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Making Light of Art: Paris

25 May

Luminous Disks: Daniel Buren’s installation at Monumenta 2012 in Paris. (Image by HWL)

First impressions of Daniel Buren‘s Excentrique(s) Travail In Situ installation at the Grand Palais for the annual Monumenta show were ho-hum. The whole set up felt a little bit …well…crafty…and not in a good way. (We might define ‘bad crafty’ as, say, a pointless box given a decoupage make-over using left-over magazines from a doctor’s office, and not in an ironic way.)

Coloured spheres: Monumenta in Paris. (Image by HWL)

The artist who has, ahem, earned his stripes creating site specific art work, such as the Les Deux Plateaux in Palais-Royal, Paris, has created a false ceiling of transparent, umbrella-like disks that form a sub-level beneath the glass roof of the Grand Palais. The effect is immediately frustrating – the visitor is largely robbed of one of the venue’s best features – a superb sense of space, both vast and grandiose.  The summer show is not called Monumenta for nothing – last year’s installation, Leviathan, by Anish Kapoor was a hella whopper and the better for it. In contrast, Buren’s work feels bitsy, fussy, and a little bit twee; and then the sun came out.

The cellophane effect: Daniel Buren at the Grand Palais, Paris. (Image by HWL)

With the lights on, so to speak, the show went from being pretty naff to being kind of fun.The 377 coloured disks create a kaleidoscope that reflect and play with the light pouring from the roof-top.  In this case, Buren has created something of an Alice-in-Wonderland effect; we find ourselves to be miniature pieces inside the kaleidoscope. Moving through the work creates new vistas and interactions with forms, colour and shadow.

Light Dancers: coloured disks reminiscent of crazy casino carpet; there’s no clocks here either so you’ll have to tell the time by the sun. (Image by HWL)

In many ways, it’s a cheap trick. In other ways, it’s a reminder that simple ideas can be the best ones. Pity about those trademark stripey pillars  – they feel clunky and out of place in this ballroom of light. Our tip: go when the sun is shining. Exhibition runs until June 21, 2012. For details see here.

Grand Palais: Daniel Buren’s coloured spheres mushroom below the vast canopy of the Grand Palais in Paris. (Image by HWL)

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Disturbing the Peace: Oui Oui to Ai WeiWei in Paris

23 Mar

Peek-a-boo: Artist Ai Weiwei flashes some cheek at Tiannamen Square, with his photo ‘June, 1994′. (Image © Ai Weiwei)

Last year the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taiwan held an exhibition of Ai WeiWei’s work entitled ‘Absent’ referencing the artist’s detention by the Chinese authorities and his subsequent inability to attend his own show. ‘Ai Weiwei: Interlacing’ currently showing at the Jeu de Paume, in Paris, acts as a retrospective of the artist’s work which, in his continued absence, verges on a memorial. It creates a portrait of an artist as strong as he is fragile; as mischievous as he is serious; as alive as he is mortal.

Disobey!: Stencil art of the artist Ai Weiwei spotted in Lyon, France, during the artist’s detention. (Image by HWL)

A solo show at the Jeu de Paume is the highest accolade Paris can grant to a photographer. In this context, the show is a bit of a stretch, not only does this multi-faceted artist not fit in to the narrow category of the art form but photography – let’s face it – is not his strongest suite. As an artist, blogger and ‘Twitterer’ Ai is a prolific photographer; he uses the medium to document (and share) the ephemera of daily life (meals eaten, art works in creation, travels taken etc) and as a means of documenting the process or outcome of his work. Photography provides the ‘interlacing’ between his many projects and media; in this sense the show reminds us of the power of this medium to bear witness. Case in point: Ai was repeatedly invited by the authorities to construct a studio in Shanghai. Finally, he concedes but as soon as the building is completed, it is declared illegal. The building is torn down, all evidence of the site is removed and finally the field is ploughed-up and returned to farm land. The only evidence of this studio ever being part of reality (as opposed to a Kafkaesque nightmare) are Ai’s photographs.

Giving the finger: Ai Weiwei’s Study in Perspective encourages viewers to ‘Question Everything’. (Image © Ai Weiwei)

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Memories of the Future: Now!

17 Nov

'The Last Supper' by David Lachapelle from his 'Jesus is my Homeboy' series. Now showing @ La Masion Rouge, Paris.

You can always count on the Maison Rouge, in Paris, for something best described as a headf**k and their current show is no exception. Any curatorial bent that throws Pieter Bruegel, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Robert Capa and Cindy Sherman into the same room is fine by us. If you’re feeling a tad blasé over the whole vanitas revival-slash-taxidermy thang, think again.

