If the opening date of museums and galleries is scheduled for May 19, we can nevertheless continue to admire works of art. We just have to open our eyes because without knowing it, we rub shoulders, perhaps daily, with works integrated into the urban landscape. It is therefore the ideal time to rediscover the city through the prism of contemporary art. We offer you a short overview of Paris, a real open-air museum.
Works from both sides of Paris
The Kiosk of the Noctambules by Jean-Michel Othoniel
Let's start our walk with a must-see place in Paris: the Louvre. Not the museum, but the metro stop Palais-Royal – Musée du Louvre. When we leave the mouth of the subway, we pass through the work of an iconic contemporary artist. Entitled Le Kiosque des Noctambules, this metro mouth is the work of sculptor Jean-Michel Othoniel. This work, which made the artist known, perfectly illustrates his style through the use of colored glass beads. Located on Place Colette dominated by classical architecture, the work contrasts with the urban landscape by offering pedestrians a colorful and poetic parenthesis. Inaugurated in 2000, the singular work that plays with light is an invitation to look at the world differently, a world re-enchanted. According to the artist, "re-enchanting life is a poetic and political act".
The site-specific installation Les Deux Plateaux
Near the Louvre, we find the famous Columns of Buren that Instagram has propelled to the rank of must-see spot in the capital. But do you really know the history of this work? Called Les Colonnes de Buren, it is actually called Les Deux Plateaux.Directed in 1986 by Daniel Buren and Patrick Bouchain, it is located in the courtyard of the Palais-Royal, close to the Ministry of Culture and the Comédie Française. Arousing many controversies since its inauguration, this public commission nevertheless made it possible to transform a poorly arranged and dirty car park into one of the most beautiful sites in Paris.
In addition, Les Colonnes is one of the first in situ installations . Indeed, Daniel Buren wanted to design an urban work inviting the public to invest it freely. Of varying dimensions, these columns aligned in Carrara marble and white and black marble from the Pyrenees refer to ancient statures. Giving the impression that they plunge into the ground, they also highlight the past of this place which, in 1899, was then a semi-buried electrical plant.
The Welcoming Hands by Louise Bourgeois
In the Tuileries Gardens since 2000, there is a set of five bronze sculptures by the French artist Louise Bourgeois. Known for her monumental installations and in particular her famous spiders that she calls Mom, she explores themes such as family, the body , and childhood memories through the prism of the unconscious. His sculptures entitled The Welcoming Hands depict intertwined hands clasped on a granite plinth. Soft and mysterious, these hands, like imprints of everyday gestures, metaphorize generosity, tenderness, love, but also sorrow, heartbreak and abandonment.
Bouquet of Tulips by Jeff Koons as a tribute
In the gardens of the Champs-Élysées, between the Petit Palais and the Place de la Concorde, Bouquet of Tulips by Jeff Koons has been installed since 2019. The monumental bronze sculpture more than twelve meters high echoes the attacks of 2015. Symbolizing remembrance and resilience, it depicts an outstretched hand carrying a bouquet of brightly colored flowers towards the sky. The work also evokes the hand of the Statute of Liberty and Pablo Picasso's painting entitled The Woman in the Vase. The flowers evoke optimism, rebirth, the vitality of nature and the cycle of life. To represent the loss related to the attack, the bouquet consists of only eleven flowers.
The Stravinsky Fountain in the artistic 1%
The 1% artistic device consists of devoting 1% of the budget of the works of a public building to the commission or acquisition of a work by a living artist in order to integrate it into the architecture of the building inside or outside. Thus, the Stravinsky Fountain (also called The Fountain of Automatons), near the Centre Pompidou, is part of this system in connection with the Centre Pompidou. Located on Place Igor Stravinsky, this public commission was created by two artists: Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely, in 1983.
It then evokes the musical work of Igor Stravinsky, a Russian composer of the twentieth century, symbol of eclecticism and artistic internationalism. Composed of either resin or metal, the sixteen mechanized sculptures rotate on themselves and come alive by random jets of water. The bright colours of Niki de Saint Phalle's recognizably shaped sculptures contrast with Jean Tinguely's black-painted machines. Both urban furniture and a work in motion, La Fontaine Stravinski has become a monument in its own right in the Parisian landscape.
