in Oberammergau. A sell out months before the re-enactment of Christ’s Passion and Death opens, this event attracts thousands of world travelers. Held in the Bavarian town of Oberammergau, an hour south of Munich, the entire town gets involved in this spiritual delight, which opens May 15, 2010 and concludes five months later on October 3.

The Oberammergau Passion Play dates back to the middle of the Thirty Years War. After months of suffering and death from the plague, the Oberammergauers swore an oath that they would perform the "Play of the Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ" every ten years. At Pentecost 1634, they fulfilled their pledge for the first time on a stage they put up in the cemetery above the fresh graves of the plague victims. In the year 2010, the Community of Oberammergau will perform the Passion Play, they have preserved throughout the centuries with singular continuity, for the 41st time. Tickets are now on sale at http://www.passionplay-oberammergau.com/index.php?id=224.

Smithsonian Museum Opens Permanent Exhibit On America’s Maritime History

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History has opened "On the Water: Stories from Maritime America," a new, permanent exhibition designed to engage the

public in a dynamic exploration of America's maritime heritage. The 8,500-square-foot exhibition builds on the Smithsonian's unparalleled National Watercraft Collection of rigged ship models, patent models, documents and images to bring the sights, sounds and stories from the oceans, inland rivers and coastal communities to the museum's millions of visitors.

Using 360 artifacts and 390 images and graphics, "On the Water" explores life and work on the nation's waterways, discovering the stories of fishermen, shipbuilders, merchant mariners, passengers and many others. From 18th-century sailing ships, 19th-century steamboats and fishing craft to today's mega containerships, the exhibition reveals America's maritime connections through objects, documents, audiovisual programs and interactive stations. Visitors will discover the continuous and significant role maritime activity has played in American lives.

"On the Water" is organized into seven chronological sections and focuses primarily on maritime life in America from the 17th century to the present. Among the highlighted objects on display are highly detailed, large ship models, including the tobacco ship "Brilliant" and a cutaway of the modern factory trawler "Alaska Ocean"; artifacts on loan from the North Carolina Maritime Museum from Blackbeard's ship, the "Queen Anne's Revenge"; and a large, slowly rotating ship's propeller from the steamship "Indiana."

The exhibition experience is expanded online through the "On the Water" companion Web site, available at http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater , and through maritime history activities on the museum's "Smithsonian's History Explorer," an educational Web site that offers free, standards-based, innovative resources for teaching and learning American History. "Smithsonian's History Explorer" is available at http://historyexplorer.americanhistory.si.edu.

Centre Pompidou Presents Exhibit On Contemporary Women Artists

The third thematic exhibition of the Museum's collections—Elles@CentrePompidou--is

entirely devoted to modern and contemporary women artists--the first time in the world that a museum has exclusively displayed the feminine side of its own collections. The show, hung in chronological order by themes, brings together a selection of over 500 works by more than 200 female artists, from the beginning of the 20th century up to the present day. This exhibition, drawing on one of the world's greatest collections of modern and contemporary art (certainly the largest in Europe), represents the Centre Pompidou's firm commitment to women artists of every nationality and every discipline. 

Drawn from the historical collection, key figures such as Sonia Delaunay, Frida Kahlo, Dorothea Tanning, Joan Mitchell and Maria-Elena Vieira da Silva rub shoulders with today's great contemporary female creators, some of whom, including Sophie Calle, Annette Messager, and Louise Bourgeois, have been featured recently in monographic exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou.

Within the exhibition, women artists are able to speak for themselves, with their observations on their own work cited in the extended labels, while the wall texts are given over to the reflection of women writers, philosophers, novelists, and historians. Many of the artists will also address the public directly, in talks and discussions over the next year. The show is on display until September 7, 2009.Website: www.centrepompidou.fr

Helsinki’s Baltic Herring Fair Is Finland’s Oldest Traditional Event

Baltic herring is to Finns what warm meals are to most other nationalities: it’s a dietary staple. And its is Finland’s more important marine product with both economic and historic significance.

Finland shows off the “best” of this delicacy during the centuries-old Baltic Herring fairs when fishermen from along the coast of Finland assemble at the centers of cities and towns to sell the finest of their catch.  The largest and most well known of these fairs has been held in Helsinki since 1743, making it the oldest traditional event in the capital.

The multi-day fair is an enormous smorgasbord of fresh, salted, pickled, and marinated varieties of Baltic herring. Baltic herring is a smaller cousin of the fish found off the shores of Britain and the east coast of North America. Its meat is softer and the taste more delicate due to the comparatively low salt content of the Baltic Sea.

The selection of products has expanded in the last few years and other fish, such as smoked white fish and lamprey can be found in many of the stalls. Juices and jams made of native sea-buckthorn, the bright orange yet acidic berry whose vitamin C content is over 10 times greater than oranges, are also very popular.

