Category Archives: Paris

Paris: Artists and Robots at the Grand Palais

July 2, 2018 butterfly

The Grand Palais (RMN) in Paris is currently showing an impressive exhibition ‘Artists and Robots’ dedicated to AI: artificial imagination, a common term to design robotic art, generative art and algorithmic art.

The exhibition invites audiences to experience works created by artists with the aid of ever more intelligent robots. Around thirty works offer visitors a glimpse into an immersive and interactive virtual world, a tangible experience of augmented reality, of space and time overturned.

Artificial intelligence is now transforming human existence and also affecting the very nature of the artist’s artwork , from its production, exhibition, to its distribution, conservation and reception.

Immersive works, paintings, sculptures, mobiles, cinema, design, and music: all the creations presented in this exhibition arise from artists working with robotic programs invented and provided for the purpose of art.

With the use of increasingly powerful software, artists gain a greater autonomy and an infinite capacity to work with shapes and interactivity. The software programs employed are not only intelligent, but also generate new shapes and figures that allow to see and give pause for thought.

The exhibition is structured in three folds.
The first section present ‘The creative machine’. Robots are always on the move and their movements are sometimes so ‘physical’ and amusing that it is could be easy to give them an animal or human dimension, or even a ‘psychology’.
Featuring works by Jean Tinguely, Nam June Paik, Nicolas Schöffer, Leonel Moura, Patrick Tresset, So Kanno and Takahiro Yamaguchi, J. Lee Thompson, Arcangelo Sassolino.

The second section is about ‘Programmed artwork’, where the robot is becoming invisible. Computing and algorithmic programmes infuse the artwork and technical expertise is set aside as we, the spectators, marvel at the majesty of infinite shapes that change according to the movements of our bodies.

Featuring works by Manfred Mohr, Vera Molnar, Iannis Xenakis, Demian Conrad, Raquel Kogan, Ryoji Ikeda, Pascal Dombis, Elias Crespin, Jacopo Baboni Schilingi, Edmond Couchot and Michel Bret, Miguel Chevalier, Joan Fontcuberta, Michael Hansmeyer and Peter Kogler.

And lastly the space is dedicated to ‘The robot frees itself’.
Deep Learning is making robots even more intelligent and active, to the point where they seem not only to rival humans, but to augment them, fuse with them, taunt them and possibly even duplicate them.

Featuring works by Christa Sommerer & Laurent Mignonneau, Catherine Ikam and Louis Fléri, Stelarc, Nicolas Darrot, Fabien Giraud and Raphaël Siboni, Koji Fukada, Oscar Sharp, Daft Punk, Pascal Haudressy, Memo Akten, ORLAN, Takashi Murakami.

The contemporary works presented in this exhibition give us a good idea of the questions artists are asking, which mirror our own: What is an artist? What is an artwork? What can a robot achieve that an artist cannot? If it has artificial intelligence, does a robot have imagination? Who decides: the artist, the engineer, the spectator, all of us? Can we talk about a collective artwork?

View the full set of pics here

Artists & Robots
Le Grand Palais
Until 8 July 2018

Paris, streets

Paris: Banksy joins the celebrations of Mai 68 riots

June 30, 2018 butterfly

While Paris has been celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the May 68 Riots with multiple exhibitions, elusive artist Banksy has hit the streets of the French capital with a series of new artworks.

May 68 in France – Ten million workers on strike, young people in the streets, public services at a standstill, a paralysed economy: the state faced a major social crisis which threatened to shake its very foundations. The entire country was affected, including all sectors of activity.

Facing the entrance of La Sorbonne University, Banksy put up a dark stencil of a man hiding a saw behind his back while an amputated dog is salivating looking up at a bone. Could be a play on words ‘Saw Bone’ which sounds similar to ‘Sorbonne’, but also is a very cynical symbol of our society, raising questions of sacrifice and perceived rewards from the powers in place.

Placement and context are always very important. This is where the major student demonstrations took place. Interestingly, less than 10 meters away from this ‘Saw & Bone’ stencil, Invader placed a pixelated commemoration plaque on the Place de La Sorbonne earlier this May.

Click on the pics to enlarge

Banksy painted additional little rats characters, with the tag 1968 and the 8 falling apart and being transformed into the bow of the famous Minnie mouse, nod to Disneyland, symbolising with his stencils that the 1968 uprising has lost its luster and morphed into capitalism.

Next to the Centre Pompidou, which hosts Le Musee d’art Moderne, the largest museum of modern art in Europe, Banksy painted a mischief rat, which was later transformed into a bigger one holding a cutter. He posted the caption on his Instagram: ‘Fifty years since the uprising in Paris 1968. The birthplace of modern stencil art.’

