HAPPENINGS C-Paris udents of HE t S y b w e i v e ultural R A Biannual C
CO NTEN TS.
HAPPENINGS ISSUE 5
On the cover: ROY LICHTENSTEIN Blonde, 1973
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ROY LICHENSTEIN...............04 Meryem Guelzim
PIXAR: 25 YEARS OF ANIMATION
DONALD TESKEY.................06 Cyrielle Cahuzac
ANGLO-SAXON FASHION...........08 Natacha Baumlin & Mong-Tuyet Nguyen
FOOD TRUCKS IN PARIS............11 Diane Sevestre
BEAUTY CAKES...................12 Kevin Guez & Kahina Louiza Hacene
THANKSGIVING...................13
22
RON MUECK
Lisa Monti
MAKE PERFUME NOT WAR..........15 Sarah Caboche
04 ROY LICHENSTEIN
BLUES BB-Q.....................16 Rémi Daste BRITISH ELECTRONIC MUSIC........18 Clément Fernon & Quentin Gondat
RON MUECK.....................22 Ralph Gomes de Sousa
PARIS GAME WEEK................24 Louis Jouglard
JFK 1963-2006.....................26 Sophie Laurent
BREAKING BAD....................28 59 RIVOLI........................25 Meryem Guelzim Victorie Bonnet & Alexis Bonon
PIXAR: 25 YEARS OF ANIMATION.......30 Valentin Barsalou & Tanguy de Montaigne de Poncins
&AC KNOWLED GEMENTS Editor in Chief: Christopher ROBINSON
EDITOR’S NOTE You are holding in your hands the fourth issue of HAPPENINGS: Culture in Review, written entirely by students at HEC-Paris.
A Year of
The magazine and its accompanying website have been developed in the context of an Masters 1 English module, “Writing for Cultural Affairs.” For this class, students are required to write reports, reviews, or essays on English-language cultural events and organizations in Paris and beyond. Exhibitions, films, conferences, concerts, and literary readings are just some of the events that have been covered. Organizations have included galleries, restaurants and shops. In addition to writing, students are encouraged to interview major personalities and key actors in the management of these events and organizations, so as to add expert knowledge and opinions to their own. The pedagogical goals of this project, which combine classroom activities with the exercise of English in real-life settings, are multiple. They include the improvement of the students’ five essential language skills: writing, reading, speaking, listening and interacting. Additionally, students exercise their ability to articulate an argument and defend their points of view, hone their aesthetic sensibilities, observe arts and cultural management from an all-round perspective, and even develop professional contacts and networks. The students’ work continues to exceed my expectations. As you will see for yourself, the creativity, variety and quality of their reports are remarkable. As such the magazine and website serve as a showcase, not only for the students to display their talents, but also for HEC to demonstrate its international outlook and its commitment to arts and culture. Christopher ROBINSON You will find additional student writings on the HAPPENINGS website! studies2.hec.fr/jahia/Jahia/happening
Assistant Editors: Hemini MISTRY Kate BALDWIN Magazine Layout & Design: Helen STEAD Website Layout & Design: Julie SALESSES A sincere thanks to members of the Comité des Projets et Matériels Pédagogiques, and all those who have contributed to making this project a success: Caroline MERIAUX Charles DUPRE Véronique SALAT Sylvie METAIS
ROY LICHENSTEIN O
ne morning, young David was having breakfast with his father Roy Lichtenstein while reading one of his favourite comics Donald Duck, Lost and Found. Fascinated by those beautiful comics, he suddenly turned to his dad saying, “Dad, I bet you can’t make drawings as good as those!” It may be surprising, but this is how the myth says that Lichtenstein made Look Mickey! the piece of artwork that launched his path as a pioneer of pop art. Nowadays, his artwork feels so familiar to the public that it seems like people keep challenging Lichtenstein to find more and more original ways of expressing his talent and his creativity.
4 | Happenings
Roy Lichtenstein was born in 1923 in New York. Already interested in art during his childhood, he took extracurricular painting classes and studied Industrial Design at Ohio State University. By the end of the fifties, the sour flavours of abstract expressionism finally met the sweet taste of comic strips. The recipe had a great potential but Lichtenstein felt that there was more to exploit there. In 1961, he finally found his style and added that pinch of Ben-day dots, which, combined with the rest, launched his path as a postmodernist artist whose secret ingredient is ‘re-presentation’.
A
s his name gained notoriety, Lichtenstein was garnering as many fans as he was generating the debate on whether he was an artist or not. After all, what is an artist without an added value, that transformation that makes a ‘nothing’ become an ‘everything’? Lichtenstein once admitted, «I am nominally copying, but I am really restating the copied thing in other terms. In doing that, the original acquires a totally different texture. It isn’t thick or thin brushstrokes, it’s dots and flat colours and unyielding lines.» By theorizing the minimum transformation that makes a copy blossom into a work of art, Lichtenstein has generated a wider debate about the power of representation, which, in the end, strongly identifies him as a postmodernist artist. This is why one can see the exhibition Roy Lichtenstein at the Pompidou Center in Paris as being representative, not of his work, but of people’s progressive change of mind on Lichtenstein’s quality as an artist. Organised by the Pompidou Center in association with Chicago’s Art Institute and London’s Tate Modern, this exhibition about Roy Lichtenstein gathers more than 120 works of art, including paintings, sculptures and engravings. And this gigantic collection is all the more striking since it puts next to each other both really famous pieces such as Whaam! or Drowning Girl as well as engravings from the fifties and paintings from later decades. Indeed, the first thing that people see when they walk into the exhibition is everything they expected – “all these images that feel so familiar to the public, should it be families or art students,” said a receptionist. In other words, the first two rooms contain all the well-known pieces that brought a great part of the public to this exhibition – the very first piece being Look Mickey!, maybe a wink at how Lichtenstein’s career started. The texts written on the walls describe Lichtenstein as a visionary that had an original view on consumer society and popular culture. This is the point where people think that they have seen everything about Lichtenstein and start to adhere to “this popular belief that he has a really limited sense of aesthetics, or that he doesn’t have enough margin to leave his own print on what is objectively someone else’s work”, as the receptionist said. But then, after people have seen these pieces, the true discovery of Lichtenstein’s work can start. Indeed, as people walk through the rest of the exhibition, they can see sculptures of brushstrokes, re-presentations of artworks that echo famous artists such as Matisse, Van Gogh and even Monet with three monochromatic re-workings of the Cathedral of Rouen. To help people shape new expectations on the added value of Lichtenstein’s theory on art, many paragraphs are written between exhibition rooms (sometimes even videos of Lichtenstein theorizing on his work and his creative process) and some have short vivid quotations on them in order to involve the visitor more actively. Therefore, when people go out from the exhibition, what they bring back home with them is really nothing like what they came to the exhibition for, even if the gift shop at the end of the exhibition seems to bring people back to their initial view on Lichtenstein, reducing him to the well-known pieces.
As a consequence, by focusing on the relationship between the art of re-presentation and the work of the artist, both the exposition and its curator Camille Morineau give new hindsight on Lichtenstein’s path and theory. And as people walk through the exhibition, they start connecting the dots and completing the puzzle until they form the bigger picture, the essence of why Lichtenstein is truly the first postmodernist artist. But that word is way overused to mean anything today... However, what I mean by that adjective when talking about Lichtenstein is the way he mixes extremes and makes something even more tasteful out of it. Let’s take the example of The brushstroke. The re-presentation (in the literal sense of presentation again) of a brushstroke shows that the genius in Lichtenstein is to try to generate something more than just the abstract or just the concrete. He somehow overcomes these two frontiers and transcends them into a third dimension: simulacra, the representation of art itself, of the artwork itself. Both form and the very process of art become the object. This might be the reason behind Lichtenstein’s continuous search for newer ways to look at things, and especially at art. By doing so, Lichtenstein initiates a theory about a form of art that overcomes the chronological and technical plays. Not only does he have an original conception of consumer society but he also develops a theory on art itself. So maybe we should all take the time to appreciate his process and start connecting the dots all the way from Lichtenstein the pop-art star to Roy the postmodernist artist. ‘Roy Lichtenstein’ Centre Pompidou, Place Georges-Pompidou, 75004, Paris www.centrepompidou.fr 01.44.78.12.33.