Before the Chapman Brothers, there was Bruegel.'Pride', by Pieter Bruegel Elder from the Seven Deadly Sins series, on show La Maison Rouge, Paris

La Maison Rouge in Paris is consistently one of the city’s most interesting galleries, sitting somewhere between the big public blockbusters  and the commercial scene, the Foundation reinvents itself for every new show. Memoires de Futur is drawn from the collection of Thomas Olbricht, a German collector of ‘curiosity cabinets’ and art old and new. The show pitches traditional art against the contemporary grouped around themes of death, religion, and a bit of sex for good measure. In short: a crowd pleaser guaranteed to disturb just about everyone.

Camp, kitsch & beautiful: The White Queen by French photographic duo Pierre et Gilles, now showing @ La Maison Rouge

Eerie swans and ropey forms of feathers: one of the works by British artist Kate MccGwire's currently showing at La Maison Rouge, Paris

Details: Mémoires du Futur, la collection Olbricht continues until January 15, 2012. For information & opening hours: La Maison Rouge.

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Get Religion: Stay @ Le Corbusier’s La Tourette

27 Sep

La Tourette, the monastery designed by Le Corbusier near Lyon in France, offers design fanatics a chance to experience his architectural theories in a spiritual context, without having to take radical vows of chastity and poverty. At La Tourette, guests are welcome to book themselves into a cell for a night – or longer – for a unique and thrifty taste of Modernism with a splash of Catholicism (or the other way around, according to your tastes).

It's quite something: the crypt at La Tourette by the architect Le Corbusier (image by HWL)

Bearing Le Corbusier’s design trademarks – stilts, a free-floating facade, horizontal windows and a roof-top garden – the concrete structure is grouped around an internal courtyard in the manner of a traditional monastery. Within its walls is a series of interconnected spaces, providing its inhabitants with the opportunity for personal, community and spiritual life; the three pillars of human life. Commissioned by the Dominicans and built between 1956 and 1960, the building was designed to house both novices – who spent several years at the convent – and friars who were life-long inhabitants. Today it also welcomes visitors, such as Le Corbusier fans!

It's complicated: courtyard at Le Corbusier's La Tourette (Image by HWL)

Le Corbusier developed a building scale based on what was then the average size of the average French man – 1.75 metres (5ft8″); but noting that  the ‘hero’ in American movies and books of the time, was invariably described as ‘6ft tall’ (1.88m) – he created a secondary, more ‘heroic’ scale that could be applied to international or big budget projects. At La Tourette visitors are housed in the novice cells based on the 1.75cm scale. (The friar’s rooms are based on the larger scale to accommodate the few more modest possessions they may accumulate over the course of their lifetime.)

Interior life & exterior world, desk & personal balcony @ La Tourette (Image by HWL)

By contemporary standards, the cells are small and basic, but they are also cosy and efficient. This is the kind of set-up Virginia Woolf was probably imagining when she wrote about having A Room of One’s Own. Each compact room contains four distinct spaces delineated by its unique light source and activity: an entry with hand-basin and clothes storage; a bed with reading light; a desk with chair; and a private balcony with a little nook for candles etc. At opposite ends of the room are louvres to enable cross ventilation. Pared down to its essentials this modest room enables the full gamut of a monk’s day-to-day living: rest, reflection, privacy and contact with the outdoors. This is real minimalism minus the chichi price tag.

The hallways circulating the living space are designed to accommodate meditational pacing. Small blocks of strategically placed concrete, and ‘concrete flowers’ that obscure the windows at the end of the corridor, enable light to enter but block external views; this allows the thinker to walk without having their thoughts interrupted by the view. The end windows are positioned off-centre to draw walkers (who subconsciously follow their axis) to orient themselves closer to the internal courtyard and away from the living cells, thus assisting with noise and privacy. As our guide said, “It’s not symmetrical, but it is balanced.”

Le Corbusier's La Tourette: hall leading to chapel (image by HWL)

Staying at the Convent: From an accommodation perspective, the Convent’s sleeping arrangements are evidently basic: each cell is equipped with bed linen, a blanket and a single bed. (You do have to make your own bed and no, you cannot share it.). It’s no thrills, but it’s clean and somehow pleasing. Showers and toilets are taken in a communal ablutions room – one for men another for women. Meals are taken in the large communal dining room with beautiful verdant views through windows that were designed in conjunction with the mathematically-minded composer Xenakis. The building is heated but we suspect it could be brisk in the cooler months.

Le Corbusier's La Tourette: dining rm windows inspired by Xenakis (Image by HWL)

This is supposed to be a place of spiritual and intellectual reflection so there is a rule of silence throughout the convent. However, the hard concrete surfaces and old-fashioned door sealants mean that the convent is far from sound-proof and with some visitors going to bed at midnight and others getting up at 6am, and couples accustomed to sharing a room, whispering urgently to each other through their cell doors “Have you got the toothpaste!?”…well, it’s not exactly silent. (For the sake of your own peace and others, it’s best to leave small children at home). Despite all that, the intention of silence was enough to create a meditative atmosphere and after 24 hours of quiet and a good walk in the adjoining forest we felt calm and refreshed.