The oldest Baltic herring fairs in Finland date back to the 1600s. Historically, when the trading of goods was regulated, communities needed to acquire permission to hold a fair. In 1743, Finland was still a part of the Kingdom of Sweden when the royal edict granted Helsinki a herring fair in the beginning of October. The statute covering the matter specified in detail when and where the fair was to be held, and who had the right to attend either as buyers or sellers. The Baltic Herring Fair in October runs from October to 10.

For more information: www.visitfinland.com

All Aboard For The Polar Express To Santa’s North Pole

Closely following The Polar Express book by Chris Van Allsburg, this nighttime trip from the Grand Canyon Railway* depot in Williams, Arizona travels through 12 miles of wilderness to the “North Pole.”  It features a special reading of The Polar Express while passengers enjoy hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies. After arriving at the “North Pole” – a Christmas light village featuring an “Aurora Borealis” – Santa Claus and his reindeer welcome passengers before Santa boards the Polar Express for the return trip to Williams. Santa makes his way through the historic Pullman passenger cars, greeting every child and presenting each one with a special gift – a jingle bell signifying their belief in Santa Claus. The round trip journey is a little more than an hour in length.

 The new Christmas Eve Special – occurring on the same night as in the book and movie – will also feature special gifts from Santa that the normal Polar does not offer. The Railway will also offer the Polar Express Dec. 26, 27 and 28, 2009. The Grand Canyon Railway Hotel will be open Dec. 24 and 25, 2009. Daily train service to the Grand Canyon will not be offered Dec. 25.

Individual tickets for the train ride only are $29 for adults and $14 for children ages two to 15 Sunday through Thursday in November and all January excursions and $19 for children ages two to 15 on November weekends and throughout December. Rates for the special Christmas Eve presentation are $58 for adults and $38 for children ages two to 15. Overnight packages start as low as $304 for two adults and two children and include the roundtrip aboard the Polar Express, one-night stay at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel and breakfast and dinner at the Grand Depot Café. The package price is based on adult double occupancy and does not include tax.

Reservations can be made by calling 1-800-THE-TRAIN. More information about the Grand Canyon Railway is available online at www.thetrain.com or by calling 1-800-THE-TRAIN (1-800-843-8724).

*Grand Canyon Railway is an authorized concessioner of the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service.

New Salvador Dali Exhibition at Chateau de Pommard In Burgundy

The Château de Pommard, the largest private vineyard in Burgandy, has organized an

exhibition (in conjunction with the Stratton Foundation and Dali Espace) dedicated to Salvador Dali. Honoring the 20th anniversary of Dali's death, this unique exhibition—which runs through November 15, 2009 and features 28 selected works by the artist, including several large sculptures and a series of original etchings from numerous books of art that Dali produced over the course of his career. The sculptures range in size from the monumental 10-foot "Dance of Time II" (Dali's iconic image of a melting clock) in the château’s courtyard to 25 smaller pieces displayed on columns in the château's newly renovated interior.

The Salvador Dali exhibition at the Château is open every day from 10:00 am. to 6:00 pm. Admission is 17 Euros and includes a guided tour of the estate and a wine tasting.

Website: www.chateaudepommard.com  

Finland’s Naturegate Opens Native Flora & Fauna To Web Browsers

The Finnish online service, NatureGate offers an internationally unique image library with thousands of scientifically accurate images of Finnish plants,

birds and butterflies with information on their habitat. Freely accessible service is now available in six languages and is expanding rapidly internationally.

NatureGate is based on two Finnish documentarians Eija and Jouko Lehmuskallio's image archive with over 400 000 images resulting from over 20 years of systematic wildlife photography. “Finland is in one of the top countries in the world in identifying species and yet there is a lot of work to be done. --- The idea with NatureGate is to offer a broad set of images to help everyone to learn to read nature, identify species and this way provide nature experiences”, says Eija Lehmuskallio.

NatureGate was launched in Finland in September 2008 to all Internet users in six different languages - Finnish, Swedish, English, German, French and Spanish. The archive now covers all flowering plants in the Nordic Countries, 75 percent of those appear in Europe and 50 percent of those appear in North America, along with a large number of other populations. One year later, the service also encompasses plants, birds and butterflies from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Estonia. Expansion to at least Germany, France, UK, Spain, India and Argentina is due later.

