The 13th Tour

At the end of October there was an exhibition in Paris unlike any I'd heard of before. It was called "Tour Paris 13." Essentially, an old apartment building on the periphery of the 13th arrondissement was scheduled for demolition. In an imaginative twist of fate, a group of over 80 artists were assembled to individually design each abandoned room according to their own desires. 

The exhibit was free and soon became wildly popular. The caveat though: only 50 are allowed to enter the apartment per hour. And the exhibit is only open from 10am-5pm. This means that we had to get in line at 5:30 in the morning. I know, it's crazy. That's the kind of thing people do for for iPhone's or Beyonce tickets. Plus I was really sick. And it was raining. 

But, you know. I looked at myself in the mirror and I said, "Daniel. You're young. You're in Paris. And you've got the bone structure of a young Jay Leno. Get out there and enjoy some art."

So I did just that. The following are some photos I took. Because the work was ephemeral--literally in that it was soon to be demolished--the curators avidly encouraged photo taking. This was a strong, sort of postmodern twist on experiencing art that I really enjoyed. It made me reflect on the future of art, and how that future fits in to our growing dependency on handheld devices. 

What's also really interesting to think about is that people used to live in these rooms. At times, I couldn't tell if an artist was making a specific choice, or if some decorative element of the room was simply a vestige from the old inhabitant. It was weird!!

Since it was both a revelatory and silly experience I'm going to add commentary to the photos as such. Half will have sincere comments about the work of the artist, and the other half will be bad jokes in the voice of a hackie  Borscht Belt comedian circa the 1950's. Enjoy.

On line.

Facade

Facade 2

Interesting use of perspective and material. Impressive metal work.

This was the original poster for "The Parent Trap."

A piece entitled "Syria." Spray paint cans used to create missiles. The artists seems to be raising a parallel between war/art.

A wall made of doors that has no exit/entrance. Use of classic perspective focus.

When Drain-o simply won't get the job done...

"Dude. I don't think I'm feeling anything yet--woah!"

"Seriously Flubert, every time we play Poker your tell is really obvious."

This is something I would tattoo on my body if I didn't have severe buyer's regret

Awesome use of chalk. Self referential in depiction of urban decay.

My mom loves this show.

Pac-Man's cooler, French brother.

Great mix of mediums/textures.

This was runner up for back tattoo.

Die above your means

This is probably one of my favorite pieces in that it has a very succinct message. The use of soft colors clashed against the "noose-tie" is striking. 

"Can I haz contemporary art??"

This was in the basement as you exit and is just really fucking scary.

Hollow Ween

*The header of this post is also the working title of script I'm writing about a male, mall mannequin that comes to life and struggles with erectile dysfunction. 

So I thought, in light of the holiday, I would explain how the French do Halloween. First off, it's important to remember that Halloween is an export (from Scotland and Ireland). The only reason I know this is because I had my students read a handout. Apparently (I'm trusting the internet with this one) "the ancient Gaels believed that on October 31st, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops."* 

So yes, it's a cultural appropriation for the French, but it's much more of a geographic leap for the United States to embrace Halloween than the French so I don't know why they act so far removed from it.

And trust me, they're really fumbling when it comes to Halloween. See the following that I found in a costume store--

Bourreau Blanc means white hangman. I know...

It's like someone quickly explained to them the basics of the holiday and they ran with it. You can dress weird and eat sweets? Tell me more... And in fact, Halloween was quite en vogue 5-10 years ago (according to the woman I live with). 

The students I teach confirmed this lead. According to them, children stop trick-or-treating around age 12 and you only really dress up if you're going to a party. When I asked why Halloween wasn't popular anymore they gave a very mature answer for a group of individuals that collectively smell so bad. "It's too commercial" or "It's too much of an enterprise." I heard this same line of logic in three different classes and I can only imagine this rhetoric is deeply embedded in French culture. "What about Christmas" I countered. Surely they couldn't deny that Christmas is a money making machine no matter where you go. This caught them off guard. Something about Noel--they argued--perhaps the time of year, the color palette and the food, made Christmas O.K. with the French. Plus it's sort of in their historical past. 

The question that really threw me for a loop came as we were making a list of Halloween vocabulary. This is a neat trick for any uninspired teacher in that it allows you to pretty much do nothing for a couple of minutes while the chil'en think. We got through "pumpkin" and "skeleton" before falling on "candy." A boy in the front who hadn't yet participated raised his hand. His head was tilted the way puppies do when they hear a weird noise. "What does zat have to do with ze song Candy Shop." I was struck off-balance. 

"Like the song by 50 cent?" 

"Oui." 

"Well" I fumbled, "there was this really popular theme in rap music during the early 2000's where candy was used as a metaphor for...umm...sexy things." At least this was a topic I finally felt knowledgable on. "Do you guys know the song Laffy Taffy?" Blank stares. I guess that was kind of a stretch. 

"Oh! Like zat song, Lollipop!" 

"Exactly!" I beamed. "Like lollipop!" Finally it felt like we were getting each other. Like I was Jack Black in School of Rock. Another girl raised her hand. We're on a roll I thought. 

"What does that have to do with Halloween?"

Oh. Right.


I continued the lesson by asking what were popular costumes in France. This is where the French really flounder. So unimaginative. It's as if they wanted praise for knowing vocabulary like "ghost" and "vampire." Not going to cut it in my class. I explained that in America this year the most popular costumes where things like Miley Cyrus at the VMA's or Daft Punk or the dad from Malcolm in the Middle in an apron (they don't really know Breaking Bad so I improvised). 

Now it was their turn to look unamused. "Zat's so commercial" said one girl from behind a thin cigarette I imagined her smoking. 

And that's when I realized that America doesn't only embrace holidays as economic capital, holidays are almost exclusively just that. I was struck by my own innate reaction: Why would anyone question the commercial element of a holiday? Do they come any other way?

Who knows! Maybe Hershey was in cahoots with 50 Cent the whole time. In exchange for life saving surgery at the hands of the sexy green M&M after his bulletproof vest was pierced, 50 was obligated to make candy cool again (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory holds up, but Gene Wilder's more scary than sexy).

Anyway, I'll take a commercialized holiday over one that accidentally recycles stale racist imagery for euros any day. 

I dunno. Here's a picture of me dressed as Harry Potter for anyone who made it this far--

I was too cheap to buy a wand so I found that stick on the ground.



*http://www.halloweenhistory.org/