Le Corbusier's La Tourette: chapel with Miro-esque skylights (Image by HWL)

The crowd: there are three main groups: the actual residents, the Friars; groups, such as volunteer gardeners preening the grounds, or writers attending a workshop; and tourists – primarily of the archi-fanatic variety and easily spotted by their trademark hipster glasses and manic photo taking! Dining tables are organised according to the purpose of your visit – a group of unwitting Japanese tourists created quite a stir among the grey-haired green-thumbs by going free-style and accidentally breakfasting at the Gardener’s table.

Le Corbusier's La Tourette: meditative strolls in the forest (Image by HWL)

Perks: First up, don’t miss the guided tour! Also, we don’t want to over-hype it, but the church at La Tourette is something really special, make sure you enter it from inside the monastery so you get the full effect (i.e: not from the external side door that takes you directly into the church). If you take the tour you can also access the magical Crypt. We were amused to see that Le Corbusier wasn’t satisfied with merely designing the entire building; he also felt compelled to sign his hand-drawn crucifixes. (Not that he had an ego issue or anything.) The smaller chapel with its avant garde fluorescent lights is also delightful. Note that the tours are open to everyone – you don’t have to be a guest.

Autographed crucifix anyone? The Crypt at La Tourette (Image by HWL)

Tariffs: €35 per night, per person with breakfast. You can also have diner there, but you will need to pre-order at the time of the booking or significantly in advance. Alternatively, come prepared to picnic on the grounds. Failing that, Lyon is a half an hour drive away, or you can eat at the neighbouring villages such as L’Arbresle.

The ominously named Hotel Terminus (Place de la Gare, in L’Arbresle) has some retro charm, we enjoyed the trout with almond sauce, but locals were raving about the house speciality: frogs. We were also recommended the cute-as-a-button Le Capucin in an old, quaint part of town.

Booking: if La Tourette’s official website is still under construction, you’ll find them listed on the Dominicians site here. Practical information is listed here. Note, there is a train that connects from Lyon, but the walk to the monastery from the station is definitely uphill and there are no taxis, not advised for non-minimalist packers.

Alternatives: If you’d like to visit Couvent de La Tourette, but not to sleep there, we can suggest the following alternatives in nearby Lyon: the quirky and cosy College Hotel which has a slightly scholastic meets gentlemen’s club feel. If you haven’t had enough architecture, you can try Renzo Piano in a slightly corporate mood at Hotel de la Cité. If you feel the need for sumptuous digs fit for a Pope, book yourself into Cour des Loges.

Sleeping with Le Corbusier: you might also like our story about Hotel Le Corbusier in Marseilles.

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Zaha Hadid: Future Shock

14 Sep

Who dares wins: a Star-chitect Off between Zaha Hadid & Jean Nouvel in Paris. (Image by Zaha Hadid Architects)

There’s something funny in the forecourt of the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. A sleek and slippery object that looks like a curvy space ship crossed with a piece of futuristic footwear has landed. It is in fact a mobile art pavilion, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. Commissioned by Chanel, which has donated the structure to the Institute, the pavilion was transported in shipping containers and toured several of the world’s fashion capitals, before coming to rest in Paris where it will be used as an additional exhibition space to showcase art by the Arabic world.

The pavilion is an interesting addition to the Institute which is already on the archi-tour hit list thanks to its own design pedigree – it was designed by Jean Nouvel in the 1980s and was one of President Mitterand’s Grand Travaux.

Islamic-inspired 'jealous windows' at Jean Nouvel's Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris (Image by HWL)

The pavilion’s first show is fittingly dedicated to Hadid, an Iraqi-born and educated architect, who has since trained and settled in London. Showcasing several of her current projects, with an emphasis on those in Middle Eastern countries, the exhibition seeks to demonstrate a synergy between Islamic influences (from traditional calligraphy to the intricate geometry of mosaics) and Hadid’s style that somehow melds two extremes: organic molecular and geometrical structures such as branching and cell repetition with the crazy artificiality of skyscrapers.

the geometry of skyscrapers: Zaha Hadid (Image by HWL)

As far as the exhibition goes it’s more of a taster than Hadid’s exhaustive (and exhausting) 2006 Guggenheim retrospective, the tone and content on offer is more promotional than analytical and there’s scant insight about the woman herself.