uelzim
Meryem G
5 | Issue 5
DONALD TESKEY: IRISH CULTURAL CENTRE
“Their beauty is that of shade, of shadow, of ghost” Franck McGuiness
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his is a surprising way to describe the art of Donald Teskey, spoken by one of his fellow Irishartists, Franck McGuiness. But it is an accurate one, as Teskey’s paintings convey such a deep impression on the viewer, who cannot help but be caught in the intensity of the landscapes. Entre Terre et Mer (Between Earth and Sea) is the name of the month-long exhibition held at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, displaying eleven of Teskey’s pieces. The exhibition focuses on his rural landscapes rather than on the urban ones, to repre-
6 | Happenings
sent the rough nature of Ireland, from Moya to Connemara. They are very vivid paintings, with a personal use of material and technique that try to reflect the experience of the painter as he was facing the Irish sea and trying to render its strength. This exhibition is just one of the many ways the Centre Culturel Irlandais tries to bring a little more Irish culture to the center of Paris. It is a place like no other: just behind the Panthéon, it has a history that dates back to the sixteenth century, when Irish students began to become part of the academic society in Paris. The first community of Irish students
“Our most talented artist, Donald Teskey paints landscapes so sublime you can breathe in the eerie area he depicts”. John P. Sullivan was created in 1587 in the College Montaigu, and started the tradition that the center tries to maintain today: preserving the heritage of all those Irishmen who took part in French history and reinforcing the strong cultural link between the two countries. The diversity of the place embodies the richness of its history, as the cultural center was a direct witness to French history: it was a place that welcomed Irish students and was also an Academic center destroyed during the French Revolution. It went on to become an Irish and then Polish seminary - visited several times by Karol Wojtyla, the future John Paul II- a hospital during the Franco-Prussian war, a German center during the Occupation, and a shelter for Americans after 1945. The actual creation of the Centre Culturel Irlandais in 2002 was a way to reestablish its main purpose of promoting Irish culture while preserving the diversity of its past. Exhibitions are only one of the many things that you can find there. The Center has decided to maintain its original goal: a place to welcome Irish nationals or lovers of Irish culture who come to Paris. It thus proposes several boarding rooms for Irish artists – having welcomed Donald Teskey himself for several months in 2012 – as well as accommodation for Irish students who come study in Paris. It recently created a modern “Mediatheque” that presents traditional and modern Irish literature, and has historical archives that date back to 1316. But one of its most interesting features is the Old Library, which unfortunately is not accessible to the public, but which holds some unique medieval manuscripts. It is through diversity that the Centre Culturel Irlandais manages to remain a reference for Irish culture in Paris, covering every aspect of art, with courses of Irish, exhibitions, plays, music, and so much more, to try and attract as many persons as possible. And despite what you may think, you do not need to be Irish or be an Irish specialist to go there. On the contra-
ry, that is what it stands for: making Irish culture accessible to more people and show all its wealth. So definitely pay it a visit, as you stroll around the Latin district and feel like
seeing something new. It is underrated, and it is a must-see.
huzac
Cyrielle Ca
7 | Issue 5
ANGLO SAXON WINTER FASHION IN PARIS
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e all know that Paris is the fashion capital of the world, THE place where every fashionista would love to live or even just to go for a couple of days to do shopping. Indeed, Parisians have been having the best experience of high fashion for decades: whenever and wherever it is, they always look pretty and smart. Every American and British girl envies their innate sense of elegance and the way they adapt to fit Coco Chanel’s style. Thus, when the latest Grazia magazine – the monthly Bible for any self-respecting fashionista – showed as a cover a huge “ ENFIN ! – be prepared for a definitely British winter “, we felt a bit thrown so we decided to investigate. Since the start of the new school year, all the 13-year-old and more girls have been waiting for the event of the autumn – or actually, the triple event of the autumn. Indeed, since September the second, fashionistas no longer need to buy an Eurostar ticket to find this special it-garment worn by Kate Moss or Cara Delevingne : Urban Outfitters , the famous 100% American brand opened a temporary department store
8 | Happenings
inside the Galeries Lafayette for five months, followed the 24th of October by the British giant Topshop, who will keep a 176-meter-square corner in the same mall forever. And this French conquest for Anglo-Saxon brands is far to be done: Primark, the low-cost Irish brand, plans to open 6 stores in France before the summer 2014. Is this vogue for British fashion a brand new phenomenon? The answer is obviously no. After two decades of rumours and false hopes, considering the new trend of British chic, Topshop and Urban Outffiters launched their French website a couple of years ago and met a huge success, even with the high shipping fees. Topshop even opened a pop-up store in the Galeries Lafayettes last year, and according to the retail information specialist Kate Ormrod’s interview in The Guardian, the success was ‘enough to warrant the permanent shop-in-shop being five times bigger, which bodes well for the store launch in October”. Having lived ourself the adventure of wandering around Urban Outfitters and Topshop’s corners, we can assert it: this is unbelievable. The
ALEXA CHUNG An it-girl embodies a brand and is enough to make fashionistas love this brand and buy their clothes. products, the decoration, the staff’s style and way of thinking: everything is genuine. As a proof, when we asked Topshop’s manager if we could interview her for our investigation, she spontaneously said : “You have to ask my boss’s authorization first. This is how we do in Great Britain”. But why are French girls so keen on Anglo-Saxon clothing style whereas they are supposed to be the queens of elegance and style? First of all, this is the result of the influence of the new it-girls. Following the phenomenon of the British sisters Cara and Poppy Delevingne, Alexa Chung or the American model Olivia Palermo, French girls want to imitate their way of life, so the first thing they do for this is to buy their clothes in the favourite shops of these trendy girls. This year, Kate Bosworth signed the winter collection for Topshop, and for next summer collection, it will be Kate Moss, for the third consecutive year. According to the
success of the previous collaborations between brands and models, having an it-girl embodying a brand is enough to make fashionistas love this brand and buy their clothes to try to copy the effortless British touch of the supermodel. Moreover, not only do our beloved Urban Outffiters – UO to your friends -, Topshop and Primark sell clothes, but they also sell a real retro, chic and vintage way of life. Indeed, what has seduced French people and is quite innovative in Paris is the idea of creating a concept store – cheaper than Colette – where you can buy clothes, decoration, accessories, books and music, in a cosy place looking like the flat of your dreams. By the way, Urban Outffiters doesn’t want to leave France after five months: the American firm is actively looking for the perfect location in Paris to open a big permanent store, in an old building with nice façades in which they could recreate a modern and vintage loft. 9 | Issue 5
RBAN UTFITTERS 10 | Happenings
Finally, in spite of the several competitors such as Zara, H&M or Mango, the Fashion lovers that we are still have troubles finding affordable clothes matching this inimitable pretty-vintagesuper-cool style. Since our bank account begs us to flee far from Sandro, Maje and Zadig&Voltaire, it is getting harder and harder to look like Chiara Ferragni. That is why we have incentive to look at the other side of both the Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel: the price range of British and American brands is really appealing, from the hard discounter Primark to the midrange UO, which above all offer a 10% reduction for students. For all those reasons, these brands will undoubtedly meet a huge success in Paris, as the American Abercrombie & Fitch has been doing since it opened its store on the Champs Elysées in May 2011. And French it-girls are not the only ones who call for champagne: Topshop boss, Sir Philip Green, said to Drapers magazine: “We are all excited by the reception Topshop has been given at our recent launches in other European cities, such as Amsterdam, Berlin and Munich. However, with Paris being such an important fashion capital, we are hopeful that this opening will be the jewel in the crown”. Having said that, we now have to stop here; we have some AngloSaxon shopping to do. Urban Outfitters, Galeries Lafayette Haussmann 40, Boulevard Haussmann, 75009, Paris www.urbanoutfitters.com/fr
aumlin Natacha B Nguyen et Mong-Tuy
WHEN PARISIANS GET IN LINE FOR AMERICAN FOOD e Diane Sevestr
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treet food is nothing new in Paris, since vendors have been selling snacks like pizzas, crepes, sandwiches or grilled merguez sausages in baguettes. But over the past two years, Parisians are ready to rush and line up to take a bite out of the American-food truck phenomenon. The US food truck movement has taken the French Capital since the arrival of Le Camion qui fume in 2009, owned by Kristin Frederick, a Californian woman who graduated from a respected Paris cooking school. This pioneer truck came every week for the lunchtime in Place de la Madeleine and offered delicious, homemade and juicy cheeseburgers to hundreds of Parisians politely queuing. The success of this gourmet street food turned out to be immediate. Two years later, another food truck hit Paris. The smell of onions caramelizing came this time from Cantine California, a chocolate brown truck parked in le Marché Saint-Honoré. Jordan Feilders, a native of San Francisco serves in his mobile canteen homemade tacos, burgers, cupcakes and milkshakes combining the U.S. recipes with French organic beef and cheese from Rhône-Alpes, Pays de la Loire, or Poitou. For the first time, the world capital of gastronomy isn’t setting the trend but merely following a new concept of quality restaurant-on-wheels inspired by the USA. Food trucks provide a little slice of California lifestyle on the corner of a Parisian Street. Street food is reinvented and adapted to the needs of French consumers. They can now enjoy a snack made of organic products at an average price. Many of the trucks’ owners are American chefs with the desire to try new ideas outside a traditional kitchen, proposing restaurant-quality food to walkers-by. To appeal to Parisians, they cook American menu items with French gourmet products. The mix of American culture with French expectations is one of the keys to success. Another is the fun hide-and-seek game required by the principle of a mobile kitchen. Trucks become mouses moving around the capital all week while Parisian cats have to check websites, twitter or facebook to find times and locations.
