I took this photo at the Monumenta 2010 exhibit at Le Grand Palais. Each year Monumenta hosts the work of an artist. This year it is - well was, as the exhibit closes tonight - Christian Boltanski who covered the floor of Le Grand Palais with old garments and clothes... That's not all, he also built a mountain with them (that is what you can see in this photo) and added moaning loudspeakers at every corner. I'll be honest, even though I generally love modern art work, I really haven't been touched by this one. But a lot of people have - well so some bloggers say. Anyway, like I said, today is the last day, so if you want to find out for yourself and if you're in Paris, well... pay it a visit.
Finally, a MUST miss exhibition!
ReplyDeleteTho, your photo really has a neat motion to it.
Your POV for this shot gives a nice echo of the mound of clothing shap in the lines of the glass roof's structure. I guess art always makes us think. . .perhaps not in ways the artist conceives, but in whatever we bring to experiencing the work. Here in the US a lot of the available clothing to buy has been manufactured under questionable labor conditions in other countries by people earning very little to manufacture goods cheaply for people who have quite a lot already and don't really need the goods. Both views of the mountain (people groaning under the weight of a mountain of abundance and people struggling to make a wage through creating the unneeded mountain of stuff) kinda makes for a lot of moaning and groaning all the way around. Very cool photo!
ReplyDelete-Kim
PS- on further reflection, this art installation is probably just a statement on the state of my laundry. . .:-).
ReplyDelete-Kim
I really didn't understand this work of art until I read Kim's posts. And I agree with both of them :)
ReplyDeleteI love the lines in the photo, but admit that I wasn't about to be taken with the art. But Kim, your post has taken me a lot closer to appreciating it. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteLove the photo—and also what Kim had to say. Must admit, though: This does remind me that I really need to do laundry.
ReplyDeleteYes, the ever present mountain of laundry is all that I can think of right now....
ReplyDeleteEric, your photo of the work may be more interesting than the work itself. Coupled with Kim's interpretation, I think what we have here is a work of art!
ReplyDeleteI was going to ask for my 6 euros back - instead I went home and did my laundry.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, it takes a lot of creativity to come up with this kind of "art". If that makes him an artist, than every teenaged boy in the world is an artist.
ReplyDeleteOui, I heard of this exhibit before it opened, and I too, am not impressed with its artistic merit.
ReplyDeleteIt would be way cool if Boltanski gave those clothes to 3rd World, homeless, or any destitute countries and/or people. The cost for putting on an exhibit like this is such an extravagance of money spending, such a slap in the face to humanity. I really do not think this "artist" is someone really needed -- actually, the artist is an embarrassment. People can go on and on about the philosophy behind this piece, but the money factor spent is such a glowing ugliness -- that it makes the general public look away, and tell me, artists are not needed. Yes, a man said that to me. Of course it was in the text of a conversation at a show wherein my guest was a nurse from Taiwan. He said, in contrast, she, meaning the nurse, is so needed.
PS: I am a fashion diva, and when I tire of clothing, I pack it up and send it to destitute countries. Where they are so poor, you wouldn't believe what the children wear, or do not wear for that matter. Or, I give the clothes to local organizations in the US where they help the impoverished and abused.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's the old saying "I am putting my money where my mouth is".
Bravo Lois and Kim...oh, and you too Eric! ;-) It is certainly a unique perspective of how clothes, like people, get wrinkled with time.
ReplyDeleteI love the photo and Kim's comment. Art is highly subjective already but a lot of what passes for modern "art" ahem.. well, let's just say that it's hard to take every single thing seriously.
ReplyDeletePersonally, the minute I saw this pile, I immediately thought I should go do my laundry, so if that was the "thought provoking" goal, then mission accomplished on my end.
You can see this same exhibit any day of the week on the back loading dock of my local Goodwill Store where the workers are sorting the clothing donations and the radio is blaring.
ReplyDeleteI'll be honest, here and in Paris I often feel we are all being RIPPED OFF by so called "artists' or "artistes". Some I can appreciate, but a lot I think is bunch of ....
ReplyDeleteyou know! This is one of them. Glad I didn't lay down any euros on this one .
This could start a whole new trend. To get this much clothes, his advertising for it must have been very successful. If the clothing in some form can be donated to or used for charity, what other items could he use for a sculpture and then use them to help charity. Maybe tinned food.
ReplyDeleteis art only for beauty and good thoughts? the blog post on this exhibit has raised much interesting dialogue (lois simon, kim), perhaps that is the point of art? Boltanski has some fascinating work on death, life, and the abused. perhaps this is not the most beautiful or sane work he has done, but.... maybe we need to be pushed in other ways. i do not always enjoy his work, but looking at the career of his art brings many new ideas to my mind.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting this great article, I am so interested on what I read, good and useful content about Monumenta 2010.
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