Something for the Weekend (7th – 9th May)

Love, dreams and murder this weekend in Paris, with a little touch of history thrown in for good measure. Note also that this Saturday is a public holiday commemorating the end of the 2nd World War in Europe, so expect to find certain places closed.

If you have any events or activities you think should be promoted or which you would like to promote yourself, please add them in the comments. Let me know also if you have any events in the coming weekends you would like to promote.

Paris d'Amour
Paris-based photographer Gérard Uféras spent two years recording images from 70 different marriage or civil (PACS) ceremonies in the city, with the result being this fascinating exhibition at the Hotel de Ville. Beyond the artistic quality of the photos themselves, the exhibition also takes a look at the many different cultures and nationalities of those signing up for a life together in Paris, and poses many questions about the role played by the city in their relationships.
Salon d’accueil de l’Hôtel de Ville 29 rue de Rivoli, 75004, M° Hôtel de Ville
From 6th May to 31st July, 10am – 7pm daily except Sundays and Public Holidays.
Free entry

Fête l’Europe
60 years ago this weekend, Robert Schuman, the French Foreign Affairs minister at the time, made a famous announcement that is seen as the founding moment of the European Union. “Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan” was Schuman’s message that day, and how prescient that still seems with today’s crisis in the Union. Schuman’s principal idea was to put an end to years of conflict with Germany by combining the two countries’ coal and steel production, thus making future wars materially impossible.

To commemorate the event, the Salons du Quai d’Orsay, where Robert Schuman launched his declaration, will exceptionally be open to the public this weekend.
Saturday 8th Sunday 9th May
37 Quai d’Orsay, 75007, M° Invalides
10am - 6pm

Dreamlands
"I am of a generation for whom the big city meant a centre of cultural influence or economic power; now it has become a theme park, a vast camp or an architectural aberration and utter social hotchpotch” taking inspiration from urban observer J. G. Ballard, this new exhibition at the Centre Pompidou sets out to demonstrate how large cities have been transformed in recent years and how universal expositions and amusement parks have played a role in this.

Looking also at the manifestos of the Situationists in the 1950s and 60s who called for cities to become a world of 'universal attraction', it is rather buildings themselves that have become both spectacle and entertainment, with architects such as Rem Koolhaas celebrating the fantastical and breaking down modernist constraints. However, it is corporations such as the Walt Disney Company who actually first built these places and developed the concept of 'imagineering', techniques that now apply to the development of entire cities, including Las Vegas, Dubai and Shanghai.
Until August 9th
Centre Pompidou, M° Rambuteau

Cara Black at the Red Wheelbarrow
Not technically taking place this weekend, but certainly worthy of a mention is the visit of Cara Black to Paris. She'll be reading from her 10th Aimée Leduc novel, "Murder in the Palais Royal" at the Red Wheelbarrow bookshop in the Marais next Tuesday, and will be open to as many questions as possible afterwards!

The Red Wheelbarrow

Tuesday, May 11th, 7pm

22 rue Saint Paul, 75004, M°Saint Paul

The Rebirth of the Phone Booth

A while back I wrote about the death of the phone booth in Paris, but it seems like I underestimated its durability. This picture here shows a prototype model of what could be the future face of the payphone in the city, but is it a pretty one?

The city of Paris is looking to replace its ageing fleet of phone booths, and asked Orange (France Telecom) and JCDecaux to work on potential new models. The two companies presented a prototype to the design bureau at the City of Paris, and have been allowed to install 12 test models around the city for a 6 month period (the one caught on photo here is on the Rue de Rivoli next to the St Paul Metro station).

The City of Paris website has described the design as being 'very futuristic', but I think 'very dull' would be more suitable. JCDecaux, the company behind the Velib system as well as many public toilets and most bus stops, is slowly defining the new norms of street furniture (a kind of grey/brown!), and clearly the company has only one goal - maximise advertising space. This design eliminates all trace of the traditional private box model, and is in fact little more than an advertising panel with a phone on the back.

The new prototype alongside a more traditional Wallace fountain.

What about the phone unit itself? Well, this is more revolutionary, with a 17 inch screen and full internet connectivity, meaning users can now not only make phone calls, but also profit from 10 minutes of free internet access. A GPS system has also been installed in the unit to give information on local services, such as transport, cinemas and restaurants.

Two things strike me here. I hope that 17 inch screen is made from some very heavily reinforced glass because it looks eminently breakable. However, even if it is indeed unbreakable, I'm sure it will be regularly scratched and tagged. Secondly, in such a public space, will anybody dare to use it to check their e-mails?

In an age of smart phones and ubiquitous wi-fi connections, I'm not sure that it is something that city dwellers need today, but JCDecaux will not mind about that.

Fascinating Phone Facts (courtesy of Paris.fr)

• 5299: the number of phone booths in Paris, which is equivilent to one phone for every 400 inhabitants.
• 1 million: around 1 million people use public phones in Paris (7 million people throughout France).
• 50 minutes: the average usage of a phone booth each day in Paris.
• 60%: the percentage of payphone users who also own a mobile/cell phone.

What do you think? Do you like this design and would you use it? When did you last use a public phone?

Paris Polaroids: A Night at the Theatre

For the third in the series of Paris Polaroids guest posts, Andi Fisher reminisces about a Parisian night at the theatre.