Interior of Hadid's Mobile Art Pavillion: we can confirm it looks better without people (Image by Zaha Hadid Architects)

For all that, it’s an interesting experience to see an exhibition of Hadid’s work in a pavilion that she also designed; the space and the objects certainly inform each other in a stimulating way, though the effect is a little bit like being in a showroom. Certainly, if I was Hadid I’d be bussing in the Saudi’s and those heads of nation states desperate for a new status building that will help put them on the map – if anything can convey the concept of ‘Hadid’ world, it’s this. Not that they need the business. (Aside: too bad they didn’t have Hadid’s cool kitchen unit.)

Is it a bird, a plane? Zaha Hadid's Mobile Art Pavilion, currently docked in Paris. (Image by Zaha Hadid Architects)

Twenty years ago Hadid was a brilliant and well-connected academic, dreaming up architecture that was virtually impossible to build; now it’s not. Standing there and looking at her work, gave me an insight to how visitors to the Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret’s Pavillion de l’Esprit Nouveau at the 1925 Exposition des Artes Decoratifs must have felt. I think they must have felt something along the lines of: ‘This is the future’ and ‘WTF?!’.

Dates: Zaha Hadid, Une Architecture runs until October 30, 2011. Information: Institut du Monde Arabe Tips: you must buy your ticket inside the institute, and if it’s your first visit, don’t forget to take the elevator to the top floor for a great view of Paris from the terrace.

Everyone's a critic: street art commentary on Zaha Hadid's CMA-CGM Tower in Marseilles (Image by HWL)

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BYO Nikon: Arles, 2011

25 Aug

Shazam! The Real Story of Superheros by photographer Paulino Cardozo, on show in Arles 2011.

Home to Europe’s most high profile photographic expo, an impressive scattering of Roman ruins, and a goodly number of gastronomic haunts, UNESCO-heritage listed Arles packs a punch that belies its cartographic impact. And as the famed photography festival, Les Rencontres d’Arles 2011, reaches its final month, visitors can enjoy the show – dispersed in exhibition spaces across the city – minus the frenzy of the opening weeks and the crush of summer tourists.

This year’s show, which puts a spotlight on the work of Mexican photographers, also provided a timely reminder of the relationship and relevance of photography to political upheaval and revolution – from recently unearthed negatives (‘The Capa Suitcase’) of the Spanish Civil War by legendary photographers Robert Capa, Chim (aka David Seymour) and Gerda Taro to digital images taken at the recent Tunisian uprising that kicked-off the so-called Arab Spring.

Screen magic: film sequence by Gabriel Figueroa at Les Recontres d'Arles, 2011. (Image by HWL)

For us, the exhibition devoted to Gabriel Figueroa (1907-1997) was the surprise stand-out hit. Figueroa, a Mexican cinematographer to directors including John Ford, Luis Buñuel and John Huston may not be a photographer in the strictest sense but there is no denying his masterful eye. This multi-screened video installation in the atmospheric Eglise des Frères Prêcheurs church, features skilfully edited extracts of his career spanning 50 years of Mexican cinema.  Full credit must go to curator Alfonso Morales for his selection and treatment of Figueroa’s sumptuous and amazingly diverse images grouped thematically eg: religion, death, film noir. Shot largely in black and white these cinemagraphic-tasters are a treasure trove of Mexican imagery. Each film, composed from multiple sources, creates a surreal sort of narrative but seen en masse, odd couplings emerge – a grim and hairy Jesus suffering in the desert plays adjacent to an apparently frenzied cannibal king playing the drums. All up an apt love letter to the poetic weirdness of this dream-world we call film and a master of the trade.

Sebastião Salgado's oil fields in Kuwait, on display at Les Recontres d'Arles, 2011.

Another highlight was the rather unimaginatively titled if immaculately branded headliner show New York Times Magazine Photographs. Curated by its chief photo editor Kathy Ryan,  the exhibition encompasses an emotional rollercoaster of subject matter that included portraiture, reportage and fine art on topics ranging from the September 11 attacks and the current war in Afghanistan to Sebastião Salgado’s documentiation of Kuwait oil fields and Nan Goldin’s intimate portraits of James King, a  then 16-year-old super model.  The show also highlights the production process, a seemingly dry concept which proved surprisingly engaging in execution, encompassing editorial briefs, the photographer’s impressions and ambitions, writer/photographer working relationships and the hazards and challenges of the field, whether seducing celebrities or surviving as an embedded war photographer.

Wang Quinsong's The History of Monuments installed at Eglise Trinitaire, Arles 2011. (Image by HWL)

A roll of Kodak paper is 1.25 x 42 meters and Chinese artist Wang Quinsong used the whole 42 metre metres to create The History of Monuments that is impressively installed in the Eglise Trinitaire. Writing about the work on his website, Quinsong says: “Actually I don’t care about history. I am only interested in the extreme length of a photo. If there is a 100-meter-long photo paper, I will be able to put in a lot more “valuable” stuff and create a 100-meter long photo. The historical figures and contents in this photo work are not that important. …I put in some famous people recorded in the official history of many civilizations, and also some small potatoes in the unofficial history. There is a lot of rubbish as well as some useful daily goods.” Do stay to watch the short film documenting the creation process of its creation which included covering 200 nude photographic models entirely in mud.