Internationally patented identification tool enables users to easily enter information about where and when they observed a flower or bird, as well as details of its color, shape and size. With every added feature, the identification tool narrows down the list of possible species, until only a couple of illustrated examples are left for users to compare and pick out their sighting. In the first version users can identify plants. All information will be verified by researchers before publishing on the site. Websites: www.naturegate.org or http://www.luontoportti.com/suomi/en

Old Rhinebeck (New York) Aerodrome Now In Its 50th Season

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome is a barnstorming air show, featuring pioneering antique airplanes being flown that mock dogfights between biplanes of The Great War. The aerodrome will present flight shows now into October the upstate New York community of Rhinebeck, 100 miles north of Manhattan. Visit www.oldrhinebeck.org for more information.

Alice Munro Wins Man Booker International Prize

Alice Munro, who is 77, was awarded a trophy and 60,000 pounds on June 25 at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Munro is mostly known as a short story writer and yet she brings as much depth, wisdom and precision to every story as most novelists bring to a lifetime of novels.

The Man Booker International Prize is awarded once every two years to a living author for a body of work that has contributed to an achievement in fiction on the world stage. It was first awarded to Ismail Kadaré in 2005 and then to Chinua Achebe in 2007.

Munro is one of Canada's most celebrated writers, having won multiple awards for her work. Her latest collection of short stories, Too Much Happiness, will be published in October 2009.

 

 

 

May/June 2009

New Modern Wing Opens At Art Institute Of Chicago

This month, the new $294 million addition to the Art Institute of Chicago opened. Designed by architect Renzo Piano, the wing adds 264,000 square feet of interior space to the institute’s floor plan and places the Institute as the second largest museum in the US after New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The wing’s structural frame is a distinct counterpart to the museum’s 1893 Beaux Arts Building and its light-filled galleries highlight the museum’s collections of postwar and contemporary art including many pieces that were hidden from public view for years. The addition includes 60,000 square feet of new galleries dedicated to European painting and sculpture, post-World War II art, photography and 20^th and 21^st century architecture and design. In the temporary exhibition space, a show of recent paintings, sculpture and photographs by Cy Twombly is in place.

Website: www.artic.edu

53^rd Venice Biennale Art Exhibition Opens June 27

The 53rd International Art Exhibition, entitled Fare Mondi//Making Worlds, will open to the public June 7 and close on November 22.

Presented in the renovated Palazzo delle Esposizioni in the Giardini and in the Arsenale, is a single, large exhibition that articulates different themes woven into one whole. It is not divided into sections and comprises works by over 90 artists and includes many new works and on-site commissions in all disciplines. Seventy-seven Nations are participating, including for the first time, Montenegro, Monaco, Gabon, Comoros, and United Arab Emirates.

The German director of the 53rd Exhibition, Daniel Birnbaum, has been head of the

Staedelschule Frankfurt/Main and its Kunsthalle Portikus since 2001. “The title of the exhibition, Fare Mondi // Making Worlds,” says Birnbaum, “expresses my wish to emphasize the process of creation. A work of art represents a vision of the world and if taken seriously it can be seen as a way of making a world. The strength of the vision is not dependent on the kind or complexity of the tools brought into play. Hence all forms of artistic expression are present: installation art, video and film, sculpture, performance, painting and drawing, and a live parade. . [it] is an exhibition driven by the aspiration to explore worlds around us as well as worlds ahead. It is about possible new beginnings—this is what I would like to share with the visitors of the Biennale.”

The 2009 exhibition introduces a number of important structural and organizational developments:

At the Arsenale, the Italian Pavilion, renamed Palazzo delle Esposizioni della Biennale, has been enlarged from 800 to 1,800 square meters, and now opens out to the Giardino delle Vergini and is adjacent to a new public entrance. Here a newly constructed bridge links the far side of the Arsenale to the Sestiere di Castello. The venue will be reserved for exhibitions organized by the Italian Ministry for Cultural Affairs and later serve as a permanent exhibition and multifunctional venue opened to the public year-round. In addition, the Arsenale’s exhibition spaces have been extended by developing a larger part of the Giardino delle Vergini (Garden of the Virgins), now measuring 6,000 square meters and offering a new exhibition space for the main exhibition.

The transformed Palazzo delle Esposizioni includes a newly refurbished wing housing the library of the Historic Archives of Contemporary Arts (ASAC), made available again to the public after ten years of closure as well as a new bookstore, a new café and new spaces for educational activities, respectively designed by three artists participating in the main exhibition.

Ca’ Giustinian, the beautiful 15th century palace on the Canale Grande near San Marco and the traditional site of the Foundation’s headquarters, will reopen in June after several years of renovation. Apart from housing the offices of the Biennale, it will then also become an “open house” for the general public, with a café on the Grand Canal. The Vision Machine: Futurists in the Biennale will be presented at Ca’ Giustinian during the biennale from June to November 2009. The exhibition explores the presence of Futurist artists, ideas and works in the Biennale. Curated by IUAV, International Semiotics Laboratory Venice, it is the result of a research undertaken at the Historic Archive of the Contemporary Arts (ASAC).