Due to its success, The French have also joined the movement. Valentine Davase created Le réfectoire in 2012. Her team proposes traditional French dishes in Marché Popincourt and Marché Pyrénées. Over Parisian streets it’s possible to hear the engine noise of Caravane Dorée too. This truck owned by three guys is devoted to bun bo, a Vietnamese dish of vermicelli noodles, salad, and meat. Two longtime friends, Thomas Trudy and Loic Estimbre have decided to launch gourmet hot dogs in the capital with their very catchy mobile kitchen called Eat My truck. They aim to implement the hod dog culture in their country using gourmet French product like saucisses de Morteau or bleu d’Auvergne. According to Thomas Trudy, with the explosion of the fast food market in Paris, opening a food truck provides many advantages. The initial investment is low and flexible, there is no need to pay an expensive rent for a Parisian locale, the proximity with customers is unique, and changing locations delivers a fantastic feeling of freedom. “The food truck is a good compromise between quality food, simplicity and economy” summarized Thomas Trudy in an interview. Nevertheless, the French patron recognizes that driving through Parisian streets is not so easy. Indeed, food trucks face bureaucratic problems since owners need to obtain permits. The Mairie de Paris refuses to give public locations and trucks are still assigned to certain markets or private locations like bars. Despite the difficulties, Thomas Trudy remains optimistic concerning the future of this movement in France. It can be developed in provincial towns that are very receptive to these kinds of trends such as Lyon or Toulouse for example. Moreover, he foresees an evolution of the food truck concept. He and his associate are interested in other formats than the traditional truck, like the three-wheeler trucks or food bikes that are more economical. Definitely, the rise in food truck popularity in France is becoming a long-term movement as trucks are now part of the Parisian Landscape. U.S fast food is making its comeback at the corner of a street on wheels. 11 | Issue 5
BEAUTY CAKES ne uiza Hace Kahina Lo Guez and Kevin
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e chose to study how British culture has settled itself in Paris. To do that, we decided to visit a typical British tea house: Beauty Cakes. You may wonder why we selected a teahouse. The reason is quite simple, even though British culture may seem stiff and cold to some people, we thought that British tea time is a nice warm moment between friends around a hot cup of tea. Add the cupcakes and you have got yourself a real slice of life. The tea house is located in the 17th district of Paris, a neighbourhood that perfectly reflects Parisian culture of both the bourgeois bohemians and the well-to-do. The concept of the tea house has grown exponentially, becoming the spearhead of the expansion of British culture, at least in France. Let’s take the example of the growing number of tea houses in France such as “Tea Caddy” in the fifth district or “Berko” in the fourth district that we also tried but did not like as much as Beauty Cakes because they were less welcoming, and less cosy; in Beauty Cakes the armchairs are so comfortable that you don’t want to get up. The concept of the tea room is very simple and basic which makes it all the more enjoyable. It is a friendly and welcoming place where you can enjoy during a work-day or the week-end a nice cup of tea or other hot drinks with delicious and authentic cupcakes. This is why the tea house we selected is special: it offers a huge variety of cupcakes from classic cupcakes to the most original. The variety is just amazing! It is a place where everyone is able to find the right match for their tastes : Chocolat chip, Speculos and so on.
12 | Happenings
That small trip begins at the exit of the underground «La Fourche». As we walked toward the tea house, we could not help but wonder what exactly this little trip would provide us with this typically French way of thinking : always in a rush, we have trouble appreciating the little moments of rest life can give us. This is very different from the British view of life. When we passed by the tea house, the first thing that struck us was the colourful store window. We were very eager to go in and try the cupcakes, which we had been waiting for since we left the grey sky of Jouy-en-Josas. We sat and realized it was actually a very good occasion for us to forget about everything and enjoy a well-deserved rest from our stressful student life. Beauty Cakes gives you the opportunity to discover Frenchy cupcakes. There, customers such as ourselves can try tasty ganache cupcakes instead of butter icing ones. The motto is to provide refined and elegant food that will awaken your senses. All the cupcakes are available in regularsizes and as well as a “mini version” so that you can taste more flavours! The flavours are really high quality, and not that expensive, at 1,50 euro for a mini cupcake, and 3 euros for regular ones. You find a pleasant setting at Beauty Cakes, with its beautiful, delicious and various products and the place also has its own story. The owner, Ruthy left the world of show biz to follow her passion, which is cooking cupcakes. She decided to launch Beauty Cakes so that she could put “instant smiles” on the faces of all those who tasted her ! «I had wanted to create my own tea house for a long time « she told us. Here is how it
THANKSGIVING Lisa Monti
“For us, every meal is a Thanksgiving”.
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hen she first read this sentence in an Amish cookbook, Dixie immediately knew what she would call her grocery store. Well, more precisely, her institution in the world of groceries, if I may say so.
started: Ruthy had always been fond of both eating and cooking pastries. When she was younger, she loved to bake cakes for her family and her friends. For the first birthday of her son, she decided to try and make original, funny-looking and tasty cupcakes. «Everybody loved them. Of course, my son could not really eat them but he seemed happy. When I saw the look on his face, I decided to keep on inventing new cupcakes». They were so good according to her friends that some of them started to buy some from her for parties or birthday. «At that time, I wanted to be able to devote myself completely to my family. What could be better than building a tea house where I could sell smiles to people and be able to spend time with the ones I love ? I wanted for people to feel at home when they come to Beauty Cakes». And we actually did feel at home when we went to Beauty Cakes. She sells cupcakes for birthdays, parties, weddings, baby showers, first communions, bar-mitzvahs, brunch, lunch, dinner, afternoon tea, receptions, housewarmings, art openings, galas, after parties, or for a simple «Cakes & the City» afternoon with friends. Beauty Cake is special only thanks not only to the variety and the quality of its products but also because it offers salty cupcakes! That is to say you can have an entire and delicious meal with few cupcakes and a great cup of tea like we did. But more importantly, you get to enjoy a nice and friendly moment with colourful and cheerful cupcakes. We will definitely go back! Beauty Cakes, 83 Rue Nollet, 75017, Paris 09.81.65.45.63 www.beautycakes.fr
Indeed, since its opening in 1990, the grocery store Thanksgiving specializing in US food has become something of an institution in Paris, and is known all over France. But what makes Thanksgiving different is not only its amazing selection of immaculately displayed American foodstuff in a boutique on Saint-Paul’s street. It’s also its identity, atmosphere, and history of the place. Dixie and Frederic arrived from America in the late 80’s. Dixie did not work, so she had the time to learn about French society and French cuisine. Unfortunately, her attempts to cook typical French meals were barely appreciated. She therefore decided to return to US food too, for her relatives, she said, but there is no doubt that this was her way to attempt to prevent homesickness too. Thanksgiving was born a couple of years later, partly by chance, partly through passion, and partly thanks to a turn in Frederic’s career. Over the past 13 years, Thanksgiving has been successively a grocery and bakery, a restaurant for lunch, dinner, and then brunch. But finally, it ended up back as a grocery store again. Indeed, after years of continuous success, the couple decided to return to Thanksgiving’s original format. Today Thanksgiving is a little corner of America in Le Marais. Once you step past the door, the atmosphere immediately takes you to the heart of Southern America. You are greeted with an old wooden service counter, surrounded by packs and brightly colored cans, with joyful letters on it. Not a single centimeter of shelf is left unoccupied in the grocery decorated in a 50-60’s style. Even though you can tell that not a single product is French, you witness an American touch or style 13 | Issue 5