The entire city is celebrating the 50th Anniversary, from the streets to institutions. For further historical context about the 1968 riots, the Hotel de Ville is presenting historical pictures by photograph Gilles Caron who documented the student revolts while the Archives Nationales are showing the events of May-June 1968 as seen by the authorities of the time. Earlier in May we also shared the intervention of Spanish artist ESCIF on the external walls ‘Open Borders’ of the modern art institution Palais de Tokyo ( see full coverage here).

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Stay tuned as we continue our coverage of Banksy invasion of the French capital…

Paris, streets

Paris: Banksy for World Refugee Day

June 22, 2018 butterfly 2 Comments

A new mural appeared in the streets of Paris . A black and white stencilled little girl standing on a wooden palette is painting a pink wallpaper over a Nazi cross.

It bears all the tales of Banksy. Timing and locations are key: It’s world Refugee Day and the artwork is located on the wall of dismantled refugee camp in the north of Paris.

It’s the first time that Banksy paints in Paris

The image is reminiscent of his 2009 artwork ‘Go flock yourself’, with the same wallpaper pattern.

The little girl is homeless as shown with her teddy bear and duvet stencilled on the lower part of the wall. Banksy continues to fight against xenophobia and continue to raise awareness about the refugee crisis.

Stay tuned for more Banksy news to come…

Paris, Shows

Paris: Miss Van Retrospective at Galerie Openspace

June 8, 2018 butterfly

OpenSpace Gallery in Paris is paying tribute to leading female urban contemporary artist Miss Van with a special Retrospective. The exhibition, curated by Samantha Longhi and Nicolas Chenus presents more than 90 works from 2003 to today, and is running until June 14th.

Spanning across 15 years, the exhibition showcases her prolific body of works on paper, wood, and canvas. It’s quite an emotional journey which present her incessant sources of inspiration and Miss Van’s signature female characters set in diverse oniric situations.

Upon entering the gallery, early works with acrylic on canvas, are featured along side the most recent oil paintings Gitanas series.

Key highlights include her little madonnas or ‘Virgen’, Princessas, Bailerinas, Twinkle, a room dedicated to circus with artworks from here 2008 ‘Still Little Magic’ series, as well as the ‘Atame’ painting who graced the cover of the Juxtapoz magazine.

On the lower ground space hosts the ‘Hypnotic flower’, a wooden installation that was featured at the MOCA in LA in 2011 for Arts in the Streets and her masks series.

The evolution of body of works is simply spectacular. Her lolitas have blossomed into sensual Gitanas with a stunning colour palette and precision of the brushstrokes.

View the full set of pics here

Miss Van Retrospective
Until 16 June 2018
OpenSpace Gallery
116 Bd Richard Lenoir
75011 Paris

Paris

Paris: BLO – ‘Anywhere, Out of this mind’

June 2, 2018 butterfly

Berlin based artist BLO, from the Da Mental Vaporz crew, is currently showing a new exhibition entitled Anywhere, Out Of This Mind at Galerie 42b in Paris.

The new body of work features a series of oniric painted assemblages with a mix of grayscale abstract shapes and surrealist female portraits. The figurative intertwines with the abstraction of lines and textures. Painted figurative cut outs inspired by found contemporary images are pieced together with energetic abstract brushstrokes. Playing with textures, focus and blur, light and shadows, it creates a dialogue between the real and subconscious.

A seductive choreography is set up by a series of assemblages, contrast and accumulation, layering of paint, erosion of textures and images. A dialogue is established between actions and reactions. Energetic abstract brushstrokes recall the gesture of the tag which blends with finesse and elegance onto the female body while silk and drapes bring elegance, lightness and sensuality to the female figures. Mastering anatomy and pose with great detail, the cut out paintings bring our focus on hands, legs, a mouth while the woman’s face remains blurred, as to transport us into a nostalgic and dreamlike world.

We asked BLO a few questions to find out more.

How long have you been preparing for this show?

BLO: After a year experimenting with abstraction, and following my artistic residency in Perpignan (FR) in November/December 2017, I decided to return my focus to figurative painting while exploring fragmented compositions. So, I have been preparing for my current show for the past five months.

What is the inspiration behind the exhibition title Anywhere, Out Of This Mind?

BLO: The title of the exhibition is a reference to a poem by Baudelaire, Anywhere Out Of This World, with the last world being replaced by ‘mind’, as an invitation into the subconscious world.

What are your sources of inspiration and creative process?

BLO: Based on contemporary photography and textures I have observed in the urban environment, I created preparatory collages on paper that served as first sketches for my canvasses and then let my inspiration flow on canvas until I am satisfied with the composition.

What materials did you use?

BLO: For the first time, I have used very little spray paint. I focused on acrylic, oil paint, using pigments, varnish, and different types of inks and enamels to create a variety of textures on canvas.

Some of your artworks are purely in black and white while others are colourful. Can you tell us more?

BLO: After the past two years, I wanted to create grayscale paintings again as a tribute to drawings, specially ink drawings, with a focus on textures.