Pineapples and epaulettes were included in the 'small potatoes of history'. Detail of Wang Quinsong's Monuments of History, Arles, 2011. (Image by HWL)

In the group show at Atelier Des Forges, we were touched by Maya Goded’s heartrending slide show Welcome to Lipstick, documenting small town prostitutes in the red light zone bordering Mexico and the US; and intrigued by her otherworldly series Land of Witches, detailing women, witchcraft and ritual in rural Mexico.

Beguiling: Land of Witches series by Mexican photographer Maya Goded, showing at Arles, 2011.

On an upbeat note, we loved Dulce Pinzon’s The Real Story of Superheros, (pictured top) a warm, humorous and touching testimony to Mexico’s unsung ‘champions’ who undertake difficult and often badly paid jobs in the US in order to support their family’s back home while helping to keep the US economy running. Finally, as you walk around town, keep your eyes peeled for evidence of photographer/street artist JR. Would-be participants for JR’s TED Prize-winning Use Art to Turn the World Inside Out project can queue to have their photos taken at the photo-booth in the Forge des Ateliers. In all, the annual Les Recontres d’Arles is a great excuse to pack a long lens and head to Provence. Stay tuned for our accommodation and eating tips – coming up next!

Information: Les Rencontres d’Arles 2011, open 10am–7 pm daily until September 18th, 2011.

Hotels We Love in Arles: see our story here.

Snap! Photography madness in Arles. (Image by HWL)

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Art on the Cote d’Azur

29 Jul

A modernist delight (Image © Fondation Maeght)

On a rainy day in Paris our thoughts turn to a sunny sojourn on the Cote d’Azur…sigh…and a particularly nice spot for modern art.

A cute-as-a-button medieval village around 20 minutes from Nice seems an unlikely spot for a modernist masterpiece. But in the 1960’s, Saint Paul de Vence was a magnet for glitterati from artists Joan Miró and Marc Chagall to movie stars Simone Signoret, Yves Montand and Roger Moore. Two landmarks still bear witness to those heady times: the elegant Colombe d’Or hotel, which features original artwork by the likes of Pablo Picasso and Alexander Calder, and is still the area’s most covetable hotel, and the Foundation Maeght.

Opened in 1964 on the village outskirts the Foundation Maeght was dreamt up by Parisian art dealers Aimé and Marguerite Maeght. Their mission was to create France’s first privately funded, purpose-built art space to showcase the work of their artists and friends, including Joan Miro, Alexander Calder and Alberto Giacometti. (Oh, how nice to have such friends!)

cute and quaint (Image by HWL)

The Barcelona-born modern architect Josep Lluis Sert was commissioned to design a museum that would complement the Maeght collection, while blending with the local environment. The resulting museum is modernism on an intimate scale which reveals an elegant synergy between the exhibition spaces, collection and charming garden setting. The museum holds a regular programme of rotating exhibitions from the Maeght’s impressive collection and, increasingly, contemporary artists. (Among other projects, Sert later designed the Fundació Joan Miró.)

Regardless of what’s on, take a leisurely stroll through the gardens studded with wonderful outdoor sculptures by Alberto Giacometti, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Georges Braques and Joan Miro’s fantastic Labyrinth.

There is an onsite cafe featuring spindly furniture by Giacometti but we weren’t too impressed with the standard of service nor produce – head into the village instead and enjoy an apero and perhaps a game of petanque, like days of old…  We booked a table on the charming terrasse of Le Tilleul Menthe restaurant and ordered the ‘Marseillaise’ fish stew… it was so good we went back the following night and had it again.

For information contact Foundation Maeght.

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FAME Festival: guide to the epicentre of street art

22 Jul

Street artist Erica al Cane offers a delightfully unlikely interpretation of a symbiotic relationship (Image by HWL)

We’re in a run-down house put to artistic use in a large garden populated by mud and odd bits of broken glass. A sort of mosh-pit has formed under the veranda where Angelo Milano, covered in glitter like a grunge version of Gold Finger, is spinning like a demented top while the crowd thrashes out – bemusingly – to re-mixes of 90′s dance hits. Above us, a very big, very pink cartoonish penis has been spray-painted across the ceiling. The overall ambiance is akin to a fertility rite as imagined by Keith Haring and manifested in Italy via Google translator. The location is Studio Cromie, Grottaglie, Italy, an unlikely epicentre of street art. The occasion, closing night of the FAME Festival which had begun oh-so-civilly with a gallery opening and dinner hosted at Milano’s grandfather’s house.