that is impossible to copy and which you can’t really describe, but you can only enjoy. You want to buy every single product, even the most common Rice Krispies, just because of this special touch. And that’s exactly what people love about Thanksgiving. That’s why so many passers-by stop in front of its old-style shop front and stare at the inside, astonished by its “realism” and how tasteful it is. That’s also why so many expats come here, to find more than the usual products offered at the back of the international shelves of a French supermarket. They come to Thanksgiving to find exclusive products and an exclusive atmosphere in Paris. They feel at home, surrounded by two Americans always willing to share some souvenirs of their beloved country. It must be said that Dixie and Fred do not limit themselves to importing US goods to recreate this special atmosphere. Dixie went to the bakers’ and the butchers’ of the district to see how to make exactly the same products as in America. Using simultaneously French and American products, they managed together to overcome obstacles I could not even begin to imagine, such as the conversion of measuring units. This is one of the successes of Thanksgiving. They managed to make the best of both French and American resources to complete a consistent, credible and delicious project. The example of the turkeys shows this yet again: they decided to use French ones, from the Creuse. But here, there was no issue of ingredients and measures, but of timing and weight. They managed to convince the producers to change their dates and ways of working to provide them with 10 kilo turkeys in November ( i.e for Thanksgiving rather than Christmas as is usual in France). 14 | Happenings
A challenge the producer obviously does not regret today… There is thus a large part of passion driving the success of Thanksgiving but also some commercial innovation too. The couple handled their shop in a very smart way. For instance, they decided to develop online sales on their website along with the diffusion of their recipes to make their products more widely visible. Moreover, they gained fame and recognition through the excellence and originality of their concept, both as a grocery and as a restaurant. The American community in Paris and the more curious among the French willing to discover these products, or in dispair at not being able to find the real US products, have promoted Thanksgiving by word of mouth in Paris and its environs. The shop has no particular plans for the future: Dixie and Frederic simply keep looking for the best products, especially from Southern America, to satisfy customers who have not yet been disappointed. By the time I went to Thanksgiving, they had just received a huge delivery and were extremely busy putting everything on display. Indeed, I had not thought that I was coming at the beginning of their busiest period: Thanksgiving! And if I may give you one piece of advice, it would be to order your Thanksgiving’s turkey immediately… or else there won’t be enough for everyone! Thanksgiving, 20 Rue Saint-Paul, 75004, Paris www.thanksgivingparis.com
O
MAKE PERFUME NOT WAR ...If Wearing Perfume Became a Militant Act
ne Saturday evening I was walking around in the streets of Le Marais, a famous neighbourhood in Paris. I entered a little street with a funny name: La rue du Roi-Doré. Apart from its name, this narrow street has nothing about funny at all. Although a little bit darker, it is a common Parisian street. But there is one shop that instantaneously caught my attention: the Make Perfume Not War pop up installation. This is a colourful place that smells good and run by an extravagant man, Gerald Ghislain. Ghislain is a French perfumer, though he hates being called “perfumer”. He rather likes being defined as “a creator of perfumes”. Indeed, he has a strong opinion of his work: “I am not an artist. It is a creative process that inspires me. I am rather an entrepreneur and I follow my spontaneity.” In fact, Ghislain is a multi-talented creator. He opened his first restaurant at 22. Then, in 1999, after a visit to the perfume museum in Grasse, Ghislain felt like creating create perfumes. Thus another adventure was launched: “Histoires de Parfums”. He chose this name because each of his perfumes embodies a leading figure he admires for his outstanding personality. For men’s fragrances, he opted for Jules Verne, Casanova and Sade. As for women, he paid tribute to Mata Hari, Eugénie de Montijo and George Sand. Ghislain is not well known in France yet. But his perfumes are particularly famous in the United States. The perfumer has always wanted his brand “Histoires de Parfums” to be international. For instance, the United States and the Middle East currently represent the majority of sales (more than 50%). Today, Gerald Ghislain has the same ambition for Make Perfume Not War. The operation has progressively spread to New York. Another pop up installation will soon open in the Big Apple. Make Perfume Not War. A symbolic title for an emblematic project. MPNW is a campaign for child protection. Ghislain has created a limited edition of 1,000 bottles to support a cause that is close to his heart: helping children in need around the world. For each bottle sold, $50 is given to United Donations, a crowdfunding platform that is in charge of allocating funds to several associations in favour of children. It is the first time such an operation has been launched in France. Ghislain has had this idea in mind for two years. Through MPNW he wants to use his savoir-faire to help others. This project also conveys a strong message: in his own words, “perfume embodies the abstract, luxury and superficiality”. His ambition is “to turn the perfume into an object with deep symbolism, a medium that advocates for the protection of children”. It is definitely an innovative and ambitious project. By buying a MPNW perfume, you are completely involved in this operation. First, you choose the cause you want to support.
United Donations suggests several projects around five themes – all linked to protection of children: education, games, technology, arts and health. Furthermore, you have a genuine role to play. Via United Donations, you follow the progress of the project. You can actively take part in it. You are in touch directly with the project leaders and you can interact with them. Your purchase is not a simple purchase anymore, it is a real commitment. So… Make Perfume Not War?
che
Sarah Cabo
SHARING ROOTS BY SHARING FOOD W
ith a large Texan flag on the wall, blues music, barbecue aroma and homemade cheesecake on the menu, you’d think you were in American, but instead this is the interior of a bar in a small street in Paris not far from Bastille! In an increasingly globalized world, France has always claimed to resist the cultural trend towards uniformity. We, the French have always been reluctant to see American brands such as Disney, Hollywood or McDonald’s taking over – with the exception of taking a new girlfriend out to Eurodisney like our former president Nicolas Sarkozy. American culture has been vilified and boiled down to these few big companies, before ultimately being rejected by our elite. Is French culture threatened by 16 | Happenings
this Texan Trojan Horse? Should we ask José Bové to destroy this barbecue place like what he did for the McDonald’s in Millau? Of course not. Being able to spread our roots around the world is probably the most positive aspect of globalization. And sharing food is definitely the first step to make this ideal come true because besides not having to be translated, food reflects the habits and the way people live their everyday life. You cannot even begin to comprehend what Texas is without tasting half a pound of tasty, smoky pulled pork.
te
Rémi Das
Diana Darrah, the owner of Blues Bar-B-Q, is one of these people trying to share culture in the world through food. So how did she come up with the idea of coming to Paris and creating her own restaurant? Before moving to Paris in 2003, Diana used to sell wine from all around the world in Texas. Her job led her to take part in wine tours in Burgundy or Alsace for example, to get to know the background of the product and the environment in which it was made. Understanding the roots and sharing culture through food was already what she did for a living. She decided to move to Paris because she liked the place, and probably because she was drawn by her mother’s roots. She intended to find a job here, but because of her poor French she thought it would be easier to create her own job by creating an American diner. Burgers were already popular, so she decided to cook barbecue “to educate the French about it”. Indeed, the place is not touristy at all despite its proximity to Bastille, and she pointed out that most of the clients were neighbors at the beginning. With time and through word of mouth, an increasing number of American expats have showed up, and now there is an even split between expats and French customers. Diana was also driven by her love to “share her roots with food”, and not only with food: it was clear to her that blues and barbecue went together, because both went mainstream with the black American culture in the South. Texas, surprisingly, was not at the core of the project at the beginning. The large Texan flag in the restaurant is actually a gift from her son, and it just happened to be attractive for American expats and Texan customers especially, so she decided to keep it.