I love movies and I love comedies. However what I love most of all is seeing film actors that I appreciate live on the stage. When I met my French husband, and while learning French, I discovered a comedic theater troupe known as 'le Splendid'. Like most people, I started with Les Bronzés series, but then watched everything that Christian Clavier, Michel Blanc, Gérard Jugnot, Thierry Lhermitte, Josiane Balasko, Marie-Anne Chazel, Bruno Moynot and Claire Magnin made.

I later saw Marie-Anne Chazel in a pièce (play) called Le Butin in 2005, but had never seen any of the other members of Splendid. One day though I was watching a taped episode of a television programme called Vivement Dimanche and saw Christian Clavier and Jean Poiret promoting their new pièce 'La Cage aux Folles' which was going to start in the Fall. I was ecstatic and had to get tickets!

Theater culture is very much alive and well in France, supported by the people and thriving through love. Every time my husband and I visit Paris we try to take in a least one play, which we consider to be one of the most wonderful gifts that Paris gives to its citizens. I am not fluent in French but I love going to watch theater none-the-less. It is thrilling to sit in an audience and know that you are about to share something very special with these people. Will everyone laugh at the same time? Will I laugh at the right moment? I gauge my grasp of the language or my understanding of context by whether my responses are the same as the others.

We got our tickets during our visit in November and went along to the show. The performance was at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in the heart of the 'Grands Boulevards' theatre district in the 10th arrondissement. The evening was magical and the performances were outstanding. What made it even more amusing was the very next day, as I sat having a panaché at Les Deux Magots, Christian Clavier walked by speaking on his cell phone!

Now as I plan my next trip to Paris and think about what pièce I may see, I fondly remember that evening in that magical place and hope to pass another moment there. This version of the play has not yet been released on DVD so the only souvenir I have today is this photo I took of the curtain!

Andi Fisher

Andi Fisher is a francophile blogger living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her eclectic blog, misadventureswithandi.com is a travel-based blog that details Andi's misadventures as she eats her way through countries around the world as well as the merry musings of a feisty-foodie slash lit-chickie slash globe-trotting wannabe Frenchie!

Send your Paris Polaroid! The beauty of the Polaroid was that it captured an instant. Such pictures were celebrations of the emotion of a moment, but like memories, Polaroids faded over time. In this series I am aiming to compile a selection of these Paris instants for posterity. If you have a memory of a Paris instant you would like to share, please send it to me and I will publish it here. A photo (which I will transform into Polaroid form) would be a bonus but is not a necessity (I can find one!). If you have a site, a project, a business, or just yourself to promote, send me the link and I will add a mention to your post!

Something for the Weekend (30th April – 2nd May)

With a mix of marches, guerilla gardening, poetry and hacking workshops, this weekend will be revolutionary! Nothing less should be expected for the 1st of May though.

If you have any events or activities you think should be promoted or which you would like to promote yourself, please add them in the comments. Let me know also if you have any events in the coming weekends you would like to promote.

May Day Marches
May Day in France is the fête du travail, and an opportunity for the worker to take to the streets. This year tensions are running high in the country, so expect big turnouts at the 284 scheduled marches around the country, including around a hundred thousand people in Paris.
Saturday 1st - 2pm
Place de la République

Guerilla Gardening
The 1st of May is also the opportunity for the French to offer bouquets of Muguet (Lily of the Valley) to each other. However, for the mysterious 'guerilla gardeners', this day has become synonymous with sunflowers. If you want to help out, meet at the Censier Daubenton Metro station at 2pm, and bring some seeds, some earth or some water. The group will then head out to some secret sites to do some planting!
Saturday 1st - 2pm
M° Censier Daubenton

http://guerilla-gardening-paris.blogspot.com/

Poesie is not Dead
To be honest, I'm not sure what to expect from this event which will supposedly mix multi-lingual poetry with music and video, but with poets from China, France, Colombia and the United States and an entrance price of just €2 (which also includes a drink!) it must be worth a look.
Sunday 2nd May, 6pm
Studios Campus
12 bis rue Froment 75011 (M° Bastille / Richard Lenoir)
http://revoesie.free.fr/?p=1033

Les Contorsions Technologiques
Described by organisers as "a mix of workshops, exhibitions, demonstrations and performance, in a setting favorable to discovery, experimentation and exchange", this event is an attempt to bring hackers out of their bedrooms and into a more social environment. I think even the organisers are not sure what will be happening, but they have very big objectives - "It’s an invitation to grab the tools and take the initiative back, to shatter norms and reshape our universe" they proudly claim!

A large part of the event will probably be no more spectacular than the sight of groups of young men hovering around computers, but the "front of a 7 story building" has been offered up to hackers as an exhibition medium. It could be interesting to see what they choose to do with it!
April 30th to May 2nd
La Suite
27 rue de la Glacière, 75013

http://www.contorsions-technologiques.org/

The New Zoo Project

Returning home after a few days away, I push open the door and see a giant gorilla in my kitchen. Ok, so not exactly inside the kitchen, but certainly filling the full frame of the window. I run to check the signature, but already there is no doubt. For as long as it lasts, I will now have a Zoo Project to look at when eating my breakfast in the morning.

The message is typical Zoo Project - a painting of a wild animal with a warning against wild humans (Gare aux Hommes), but if the words are a little tired, the gorilla itself is fantastic. Just as a little reminder, the artist(s?) behind the label works in complete anonymity, at speed and with brushes and paint, so to give the creature a mischievous glint in the eye and a wry smile - especially at this size - is little short of miraculous.

The patch of wasteland where this is situated is scheduled for development, with a five story building on its way, but how much happier I would be to look at this gorilla each morning and not somebody else's kitchen window.