Nunca predicts the Euro fall-out in Grottaglie (Image by HWL)

Founded by Angelo Milano of Studio Cromie, FAME references both the Warholian 15 minutes and the Italian word for ‘Hunger’; particularly pertinent in this historically poverty-stricken part of southern Italy that still falters behind the prosperous north.

In the lead-up to the festival in September, the elite of the world’s street artists descend on Grottaglie to paint the walls of neglected buildings, apartment blocks and laneways in the historic quarter, transforming it into a maze of art, Big Ideas, strange tales, satirical jokes and unexpected presences. The festival centres around a gallery exhibition where attendees can purchase tangible artworks, chiefly prints, which helps fund the festival and keeps Studio Cromie ticking over. (If you can’t make it to the festival prints are available for purchase online and obviously the street murals are open all year around.)

Work by British street artist Lucy McLauchlin at FAME Festival gallery, 2010. (Image by HWL)

ARTISTS: This year you can expect to see Italian artists BLU, superstar of the scene, Erica al Cane  whose animal-themed works are incredibly cute and twisty and 108. The Euro contingent includes the witty and incisive ESCIF, wall-sculptor Vhils and the German artist Boris Hoppek. Brits include Word to Mother and the lovely Lucy McLauchlan (last year her works so pleased the neighbours that they bought her drinks and snacks while she worked). Also keep your eyes peeled for US paste-up star Swoon and the geometrically inclined Momo. See the FAME Festival website for a complete list.

Street artists Ben Ellis & Blu at the Monastery (Image by HWL)

TIPS: The festival is fairly organic so keep your eyes open and follow the crowd. In the event that you miss something crucial, e.g. the address for the closing party, try this technique: drive/walk around Grottaglie looking for hipsters and when you find some, just ask where the party is! (Grottaglie is a small town. ) Anyone wanting to visit the festival should check out the FAME Festival website but based on our experience, we thought we’d pull together some of the gaps with a bit of a travel guide for the uninitiated.

GET AROUND: The art is spread across the city and Grottaglie doesn’t do public transport. Plenty of people explore the murals on foot, but there’s no doubt that having a car will speed things up and also enable you to do some regional tourism. We rented a Fiat 500 and it was perfect for the region’s winding laneways. (Regional tourism lures include cutsie whitewashed villages, such as Ostuni and Martina Franca nearby, and beautiful coastline villages such as Gallipoli. Also note food is unbelievably good and cheap.) Failing that, a bike is a good compromise. (See here for info train travel in Italy with a bike.) The nearest international airports are Brindisi and Bari.

LOOK AT ART: Studio Cromie makes a handy little map to the town’s street art which you can collect from the gallery on the opening night.  (Bottega Papocchia, Via Caravaggio, Ceramics Quarter, Map link: here.)

Conor Harrington at the Monastery, Grottaglie, Italy (Image by HWL)

The spooky rambling Monastery on the edge of town has inspired some amazing art (watch our Monastery video) but can be tricky to find.

Look for a big red building up on the hill off Via 25 Luglio on your right hand side. It has a sign ‘Instituti Provinciali di Benificenza’ which you can glimpse on this map link: here.)

EAT & DRINK: Note that restaurant hours across Puglia are disconcertingly short – arrive too late and you’ll go hungry (arrive respectively by 1pm/8pm for lunch/dinner). This is particularly unfortunate at lunchtime when all the shops close for the afternoon siesta thus dashing your dreams of a quick bakery run.

Roadtesting Osteria Il Piatto Reale Enoteca (We went back for more!)

Osteria Il Piatto Reale Enoteca: traditional family run joint with friendly service and excellent regional cuisine at reasonable (mid-market) prices. It’s extremely popular for Sunday lunch so book ahead, or be prepared to queue for hours – seated guests will go the full three-courses and then linger over the coffee while your tummy growls. (Via Cavour, 13, Grottaglie. Closed Wednesdays.)

Pizzeria il Forno: Excellent cheap pizza (from €6) in an enormous, rustic barn-like room. It’s very popular with families on a Friday and Saturday night (and why wouldn’t it be?) so arrive early for a quick bite or book in advance. (Via Sicilia, 14/Via Foggia, 12. Tel: 099-5638-927. Closed Tuesdays. May be closed at lunchtime.)

A homely atmosphere at Pizzeria il Forno, unless you are a pig. (Image by HWL)

Caffè-Libreria Nomine Rosae: An atypically minimalist arty book store meets drinkery with pared back wood interior and bright red chairs. This is where to find the cool crowd. (Via Risorgimento, 5-7, Centro Storico.)

Vine Caffe’ Di De Giorgio Maria: a typical low-key joint to grab coffee or drinks in thee historic quarter – in good weather you can enjoy the terrace on the plaza.(Piazza Regina Margherita, 16, next to the Salita Immacolta church. Map ref: here.)