these events are her best moments in her French story. Of course, not everything has been so easy. When I asked what her worst experience was in France, she said she had a really hard time with the delivery people. A French regulation stipulates that deliveries should be left on the sidewalk at the entrance of buildings. So when she ordered a very heavy marble counter, she did not expect to be left alone to get it inside of the restaurant! More importantly, she believes the fact of not speaking French well can be a barrier for some customers. Despite having taken 3 years of French classes in Texas before moving to Paris followed by intensive classes in France, she remarks “the French do speak English better than I speak French!” But thanks to the customers she has improved her French. In a way, she might be receiving back in language skills what she has shared with food. So what I wanted to illustrate through the case of this small barbecue joint in Paris is that people around the world are sharing culture through food step by step. The process of cultural exchange in our globalized world, depicted as a trend towards uniformity in the mass media, can seem strangely human and beautiful from this perspective. There is no world culture, but only people who want to share, and people who want to discover. Blues Bar-B-Q, 1 Rue Sedaine, 75011, Paris www.bluesbarbq.fr
One can expect the realization of such a project in Paris to be quite complicated for someone who does not speak French. When I asked Diana if she had faced any troubles with the administration trying to make a barbecue joint in a rather conservative city (compared to London, New York or Tokyo), I expected her to say yes. It was actually the opposite: she felt she had been well guided and that she had received a lot of help and counseling from the administration, probably because of her French citizenship. I must say that I find it quite reassuring to see that behind the pessimism of the mass media, the reality is a lot brighter. Yes, France is still entrepreneur-friendly and open minded. Yes, people are still attracted by the idea of going to a traditional country diner. The few events that have been organized in Blues Bar-B-Q have been successful with French customers, like Thanksgiving, 4th la musique. And since she loves to be a host, she said
17 | Issue 5
A NIGHT IN PA OUND OF LONDON 18 | Happenings
ARIS
O
ne of our friends, not very interested into electronic music, or underground parties in general, recently went to Berlin. After a weekend in the bohemian yet industrial German city, he came back with a revelation. Techno and house were the future of dance music. He loved that experience – dressing as broke art students and dancing in former warehouses turned into shrines for ever more powerful sound systems. What most people like him don’t know is that techno and house are already 30 years old and that the German scene, albeit of a high quality, is not very creative. Few genres have emerged from the underground parties of Berlin, dominated by the martial four-on-the-floor beat, sometimes softened by a groovy bass line, sometimes thumping the sweaty chests of wild dancers. In fact, Great Britain has been a far more fertile ground for electronic genres and subgenres during the last twenty years than traditional Germany. The genealogical mangrove of British movements, with at least as much roots as branches, is quite inextricable. However, three electronic music genres can be distinguished as the most characteristic of the English sound: UK Garage, Breakbeat and IDM. UK-garage was born during the early 90’s in Great Britain. While being the direct descendent of house music, it has transformed its linear and repetitive rhythm into a more broken and unstructured bass line, smoother yet lively. The repetitive patterns of house music are softened by rousing vocals, most of the time more tuneful than a classic house chorus. Todd Edward is commonly identified as UK-garage’s father. Born in the USA, he started to transform house and soul tracks by breaking bass line’s linearity and by incorporating vocals samples. But it was not until DJ EZ, who started to mix Todd’s sounds, that UK-garage acquired consequent fame. Interestingly enough, UK-garage success came thanks to the jungle movement. Indeed, the jungle DJs loved the sounds of UK-garage rhythm but it was deemed too slow by rave goers and attempts to mix it with jungle made it clear that it had to be sped up. That’s how music producers began gathering Todd Edward’s sonorities while speeding up the rhythm, creating speed-garage. They had to cut out the vocals, too weirdly altered by the tempo shift, and MCs started rapping on those dub edits of UK-garage tracks, creating another popular subgenre: grime. Breakbeat is a true node in the history of electronic music, originating at a deeper level from more conventional genres such as jazz or Charleston and from the experiments of Kraftwerk, but it truly began to gain momentum with the rise of hip-hop. It gave birth itself to numerous sub-genres such as Big Beat or Miami bass. Its main characteristic is its 4-4 drum pattern which never falls on the track’s regular beats, sometimes off-beat, sometimes not. Technically, syncopation and polyrhythm give the genre its characteristically broken texture, considered dry and less accessible than house music.
ernon
Clément F
19 | Issue 5
& THE
ELECTRO
HOUSE
F
inally, IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) is a style that was born thanks to experimentations from various British producers, looking for new sonic universes. It is originally influenced by Detroit techno and breakbeat from which it takes its devilish bass lines. With figures such as Aphex Twin and Autechre, pioneers in the research of new rhythms and new sonorities, it is through legendary albums that IDM became a true musical movement. Warp records label played a big part in that success, especially with the Artificial Intelligence compilation released in 1994 that became IDM’s milestone. The name of IDM has been contested by major actors of the movement, who considered that this term was first used on the American territory, and that it referred to a different style than British IDM.
Each of these three genres can be associated with a label that gave birth to it or played a big role in expanding the movement. The success of IDM is mainly due to the label Warp, a pioneering label in the domain of electronic music which has produced artists whose musical style was clearly innovative, allowing the label to become a major actor in electronic music all over the world. Among them, LFO whose self-titled debut produced by the label was overflowing with strength and energy, its bleeps and creaks promising to “make you freak”. The label was founded in 1989 in Sheffield, after the second summer of love, and it moved to London in 2000. Creations of legends of IDM such as Aphex Twin, Autechre, Richie Hawtin or Clark give the label its particular touch. Nowadays, Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works 85-92 is considered as one of the most influential pieces in modern music history and Artificial Intelligence compilations became true bibles for every electronic music amateur. Having triggered its diffusion and expansion over 23 years, the most characteristic label of breakbeat music is without a doubt Ninja Tune. Founded by Matt Black and Jonathan More in 1990, its main goal was to produce young artists and to protect them from the material constraints imposed by 20 | Happenings
majors. The London structure first appeared in a radio show on the pirate radio Kiss FM in 1988, and was constituted as a label 2 years after. It helped diffuse big names of British electronic music such as Amon Tobin, Letherette, Bonobo and Machinedrum, absolutely unknown before their arrival at Ninja Tune. Finally, there is no way we can talk about UK Garage without naming R&S records which has become a reference in electronic music. Founded in 1984 in Ghent, Belgium, it has produced many British artists, well known figures and new hopes for electronic music, from UK garage to many others styles such as Breakbeat and Tech House: Aphex Twin again, Biosphere, System 7 and the legendary Juan Atkins. After a hiatus from 2001 to 2006, R&S moved to London, signing high British profiles such as James Blake, Space Dimension Controller or Lone. The label left a deep footprint in the world of electronic music, incorporating new sounds and new rhythms, giving a new energy to dance floors in the United Kingdom. Born during the far-famed years of rave parties in the early nineties, these styles and labels inherited the spirit of liberty and a carefree attitude which were embodied by jungle or trance music. However the fight against free parties led by British officials and symbolized by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994 succeeded, and pop-rock kept focusing most of young people’s attention. But since the early 00s, the popularity of electronic music has been growing steadily on the British Isles, keeping that offbeat feel – in both senses of the term – that would never accept the preposterous routine of easy and dumb four-on-the-floor beats and linear structures. It is this very spirit that we came to enjoy at Club D!v!ne night in the Machine du Moulin Rouge, a club keen on promoting English DJs. Arriving right in time for Letherette, a Ninja Tune artist whose soft tracks feature elements of breakbeat and dub, and after a ticket mishap causing Quentin to buy another, we got to enter the vibrating depths of the club. The DJ
played a set of straightforward house, with shades of hiphop. When we arrived, a melancholic ambient track was calming down the spirits until synthesizers progressively came overlaying the sorrowful theme. Accompanying them, a resolute beat suddenly burst, making the formerly serious crowd dance joyfully. While well-executed and harmonious, his performance didn’t get much more from dancers than a soft, feel good movement. He was certainly warming up the club for Lone who would play from 2 to 3:30am.
As he later put it in an interview to The Skinny, “my hands are all over the place – literally I’m doing every single thing. Everything that happens on stage is being played and created live.”
Since 2007’s Everything Is Changing Colour, Lone has moved from hip-hop to house-like beats, keeping his melodies arrhythmic, crafted as reminiscences of Warp’s legendary Board of Canada’s most fluid works. His opening with Aphex Twin’s Stone in Focus made us feel instantly at ease – quickly a rolling flow of beats took the crowd to a new level of churning. The 2-step, hectic rhythms varied swiftly while almost rough synthesizers slashed the air. The public really became crazy on the R&S anthem Energy Flash by Joey Beltram. The legendary acid track was followed by Lone’s last release, Airglow Fire, acclaimed by enthusiastic shouts: vaporous rave chords on a full-bodied swing.
So where are we heading now? We’ve studied and experienced some of the foremost electronic performances coming from the British Isles. The variety of these sounds, and the creativity of their producers leave us wondering: will genres keep merging, producing new hybrids less and less clearly identifiable? Most probably. A few very young British artists emerged in 2013, among whom King Krule, a frail eighteen year-old redhead with a disturbingly deep voice, creating a modern darkwave sound stripped to the bone guitars, sometimes a struggling beat and such heavy effects that it can be qualified as electronic music. His collaboration titled You Took Your Time with Warp dubstep duo Mount Kimbie has been acclaimed by many as one of 2013’s highlights in British music.