Works along Tramway T3
Along line 3 of the tramway, there are about twenty permanent works, always in this desire to make visible to all, contemporary creations. The work Les Rochers dans le ciel by Didier Marcel was then erected in 2012 as an extension of the T3a tram line. Located since 2017 at the entrance to Kellermann Park, it consists of five polyester resin events perched on top of seven-metre thin masts. In a poetic vision, the rocks seem to float in the sky, disturbing our perception of gravity. The artist then says: "Art constitutes a departure from reality, a form of artifact, which aims to bring out the evocative power of the things we observe. »
On the other side of the Seine, on the left bank, we can observe on the central lawn of the Vidal-Naquet esplanade, Monochrome for Paris, a sculpture made by Nancy Rubins. Erected in 2013, this monumental and aerial sculpture plays with the geometry of forms, a characteristic of the artist. It consists of a stainless steel structure and aluminum canoes and boats, similar to a metal tree.
La Défense, a unique museum in the world
La Défense, Europe's leading business district, is a veritable open-air museum. This district is thus the result of a policy of acquisition of works, begun as soon as it was built in 1972. Offering a truly singular and surprising journey, La Défense highlights more than seventy-six works by artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. From then on, works such as The Red Spider by Alexander Calder, The Sleepwalker by Henri de Miller or The Poppies by Catherine Feff, invite us to stroll between monumental sculptures, fountains and frescoes.
On every street corner, street-art
It's no secret that the streets of Paris are full of street art. If, in recent years, the thirteenth arrondissement has undeniably been the favorite terrain for street artists, today we will take you to the heart of the eleventh arrondissement, to make you discover the Oberkampf Wall. Located at the corner of rue St Maur and rue Oberkampf, Le Mur is a work initiated by the association M.U.A. (Modular. Urban. Reactive.), created in 2003. Inspired by advertising displays, the association invites twice a month, urban artists to invest the wall, offering passers-by a real work of art. Thus, no less than twenty-four works have succeeded each year since the date of creation of M.U.R.
Exhibitions in the street
While museum exhibitions are forced to be postponed indefinitely, exhibitions go beyond their usual framework to become part of the public space. We give you some ideas of exhibitions to do during your walk.
Street artist Hopare exhibits
Place du Louvre, French street-artist Hopare, known for his monumental frescoes, is exhibiting five bronze sculptures until May 30, 2021. Not limited to urban art, he explored a multitude of forms of expression. Through his sculptures, he seeks to give life to his memories, his encounters and his thoughts. In addition, for the street artist, the location of the Place du Louvre has a symbolic significance. In this sense, the five faces turned towards the colonnades – symbol of French classicism – represent a real achievement for the artist.
Philippe Geluck and his Cat on the Champs-Élysées
On the Champs-Élysées, until June 9, 2021, we can see the emblematic figure of the cat by the artist Philippe Geluck. The artist represents his Cat through stagings: the Cat crushing a car, in Atlas supporting a sphere of waste, playing the flute, etc. These twenty sculptures of 2.7 meters mark a desire on the part of the artist to bring for a moment an enchanted parenthesis to walkers. He then said: "Through these twenty pieces, I hope to bring the public joy, laughter and a certain surrealist poetry that we love in Belgium".
"Faces of the Rhône, the King River", a reflection by photographer Camille Moirenc
Along the Luxembourg Garden , you can see until July 14, 2021, an exhibition presenting the photographs of Camille Moirenc. Entitled "Faces of the Rhône, the King River", the exhibition shows the river through its history, its landscapes, its territories, its imagination, its importance for human activity and especially for the ecosystem. A reflection that then takes on a real meaning at the heart of all these climate changes.
"School Outings", an exhibition to support emerging artists
For the fifth time, on La Villette Park, an exhibition entitled " School Outings" is taking place until May 16, 2021. This exhibition aims to support contemporary creation and a whole generation of recently graduated artists. with various practices: from the practice of visual arts, performance, digital arts, architecture, photography, cinema, fashion design and design… In addition, this year, with the sanitary context, the exhibition is visible outside, but also online.
On both sides of Paris, works are erected. Often public commissions, they illustrate the city's desire to support artistic creation and make contemporary art accessible to all. But, beyond this public art, we also find street art, an artistic practice that is then born directly in the urban space. In addition, in recent years, we have noticed a growing desire in the field of art to exhibit directly in the city, a desire that therefore makes sense in the current context.