SLEEP: Grottaglie isn’t tourist central, so the level of accommodation is not as exciting as that available in some of the more scenic villages elsewhere (eg: Ostuni, Martina Franca). However, if you don’t have a car – or even if you do – it’s definitely the most convenient option for festival go-ers. On the upside, the pricing is very reasonable  starting from €35/40 for a single room.

Il Bato B&B, Grottaglie

Il Bato B&B: A characterful 18th century house (pictured above) featuring locally made ceramics and materials (we like the looks of the antique floor tiles). It’s situated behind a church in the historic quarter, is very reasonably priced and has free wi-fi. We didn’t stay there, but this could be the pick of the bunch.

Sogni d’Oro: The rooms are plain, but you can bet they’ve been scrubbed to within an inch of their life. The drawcard here seems to be the view and roof-top terrace and a bit of a ceramics theme, given it’s location in the ceramics district.

Maschere Grottagliesi: Situated in a Renaissance building in the historic quarter, it offers three rooms named by different colours. Thanks to the traditional architecture, the bedrooms might be a little on the dark side, but the website does say “the rooms are all furnished with gusto and creativity and respect the ancient structure of the house…making you feel comfortable and cuddled.” We like the sounds of feeling ‘cuddled’ especially when coupled with comic sans.

Gill Hotel: Angelo organises a special rate for FAME festival guests. It’s a serviceable hotel outside of the historic quarter, rooms are spacious and comfortable enough and perfectly clean. It won’t win any awards unless there’s a prize for ‘exhaustive use of the colour coral’, but it’s central and does the job. Avoid the dismal breakfast area – just around the corner you can have coffee, pastries and juice at the friendly and extremely popular neighbourhood cafe Zelig Bar (Via Amendola, 15, 74023 Grottaglie). The exterior is unpromising, but it’s nice inside. Hotel booking: info@gillhotel.it

Surprisingly atmospheric: Grottaglie, Italy

TAKE A HOLIDAY: Grottaglie is surrounded by lovely villages (Ostuni, Martina Franca, UNESCO-heritage listed Alberobello) –which are quite well set up for tourism. If you have a car you could stay somewhere a bit more exciting (like a hobbit-like trulli house or glam masseria) during the festival – or tack on a holiday at the end of it. Follow this link for info about tourist jaunts and alternative accommodation in Puglia.

GET EXCITED!: Check out the video we made about FAME Festival 2010 for Babelgum below.

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Lost & Found: free hipster hotel in Melbourne

7 Jun

Take a cat nap at the Lost & Found hotel designed by Six Degrees

Nb: This competition is now closed,  click here to see Hotels We Love in Melbourne

Here’s a travel competition we’d like to win. Culture guide Lost & Found and Tourism Victoria are offering  3-nights of accommodation  in Melbourne – for free! (And we’re not talking a night at the Travelodge and a double-serve of rice bubbles with the continental breakfast.) In keeping with Melbourne’s reputation as the cultural capital of Australia, the digs on offer are tailor-made by some of the city’s tastemakers. Located in a CBD laneway above Captains of Industry, a self-proclaimed ‘gentlemen’s outfitters & cafe’, the loft-style fit-out is by Six Degrees; an architecture firm that has become synonymous with the Melbourne vernacular; furnishings are by the likes of Thonet, Melbourne and the art on the walls is courtesy of Melissa Loughnan’s gallery Utopian Slumps. (Aside: A few years ago in our artist incarnation we staged the ‘Habitat’ exhibition there when it as was an artist-run-space hidden in a Collingwood laneway frequented by pigeons and die-hard art fans, it’s great to see they now have a  commercial space  in the CBD.) On the walls of the hotel you’ll find works by Loughnan’s artists Nathan Gray, Amber Wallis and Misha Hollenbach.

The Lost & Found Hotel puts cute rental bikes at your disposal

Exploring the CBD is best done on foot, but the ‘hotel’ also throws in a cute two-wheeled steed from Humble Vintage, ideal for seaside jaunts around St Kilda. (Melbourne is flat, so bike riding is easy as long as you look out for trams and keep your wheels out of the tram tracks).

The idea behind the hotel is to fast-track you into the Melbourne arts scene and, and while our we can see the marketing pitch document and ‘core messages’ behind the campaign, we can’t think of a better way to do it. (If only all hotels took the same approach!)

*****

Show me the money: to enter go to the reservations section of the website and, in 50 words or less tell them what’s on your “Melbourne cultural checklist”. (Warning: arts bureaucrat speak has just entered this post.) The only caveat to keep in mind is that you’ll have to get to Melbourne under your own steam…and buried in the small print under the Terms & Conditions we see that “Entrants will be judged on their creative credibility”. No, we’re not 100% sure what that means either. (Note a list of alternative hotels for non-prize winners appears at the bottom of this post.)