At the arrival of Clark, the crowd evolved: many people had come just to witness the master at work and were previously standing at the back of the room. They rapidly took the places of the tired dancers at the front. After 13 years and seven full length albums of a radiant IDM, Clark is established as one of the signature producers of Warp records. Intricate and dreamlike, his tracks display complex structures and masterfully crafted sounds. His live began by a beautiful and carefully elaborated entry, slowly acquiring a groovy bass line. A soft movement of his perfectly trained hands was enough to turn it into an overwhelming, almost oppressive industrial techno theme, keeping the same harmonic elements but making them colder and more violent. An absolute perfectionist, he seemed to calibrate even his loudest whipping sonorities at the thinnest level. His ability to create gorgeous progressions was all the more impressive as he really crafted them live.
After the hour and half of his show, the exhausted public welcomed the 10 minutes intro of French closing DJ APM001. Our feet were sore and our legs numb: we decided to leave the club.
Another wunderkind is Happa, a 15 year-old boy producing an uncompromisingly industrial techno (Red Place) with influences from niche subgenres such as noise - over-saturated blasts of percussions propelled by a roaring bass on Alone Isn’t Enough - or grime - bouncing beats and swinging rhythms with chanted vocals and apocalyptic synths on Bring It Back. Living a major economic crisis during their teenage years certainly played a key part in shaping these gloomy atmospheres, just as Aphex Twin’s legacy will always be the rotten fruit of the chaotic eighties. Music being partly a product of a sonic legacy and a social context, we can say that this particular dimness will keep haunting British electronic music for the years to come. 21 | Issue 5
RON MUECK
22 | Happenings
I
had already heard about an original artist who was revolutionizing hyperrealist sculpture, and it just so happened, his pieces were being exhibited in the Cartier Foundation. I therefore decided to have a look. It was raining so hard in the Boulevard Raspail that I entered the building with a good first impression. However, the gloomy weather outside undoubtedly had an impact on my state of mind. I hadn’t really thought about the emotional power of sculpture before - for I had never experienced it - but occupied by the contemplation of Ron Mueck’s works, my sullen spirit was getting, despite of my intentions, even darker. Strangely, as I was discovering the exhibition, all of my life was put aside. What remained was an inexplicable melancholy and a real disgust for the ‘human condition’. At the entrance, we could see an old couple in swimsuits, lying down on the ground under a multicolored parasol. The man had his head resting on his wife’s thigh. They were three times bigger than real-life , which enabled us to see every detail. With this work, Mueck was offering us an allegory of old age. Absolutely nothing was left out: hairs, varicose veins, skin irregularities and wrinkles, tired looks, rolls of flesh. The finishing of the feet was remarkable: unaligned toes and yellowed nails. I saw perfection in old age’s ugliness. I then might have understood my faintness. What was painful in Mueck’s work wasn’t the representation of reality, it was our proximity to it. We all know what old age looks like. But seeing it so close, so big, in relief just in front of us was quite different. The way they were lying, as if they were on holiday near the shore, made this Couple under an umbrella natural. But their serenity was frustrating. Their empty eyes conveyed an image of pleasure of retirement going along with a slow wait for death. What most affected me was the attention to detail. With silicone, polyester resin and precise painting, Mueck had obtained what I will call the perfect imperfection. Obviously, he is not an artist of aesthetics. Something pleasant to see is not what he seeks. As I see it, his point is to show reality, but with such accuracy that it becomes horror. At least, we can call it pure unsightliness, all the more since most of the time his works are disproportional: sometimes much bigger than in reality, sometimes much smaller. Among about ten works of art, only one showed something other than a human being:
a plucked and knifed chicken, hanging from the ceiling. We may wonder about the reasons behind reproducing such a thing.. There is no objective answer to this question. But observing the hanging chicken, I thought about suffering, death, and of course, food. And then I realized what might be the point of Mueck. Showing things of life in such an uncomfortable way that you are compelled to think it over. I was eager to go on. A bit worried as well, to be honest. In the basement the other works were displayed. I hadn’t finished going down the stairs when I saw the Face. A four foot long sleeping human face. As always, as realistic as possible. The left side of this face was crushed against the pedestal, as if it were against a pillow. The man had a stubbly chin, salt-andpepper hair. He also had some unexpected hairs right above his well-designed beard and between his eyebrows. He seemed to sleep fitfully. His expression wasn’t serene. The feeling depicted by this Mask - as Mueck named it - might be the impotence of a man having a nightmare. That was what the description said. I think it was much more than that. Mueck had turned this mind’s fight we call dream into a physical disharmony. And the result was impressive All the other works were brilliant. Some were more surprising than others, but every piece was out-of-the-way. A young black man hurt in the rib, like Christ. A small, naked, pale man drifting alone in a rowboat. A woman carrying two bags of shopping in both hands, with her infant in a sling. It seemed that she had no other choice. An embodiment of a forty year old mother exhausted by everyday chores. A severe pessimism was showing throw the plastic, enhanced by those awful faces. While the metaphysical or sociological sense of these works may be highly speculative, their emotional content was nonetheless indisputable. Anyone could feel a great pensiveness looking at those creations. Probably because, as a human being, one is necessarily touched by these pictures of everyday life, whether inspired by reality or imagination. Mueck’s art may seem very concrete for some people, and very metaphorical for others. Anyway, he recalls that art is beyond meaning. And one cannot leave indifferent.
usa
mes de So
Ralph Go
23 | Issue 5
PARIS GAME WEEK
T
he way the general public look at video games has really changed in the past few years. In fact from the late 90s to the early 2000s, being a video games player had strong connotations; everyone saw them gamers as some sort of geek, an antisocial person who couldn’t get along well with others. Everything has changed since then, in particular with the development of casual gaming, it is accessible to everybody and not only to core players, video gaming has taken a speedway to success. A lot of celebrities nowadays are promoting video gaming, with commercials, declarations, or even by working directly on video games. Megan Fox has recently done a commercial for the release of the new Call of Duty. This industry is really at a turning point, as it is now seen as normal to be playing video games. In France there are more than 25 million players, which means that 63% of people with access to Internet are playing video game; in the USA this percentage goes as high as 83%. This change can also be illustrated by the tremendous start in sales of the new Grand Theft Auto game which generated more than 800 million dollars on its first day of sale. These transitions have led to multiple changes in the way producers look at video games and in the way they make video games, because now that it is a mass product, the rules have changed, and they must adapt to the consumers they are facing. I had the opportunity recently at Paris Game Week to talk with professionals from the sector, including game designers, gaming system constructors and journalists. I asked them about their jobs and about their vision of the future of video gaming and especially the cultural differences that can be found in video games around the world. According to Thibault Lhuillier, the Corporate Communication Manager of Ubisoft, the first thing to note is that in the United States and in Great Britain, morals are to be taken into account much more than in France. In fact there are some taboos that cannot be implemented in these games, otherwise it could be a hot news topic because a lot of organisations would take issue with this action. For example the game Manhunt, in which you play a prisoner sentenced to death that has to escape from an asylum by any means has been released in the United State as a censored version, while in France it has been released in a normal version. The lobbies are really powerful even in video gaming, most of them like parents’ associations are really fighting against violent games. In the United States they manage to have some parts of games removed entirely from the retail version. The studios seem to be really afraid of them. But he said that Ubisoft had learned how to deal with these cultural problems. They have a bunch of family
24 | Happenings
games, available for all, like Raving Rabbids, and there is nothing to censor in these games. But they also have some “adult” games, which are more violent, but they are not really trying to put violence for violence’s sake in their games, they are trying to implement just a slight piece of violence in order for the game to feel great and to be fun to play but without having to put up with hemoglobin all over the screen. Yet, in France the power of lobbies is less important, they couldn’t stop a game from being sold, or change some parts of a game they do not like, so they had to make a different choice in order to influence the video gaming industry. Therefore they assisted in the creation and the expansion of the PEGI (Pan European Game Information) system, a video game ranking that would help consumers find out whether a game is suitable for a certain age. With this rating, parents are now able to see if their children can play the game, therefore censorship is less effective than it can be in the United States even though there are game ratings there too. After all, what is important to have in mind is that most violent games are developed and produced in the United States, Canada, and in Great Britain. For example one of the most controversial game in the world, Grand Theft Auto is produced by Rockstar North, the Scottish branch of the studio Rockstar. Even though these games are condemned by some of the English speaking world, they are the ones who produce them because these games are also the ones that generate the most money. Since people have an ambivalent attitude towards violence and other morally offensive subjects, there isn’t much difference between France and the US on this matter because in these two cultures we are seeing exactly the same thing. Besides, since e-Gaming started massively in the US and not in Europe, most teams were made up of American players, while in France it took us some time to realize that video gaming could also be some kind of a sport. In the end, the French and English worlds are not so different when it comes to video gaming, but there are a lot of particularities that have to be taken into account. In fact morality is not to be forgotten because it could lead to waves of protests in the US for example. Moreover some games are made specifically for certain markets, Beyond Good and Evil had been developed as a game that was supposed to be sold only in France, to work only in France, and the same thing goes for American Football games that are barely sold outside of America.