The Awards and Opening Ceremony of the 53rd International Art Exhibition will take place on June 6 in the Giardini. Two Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement are being presented to Yoko Ono and to John Baldessari at the ceremony. The other Golden Lion Awards – the Golden Lion for Best National Participation of the 53rd International Art  Exhibition; the Golden Lion for the Best Artist of the exhibition; and the Silver Lion for a Promising Young Artist of the exhibition– will be selected by an international jury chaired by Angela Vettese (Italy), and Jack Bankowsky (USA), Homi K. Bhabha (India), Sarat Maharaj (South Africa), and Julia Voss (Germany).

Inaugurating the renovated headquarters of the Biennale as yet another exhibition venue,

Websites: www.labiennale.org  or http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/

Britain Names Its First-Ever Female Poet Laureate

British writer Carol Ann Duffy was named Britain’s poet laureate this month, the first woman to ever hold the 341-year-old job. Her male predecessors include Tennyson, Dryden, Wordsworth, Cecil Day-Lewis and Ted Hughes. The 55-year-old appointee is known for using simple style to produce accessible often mischievous poems dealing with the turmoil and minutiae of daily life in her popular collection The World’s Wife written ten years ago. The poems tell of overlooked women in history and mythology who tell their side of the story so that as one poem imagines, for instance, the relief that Mrs. Rip Van Winkle would have had when her husband went into a long deep sleep, thus giving her some time for herself. In an interview with the BBC radio, Duffy that she thought long and hard about accepting the post but that she made the decision to accept it purely because they hadn’t had a woman laureate before. She added: “I look on it as recognition of the great women poets we now have writing and that she hoped to use the job “to contribute to the understanding what poetry can do and where it can be found.” Her term will last ten years, receiving $8,500 a year, which Duffy said she plans to donate to the Poetry Society to finance an annual poetry prize.

New Seoul Project To Be Designed by Daniel Liebeskund

American architect Daniel Libeskind won the competition to spearhead a $20 billion, 34-million-square foot riverfront project in downtown Seoul, Korea in the Yongsan international business district. Work on the project, which will include residential, office, retail and cultural areas built like islands around an urban park along the Han River, is slated to begin in 2011. “The idea is to create a 21st Century destination that is at once transformative, vibrant, sustainable and diverse,” Libeskind said. “I wanted to make each form, each place, each neighborhood as varied and distinctive as possible. The plan, and each building within it, should reflect the vertical and cultural complexity of the heart of Seoul.”

Libeskund is world-renowned for his architectural designs, most recently the new building for the Judisches Museum Berlin. In 2003 Libeskind’s architectural firm Studio Libeskind won the competition to be the master plan architect for coordinating the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site in downtown New York. In addition to the Freedom Tower, which was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and a world-class transportation hub designed by Santiago Calatrava, four more towers and an awe-inspiring memorial are currently under construction in Lower Manhattan.

New Cooking School Open To The Public Debuts In Paris

This month, chef Alain Ducasse has opened a new genre of cooking school in Paris. Open to the public, classes taught by chefs trained in Alain Ducasse restaurants include preparing a bistro dish, a brunch, stewed vegetables, bread making, or raspberry pastry

The team is made up of Alain Ducasse chefs trained in different cooking styles, but also French and foreign guest chefs throughout the year. And for personal requests, all is possible. From personalized coaching to made-to-order requests for businesses or

Ducasse at work

individuals wanting to organize seminars, conferences, corporate team building or social events. The school is located at 64 rue du Ranelagh. Telephone: 011 33 (0)1 44 90 91 00.

Old Lyon’s Gadagne Museum Center To Reopen In June

Located in the centre of Old Lyon, the Gadagne Museum Center has completed a ten-year-long renovation at a cost of more than $50 million and will reopen next month. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Gadagne complex houses the History Museum of Lyon and the Puppets of the World Museum.

New public areas were created that include a reception area, small theater (150 seats), documentation center, café, shop, terrace gardens and training workshops.

Gadagne offers two great collections. 1,400 works in the History Museum of Lyon (paintings, drawings, photographs, statues, objects, furniture, etc.); and 500 in the Puppets of the World Museum (puppets, scenery, castle sets, posters, repertories).

The Puppets of the World Museum is the only museum in France dedicated to this performance art in which theater, dance, and the graphic and audiovisual arts overlap.

The History Museum of Lyon will be a resource center for understanding the city in all its facets: urban planning, economic, social, political, cultural, religious, etc. After an audiovisual immersion in the city of the 21st century, visitors can undertake a voyage that takes them from the capital of the Gauls to the city of silk weavers, from Lyon during the Revolution to the inventions of the Lumières brothers.