2016

Rencontres photographiques d’Arles 2016

As usual, a special atmosphere in this charming town that open it’s door wide to all kinds of photography As in Avignon, the festival is now taking to the streets, the walls acting as galleries for the « off »  Western Camargais, Eglise des frères prêcheurs, retraces the Camargue-made westerns, well before the spaghettis westerns. From the

Venice Biennale, part 2: Giardino

  German pavilion: making heimat, Germany, arrival country. Four large openings where made in the German pavilion to signify Germany’s openness towards refugees: the German pavilion will be literally opened for the duration of the Biennale (the Venice monument preservation board having accepted the opening for that duration).  The exhibition analyses the condition for making Heimat,

Venice Architecture Biennale: Reporting from the front. Part 1: Arsenale

Alejanadro Aravena, curator of the 2016 International Architecture Biennale: “REPORTING FROM THE FRONT will be about sharing with a broader audience, the work of people who are scrutinizing the horizon looking for new fields of action, facing issues like segregation, inequalities, peripheries, access to sanitation, natural disasters, housing shortage, migration, informality, crime, traffic, waste, pollution and the participation of communities. And simultaneously it will be about presenting examples where

Serpentine Gallery, London

Serpentine Pavilion Architect’s Statement For the Serpentine Pavilion 2016, we have attempted to design a structure that embodies multiple aspects that are often perceived as opposites: a structure that is free-form yet rigorous; modular yet sculptural; both transparent and opaque; both solid box and blob. We decided to work with one of the most basic

Portrait Gallery, London

A friend took me to the quintessence of Britishness that is the Portrait gallery. It starts off with just royalties, but then expands to personalities of the political, scientific and art world, so does get more interesting as time goes by. My favourite English writers Jane Austen and Emily Bronte are brilliantly absent, but then

Frescoes in north Italy

After attending art history series with the Ecole du Louvre program, I was very keen on discovering the art pieces that were discussed during lectures. Thanks to the passion shared by lecturers, in particular Stefania Tullio Cataldo, it was a whole new way of rediscovering places we had visited years ago. I find frescoes very

Ali Smith’s Ferrara

After reading « How to be both », I just had to plan a stop at Ferrara, on Ali Smith’s footpath, if only to visit the Palazzo Schifanoia and see Francesco del Cossa’s frescoes. Unsurprisingly, it was well worth the trip… Palazzo Schifanoia’s frescoes, allegories of months, gods and zodiac signs. The wall by Francesco del Cossa

Il tre stance, Firenze

This kind of place is simply unique and hard to describe, but suffice to say that we won’t look further when staying in Florence. The property is a palazzo, with immensely high ceilings, meters from the Duomo. The interior has been considerately refurbished, leaving the traces of original stucco and furnished with antique or vintage furniture:

Francesca’s flat in Venice

Found Francesca’s flat on Airbnb, and staying there was fabulous as not only is it ideally central, but also does it makes you feel like a local for a few days: shopping for groceries at the Rialto market, and being awaken by the gondolieri’s song was as atmospheric as sipping Prosecco on the shaded terrace

Verona, Trento, Venice, Rome postcard

Verona    Trento    Venice     On  St Giorggio, The Glass tea house Mondrian by Hiroshi Sugimoto @ Le stance del vetro, more info here Part of the « Together » exhibition by Jaume Piensa for the 2015 Art Biennale, at San Giorgio Maggiore, luckily left on loan by Jaume Piensa to the monastic community  for the

Reviewing antiquity @ British museum

Trying to pick up the Renaissance trail at it’s sources…. in London (?!?!) From the Acroplis, Athens From the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos   From Vaison-la-Romaine The philosophers, Roman copies of lost Greek sculptures Socrates Antisthene, Cynic school  Chrysippos, Stoic school  Epikouros, Epicurean school Asklepios, healing god 

Hotel Caumont, Aix-en-Provence

After an extensive restauration, the grand XVIIIe century Hotel Caumont, in Aix’s beautiful « quartier Mazarin » reopened last year. It offers two temporary exhibitions, the current is: « Turner et la couleur » and runs until September 18. Hotel Caumont, an « hotel particulier entre cour et jardin » epitomises XVIIIe century refinements, it’s restauration is amazing, see here: http://www.caumont-centredart.com/fr/dossiers/restauration-lhotel-caumont?galerie=1  

Maison Paysanne de France’s exhibition

« Maison Paysanne de France », is a French NGO dedicated to preserve the less glamorous part of historical architecture: the vernacular buildings, mostly farmhouses. Thanks to their dedication and experience, many know-hows have been saved from oblivion. Lime stucco, raw earth buildings and many other techniques that are now being rediscovered by a new generation of

Salon Cote Sud 2016: inspiration nature

With the Salon, finally comes the summer!!!  This year, the ethno-chic trends keeps flowing; the omnipresence of green in interior design is becoming overwhelming to my taste, but thankfully, blues (and indigo in particular) are « the new black ». I welcome the continuing development of hand made porcelain and ceramics by many young designers largely represented

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