glard
Louis Jou
RIVOLI age
Elise Sauv
I
f one day you wander to Rivoli Street in Paris you will see an amazing façade, full of colours and weird decorations. Do not hesitate to go into, this is 59 Rivoli, a huge building exclusively dedicated to artists’s workshops. This place is neither a gallery nor a museum rather an interactive place where you can speak to the artists, see them working, and drink some tea while listening to music. It is free and open every day except on Mondays, and there are also concerts and artistic events once a week. When you step into this building, there is a spiral staircase and you have to “follow the dragon” that leads you to each floor. And now you can begin the exploration of this weird microcosm. There are around thirty artists who work there and they share their workshops on every floor. There are people from many countries and from the hall, you can hear many accents and languages that arouse your curiosity. The artist I have chosen to focus on has his workshop on the sixth floor, the last one. (picture3) Where he works looks like a dark attic room, isolated in comparison with other workshops, in where he has totally created his own universe. His name is Barry Jones, a Canadian who has lived in France for ten years. He is a “permanent artist” at 59 Rivoli, which means that he has permanently had his own workshop there for years. If you visit him in his workshop you will see his paintings, there are best described as mural experimentations. But he is originally musician, a guitarist who used to give concerts in Canada. He plays especially folk music, but he also went to Spain to learn flamenco. Today, he is still a musician but
he has stopped giving concerts and only plays for his own enjoyment. And now he focuses on paintings using very original techniques. “I use wood tools in different sizes and I create a kind of very colourful mosaic with metallic acrylic. My first one can remind you of Klimt’s work”.It is a work of great precision that required hours of concentration. We can see this kind of techniques on all the wall of his workshop, but Barry has also explored other kinds of paintings. There are two canvases, directly stuck onto and integrated into his decorated wall but they are highlighted by minimalism and stand apart because of white zones, in contrast to the rest of the room. Barry Jones does not define himself as a painter, but as a musician. And his paintings are just a way to create his own universe in where he plays music. “I just began to decorate this room to have an appropriate place to play guitar. I made a first wall, and I liked that, so I carried on until now to the point that now you cannot see any empty spaces anymore”. Even the windows are decorated and highlight the metallic shades of the room. The floor is also full of paint which gives a perfect harmony to the whole environment. So while painting and music may seem very linked the artist specifies that he clearly separates both arts. He often plays guitar and sometimes paints in brief but intense periods and never combines the activities of music and painting. Barry Jones, 6th Floor, 59, rue de Rivoli, 75001 PARIS www.59rivoli.org 25 | Issue 5
1963-2013
JFK urent
Sophie La
G
iving life again to this family may be Frederic Lecomte Dieu’s exhibition about the Kennedy’s. Or having faith in hope, dreams and conviction. Warming up a tragic history, making it brighter and shiny. Making us believe in the beauty of this story. Lecomte-Dieu has selected 240 pictures, some of them displayed for the first time in France, relating anecdotes about the family that hold an historical interest.
26 | Happenings
At gallery Joseph, the three rooms are structured according to JFK’s life: his origins, the period of his presidency, the assassination and its consequences. What may surprise us the most in this exhibition is how Lecomte Dieu shows us that what we are looking at is a normal family. He manages throughout the exhibition to get us into the intimate life of the Kennedy family. Strolling around the pictures you can feel warmed up by the family and its friendly spirit. Jackie riding a horse when she was little, the brothers at the beach, JFK with his friends. The day after his election,
Lecomte Dieu tells us , JFK called his friends to play golf, which he had to stop during the campaign, and on the 21st of January, despite the snow he was hitting the ball, saying “if only passers by knew the President was the one kicking the balls right now !”. It is also surprising to learn what JFK’s father told him, despite all his ambitions regarding the White House : « you may be president, but if you don’t educate your child well you will not have succeeded in life ». You can also learn how one of the most glamorous couples of the 20th any ‘normal’ family. Pictures of JFK tired, of the sickness he hid from everyone. You can even notice on one picture glasses on a table which he never wore in public, for example. Next to this family and its more or less ordinary life we are shown the traffic side of the Kennedy’s existence. Pictures of Franck Sinatra, of all the stories with the mafia, remind or teach us this dark side of the story. The family engaged itself in a battle no one really dared do get into before, against an invincible enemy it seems. Pictures of Hoover, former FBI president linked with the mafia, and Kennedy’s dog he hated are here to tone down this story. But somehow, JFK knew he would die in this fight. Occasional pictures of a dead sister or brother stress all the drama lived by the family: the death of Joseph, the older brother, in World War II during a suicidal operation he volunteered for; the mental disease of RoseMary, the assassination of Robert Kennedy after the start of his campaign… until 2009 when Ted, the youngest brother learned he had a brain tumor, it seemed luck was against them all along.
sickness, to untypical and extraordinary stories that come along with singular families, the myth of this president only grows bigger. I personally thought an exhibition by a biographer would above all show us unknown sides of this man or the reality regarding this dynasty. But attending the opening with Lecomte Dieu present, his energy while talking about JFK only made me wonder more about this family. In each room, pictures and stories are here to motto for his third century met. The exhibition also shows us the difficulties faced by remind the extraordinary story of this family. First the real American Dream the grand parents experienced, coming from Ireland and how his grand father succeeded fast in the bank and was well appreciated by all the community. The beautiful picture of his inauguration relates a fun fact with the writer Robert Frost. JFK asked his favourite poet to read a poem during the D Day, but the day was so bright and the sun so strong, he could not manage to read. JFK stood up and put his hat on the writer’s head so he could read. Even the pictures at the time of the assassination and the mourning are not sad but glorifying. “He showed us the stars” said a very simple Mexican man working at the white house after his death. Pictures of his children with American flags are the most clear message Lecompte Dieu wants to pass on to us: JFK willing to show hope to younger generations, and teach us to be inspired by their acts. Exposition JFK 1963-2013 Galerie Joseph, 7 Rue Froissart, 75003, Paris
From the ordinary family life with its simple pleasure and 27 | Issue 5
BREAKIN BAD rton
Nicolas So
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ne night, 10.3 millions of Americans sat in front of their television and switched to the cable network AMC to watch what can easily be described as one the most important TV events of the year: the series finale of Breaking Bad. Only when you remember that just 1.4 million watched the pilot does this figure truly speak of the impact of this show. For those of you who may have never heard of it, this series deals with Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston), a science teacher who is diagnosed with cancer. Unable to pay for an efficient treatment, and following an unexpected reunion with a former student of his, Jesse (Aaron Paul), he gets progressively involved in the producing and selling of drugs. For five seasons, the show follows the turmoil in his life and
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the impact of his decisions on his family: his pregnant wife (Anna Gunn), his disabled son (RJ Mitte) and his DEA agent brother in law (Dean Norris). For most of its run, the praise came mostly from critics who gave the show dithyrambic reviews and tons of awards (most notably for the actors’ performances). The quality of the writing, the directing and the cast has been praised in the media, triggering curiosity and drawing more viewers. The pace of the unraveling of the plot is adjusted so that the show soon becomes addictive (no pun intended). The fact that most characters are unaware of Walt’s double life but could discover it at any moment builds a feeling of suspense and stress that only strengthens the show’s addictiveness.