Where am I? Wake-up at the Lost & Found Hotel, Melbourne

In Melbourne: I’m not sure that we could lay claim to having a “cultural checklist” to anywhere, but given three days in Melbourne in a cool pad, we certainly have some ideas so feel free to cobble from the below… We’d be checking out ACCA – the city’s biggest public gallery solely dedicated to contemporary art housed in a rusty monolith-like structure reminiscent of Uluru, but with more angles.

Kick-start the morning with coffee at Captains of Industry

We’d also put Opening Nights on Gertrude St, Fitzroy, on the list, taking in galleries like Gertrude 200, a not-or-profit space, which kick-started the careers of Ricky Swallow, Lyndal Walker and street artist Ash Keating as well as our lovely friends Chris Bond and Michelle Ussher. (Not to mention hosting countless exhibitions featuring large piles of planks.)

The indigenous gallery at the Ian Potter Foundation at Federation Square should be on the checklist, as well as high-brow souvenir shopping at Craft Victoria. (Keep your eyes out for Flatland items by artist and potential genius Tim Fleming – quirky and hand-luggage friendly because they’re, er, flat.)

To get a view of the CBD, head to the roof top bar at Curtin House (they also run a summer-only outdoor cinema).

We’d combine the above with whatever event we gleaned of interest from local blogs Melbourne 3000 or the Broadsheet (also check them out for wherever’s hot in terms of eating, drinking, cavorting etc).

If the above doesn’t score you a room, we don’t know what will. (I guess you could try hanging around  the front door of Tourism Victoria winking madly and oozing raw, sexy creative credibility.)

BYO mixologist: Thonet furniture & Humble Vintage bikes at the Lost & Found Hotel

Important information: The Lost & Found Hotel for 2011 is open from May 3 to July 31. Entries must be received by 5pm, 29 June 2011. For more information, see the Lost & Found website, for  competition terms and conditions see here. Alternative Melbourne Hotels:  click here to see Hotels We Love in Melbourne Continue reading →

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Blow up! Anish Kapoor in Paris

1 Jun

subterranean & visceral: interior of Anish Kapoor's Leviathan (Image: HWL)

British sculptor Anish Kapoor does ‘big’ very well, but his latest work Leviathan for the Monumenta exhibition in Paris shows what happens when you cross an artist with the concept of ‘humongous’. Held in the beautiful glass-roofed Grand Palais every two years, the ‘Monumenta’ exhibition is built around the idea of big is better. Every year they hand the keys – and 13,500 m² of exhibition space – to an artist and say: ‘Enjoy yourself.’

A balloon: from little things big things grow (Image: © Anish Kapoor/Monumenta)

Taking shape.... (Image: © Anish Kapoor/Monumenta)

In previous year’s we’ve been lucky enough to see German artist Anselm Kiefer who combined paintings with concrete-like bunkers and crumbling structures which gave the visitor a sense of crawling through a post-apocalyptic landscape, later we saw Richard Serra (video featuring our experience here). But Kapoor is the biggest bang of them all, he’s the explosion that had to happen, from here, people may do better, but I doubt they can do bigger.

Kapoor himself, describes the work in the Monumenta exhibition material as: “A single object, a single form, a single colour… My ambition is to create a space within a space that responds to the height and luminosity of the Nave at the Grand Palais. Visitors will be invited to walk inside the work, to immerse themselves in colour, and it will, I hope, be a contemplative and poetic experience.”

The big dream takes shape (Image: © Anish Kapoor/Monumenta)

The dream takes off! (Image: © Anish Kapoor/Monumenta)

The work, dedicated by Kapoor to missing Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, can also lay claim to the most fantastical piece of inflated PVC ever imagined. Technically speaking it combines the lines and strength of nautical engineering with the fancifulness of haute-couture millinery (not to mention the playful simplicity of a balloon). Intense, other worldly, playful, surreal, inaccessible yet encompassing, Kapoor has put on a show that somehow references a sea monster and the gates of hell, but could just as well apply to the womb of Mother Earth: mysterious, primal, wonderful, dangerous. Monumental.

The show, which also features evening talks and musical performances ends June 23 2011 – catch it if you can. A briliant excuse to head to Paris this spring. Practical info here.

Strange openings, Anish Kapoor's Leviathan, Monumenta 2011 (Image: HWL)

We were in two minds about running photos of the exterior, because we don’t want to spoil the surprise, but then I came across this shot by Yohanzerdoun on flickr, which hints at the weirdness to come without giving the whole story away, so I embedded from his photo stream – if you’d like to see more of his pics, click here.

Leviathan by Anish Kapoor, Paris (Image: © Yohan Zion Zerdoun)

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