NG I had the opportunity to talk to several people who have watched the show, whether live or by binge-watching it. The comments were unanimous: people truly described the show as one of the best they have ever watched. The “anti-hero” aspect of the show is highly developed: Walt and Jesse are far from perfect and that’s what makes them well-rounded characters that interest viewers. There are no “good” or “bad” characters, only characters whose morality is questioned and shattered throughout the show’s run. The fact that the viewer ends up rooting for murderous drug dealers and despising some characters who on the surface seem like nice people speaks volumes of the overall quality of the show, and it is something you get to see in every single episode, including in the pilot. However, this aspect led to unexpected reactions: the likability of Walter White created a huge backlash against the character of Skyler, his wife. Articles like “Why Skyler White is the Worst” flourished on the Internet during the show’s fourth and fifth seasons. It even got to the point where the backlash went from the character’s actions to the actress herself with thousands of heinous comments about her weight gain and debating over whether she had had plastic surgery or not. Some of the comments were threatening enough for Anna Gunn, the actress who portrays Skyler, to write a column in the New York Times to defend her character and emphasize that the hatred towards a character should not be extended to the actress. This anecdote truly shows how the fan base of this show can get involved in the various
storylines as well as how well-written the show is: Once again, a character that should be likable (the unwitting wife of a dealer) ends up being disliked and criticized. In the aftermath of the finale, the reactions were quite positive. With regard to the characters’ behavior, final consequences were bound to happen and had to be shown. The season led logically to this ending which is in agreement with the personality and the actions of the characters. After watching the finale you feel like the story is complete. The fact that the showrunner knew relatively soon the end date for his show helped tremendously in giving the fans a final season that would satisfy them all. What I gathered while talking to fans was that, in their opinion, the show can be qualified as groundbreaking because it linked incredible writing, acting and direction with some spectacular and entertaining scenes that were meant to be remembered long after being watched. Watching an episode would never be boring, and the script would never talk down to its audience. Combining all these qualities in one show is really rare and has to be enjoyed. In the end, I think the show will get to live on through reruns and DVD for several years, most notably thanks to word-of-mouth. Although I’m not sure if we’ll get to see a clear heir in the foreseeable future, I think all the actors as well as Bad’s creator, Vince Gilligan, are bound to have bright future careers.
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PIXAR :
25 YEARS OF ANIMATION
arsalou Valentin B ncins igne de Po ta n o M e d guy
Tan 30 | Happenings
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n November 16th 2013, Art Ludique – Le Musée opened with the exhibition “Pixar, 25 Years of Animation” . Abolishing the boundaries between video games, films or comics, it is the first museum in the world completely dedicated to contemporary art provided by the entertainment industry. Paintings, sculptures and drawings made by artists who have a great influence on our century’s culture now have a true place to show their masterpieces which are admired worldwide. The exhibition “Pixar, 25 Years of Animation”, which is taking place in the museum until March 2nd 2014, illustrates this exceptional artsitic wealth. Presented for the first time in New York in 2006 at the Museum of Modern Art, the exhibition offers a unique opportunity to discover the beauty of the works carried out in the design of an animated feature film. Revealing the masterpieces of artists who designed Toy Story, WALL-E, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, Up and Monsters, Inc., this exhibition is a tribute to the films produced by Pixar. More than 500 works, drawings, studies of characters and sets, storyboards, sculptures as well as the spectacular Zootrope of Toy Story and a captivating Artscape are put on display to offer an exceptional experience of immersion in the magic of animation. This exhibition brings out the artist’s influence over animated feature films and puts an end to the common assumption that technology and computers can do everything. As John Lasseter, the Chief Creative Officer at Pixar said, “Computers don’t create computer animation any more than a pencil creates pencil animation.What creates computer animation is the artist” (Sean Coughlan, “Quick-draw artists”, BBC News Magazine, March 31st 2006). This exhibition highlights the three basic aspects of animation: a fascinating story, endearing characters, and a credible universe.
THE STORY AND THE CHARACTERS The first part of the exhibition is dedicated to the significant role played by the story and the characters in Pixar’s animated features. As Lasseter said, “whether you create your animations by hand or using the latest computer software doesn’t matter, these are just tools - it is the story and the characters that entertain and gets the audience involved” (John Lasseter Q&A video from the museum). Indeed, as Joe Ranft, an American storyboard artist and animator who worked at Pixar, added, “ if there is no story, even by combining all the computer graphics innovations in the world, nothing will change it” (quotation from the museum). Pixar designers work on making their characters have the same feelings, thoughts and personalities as human beings could have, whether it be a car or a fish. This impression of reality moves the story forward and evokes emotions from the viewer. The designer Ricky Nierva said: “The most important thing when creating the design of our characters is capturing the essence of someone, and then the viewer will project this person in the design of the character” (quotation from the museum). The design of the characters is done through numerous sketches, paintings or collages. The unique style of each artist and sensitivity are expressed freely, encouraging the exchange of creative ideas and pushing the boundaries of imagination. Artists create sculptures with resin that will be used as models for 3D images.
THE UNIVERSE The works exhibited in the second part show how artists develop a universe in which the characters can move naturally. They focus on details, shapes and colors in order to create a coherent and credible universe for each film. Pixar’s films are opportunities for its artists to conjure up imagined universes and bring them to life on the screen. If it was the real world they wished to show us, a traditionnal movie camera would do. But the places where they want to take us do not exist, so they are consciously and laboriously constructed. Pixar invents environments for each film that follow distinctive internal rules appropriate for the new worlds imagined by the artists. 31 | Issue 5
THE ZOOTROPE & ARTSCAPE At the end of the exhibition, the Toy Story Zootrope and Artscape are two impressive masterpieces that illustrate the magic and power of animation. The Zootrope, patented in the United States in 1867, was a popular form of late nineteenth-century home entertainment. Rapidly rotating a sequence of still images, the device demonstrated the basic principles of animation before the invention of the cinema. Using characters from the Toy Story movies, the Zootrope is rooted in an eighteen-frame cycle. Each frame of the cycle is represented by three-dimensional character figurines, or “maquettes”. These figurines are mounted at precise points on the disc, which spins at the speed of one revolution per second. A strob light triggering on each frame freezes the motion, enabling the human eye to perceive each frame as a single image. When the eye sees a number of these frozen images in quick succession, the effect of «apparent motion» strings them together to create the illusion of movement. Artscape is an impressive audiovisual facility projected on a panoramic screen that immerses the viewer into the world of Pixar. This immersive work is composed of many creations, made using traditional techniques by artists of the studio. Simulating a 3D motion effect thanks to new technologies, this facility symbolizes, through this device, the strong link between traditional and digital art, while offering viewers an unforgettable experience.
AMAZING THINGS WE LEARNED ABOUT PIXAR 1. Pixar was not started under Steve Jobs, but under George Lucas : the late cofounder of Apple is often credited with bringing Pixar to life in the filmmaking world during the mid ’80s. It’s true that his investments helped them reach their iconic status and level of influence in the film industry, but he wasn’t the first person to help start John Lasseter and the other dreamers at Pixar on their journey. That credit should go to Star Wars creator George Lucas and his Lucasfilm studio. 2. Shortly after completing Toy Story, Lasseter, Joe Ranft, Peter Docter and Andrew Stanton, members of the chief creative staff for Pixar, got together for a lunch meeting in 1994 that would become one of the most defining moments in the studio’s history. By the end of the hour long meeting, they came up with the ideas for the plots and basic characters for A Bug’s Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and WALL-E. 3. The Pixar staff are allowed to design their own work spaces : the offices of the famed animation studio located in Emeryville, California were designed as workspaces to foster creativity and collaboration. The staffers’ workspaces are no exception. Animators work in specially designed sheds instead of cubicles that they can make to look like anything they want from a backyard workshed to a westernthemed saloon. One animator, Andrew Gordon, actually discovered a hidden room in his workspace that he turned into a private space dubbed “The Love Lounge”. 4. The water they created for Finding Nemo was too realistic : with each new movie, Pixar prides itself on achieving some new animation breakthrough or technique. The work on the ocean environment for Finding Nemo is no exception. Dylan Brown, the film’s supervisor animator, recalled some early tests that were so good that, “we couldn’t tell the difference between the recreated footage and the original. It blew us away.’ They sent the animators back to the drawing board because they didn’t want the audience to think they were staring at real footage of the ocean.
As a conclusion, writing this article about Pixar was a great opportunity for us to discover the magic of the company. Contrary to what we thought, computers and technology are not responsible for all of this : creating a captivating story, a credible universe and endearing characters, the artist remains at the heart of Pixar’s animated films.
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(Note: All the quotations we found from people working at Pixar were written on the walls of the museum where the exhibition is taking place. They come from a large number of interviews, books and videos.) Pixar: 25 Years of Animation Art Ludique-Le Musée, 34 quai d’Austerlitz, 75013, Paris www.artludique.com/exposition2
The famed animation studio located in Emeryville, California were designed as work spaces to foster creativity and collaboration.
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