(Source: www.okaygreat.com)

Versailles traditionalists decry outlandish display

Pascale Mollard-Chenebenoit
Updated on Aug 31, 2010

A show of outlandish sculptures by a cult Japanese artist in the historic Chateau of Versailles near Paris has enraged traditionalists who say it dishonours France's past. From September 14 to December 12, visitors to Versailles will see eye-grabbing statues in silver, fibreglass and metal by Takashi Murakami alongside the chateau's ornate murals and chandeliers.
"The Chateau de Versailles is one of the greatest symbols of Western history," Murakami says in a statement on the museum's website.
"The Versailles of my imagination ... has become a kind of completely separate and unreal world," he adds. "That is what I have tried to depict in this exhibition."
Versailles enthusiasts branded it an outrage to their beloved museum in the upmarket Paris suburb.
"Murakami and company have no business in the Chateau of Versailles!" reads a message on the website Versailles Mon Amour, dedicated to a petition which it says has gained more than 3,500 signatures.
"The chateau is not a billboard but one of the symbols of our history and our culture," it says. France's King Louis XVI was driven from the chateau by revolutionaries in 1789 and guillotined four years later. His ancestor Louis XIV had set up court there in the 17th century, living in his royal apartments - site of the new exhibition.
The museum's director, former culture minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon, says the protests "come from far-right fundamentalist circles and from very conservative circles".
Such groups see Versailles as "a reliquary of nostalgia of [pre-revolution] Ancien Regime France, of a France that is turned in on itself and hostile to modernity," Aillagon says.
Murakami has a global cult following, but his brash, colourful style and sometimes gleefully obscene subject matter are not to everyone's taste.
The 47-year-old artist's work evokes the look of manga comic books, perhaps most famously in the 1997 statue Hiropon, which depicts a large-chested girl skipping over a "rope" of spurting breast milk.
In another sculpture, My Lonesome Cowboy, a naked young man finds a novel use for his own semen.
These two works are not part of the Versailles exhibition, but Anne Brassie, a local literary critic who launched the petition, cites them as showing that Murakami was not worthy to have his work displayed in Versailles.
"The young man with an erect penis whose sperm forms a lasso, the little woman with big breasts whose milk forms a skipping rope - these have no place in the royal apartments," she says.
Another patriotic cultural group, Versailles Defence Co-ordination, also launched a petition which it says has gained more than 4,000 signatures. Its leader, Arnaud Upinsky, says the exhibition is "illegal".
Aillagon says the works in the show "were chosen carefully so they could be seen by everyone".
They include Oval Buddha Silver, a meditating silver figure with a huge globular head, and the multicoloured psychedelic sculpture Flower Matango.
The Murakami show is one in a series of contemporary installations in the chateau, launched by Aillagon. The first such show in 2008, with bright and bizarre sculptures by the US artist Jeff Koons, also angered traditionalists.
Prince Charles-Emmanuel de Bourbon-Parme, an heir of Louis XIV, tried to get it banned, saying it dishonoured his family's past, but the courts dismissed his bid.
Visitors flocked to the Koons show and to the second in the series last year, with works by French pop artist Xavier Veilhan, including futuristic purple horses, a naked woman and a colossal four-metre Yuri Gagarin.
Aillagon said the series "aims to give visitors to historic monuments the chance to discover art that is less familiar to them, and to those who want to see Takashi Murakami or Jeff Koons to come to the chateau where they wouldn't normally come".
The organisers of the site said a "playful" demonstration was planned in front of the chateau on the day of the exhibition's opening.
Agence France-Presse

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凡爾賽宮村上隆展遭敵視 7500人聯署　指作品色情對法國不敬

日本當紅藝術家、「日本安迪華荷」村上隆，下月 14日起在法國凡爾賽宮（ Palace of Versailles）舉行為期約三個月的作品展。但展覽未開始，已引起迴響，觸發抗議。傳統派人士批評他的作品意識色情，在凡爾賽宮展出是對法國歷史文化的不敬，兩個團體已收集到至少 7,500人聯署反對。館方反指批評者眷戀王權時代的法國，敵視現代化。

村上隆在凡爾賽宮官方網頁為即將舉行的作品展撰文說：「凡爾賽宮是西方歷史重要象徵之一。我想像中的凡爾賽宮，成為了一個完全抽離和超現實的世界。這是我嘗試在今次展覽帶出的效果。」但保守派凡爾賽宮忠實擁躉認為，他的作品是對這座藝術聖殿的侮辱。
「村上隆等人跟凡爾賽宮拉不上關係！凡爾賽宮不是廣告板，是我們歷史和文化的象徵之一。」在名為「我愛凡爾賽」（ Versailles Mon Amour）的網頁，不少人留言反對村上隆在凡爾賽宮的展覽，至今收集了逾 3,500個簽名支持。
另一文化組織「凡爾賽保衞協調」（ Versailles Defence Coordination）也有類似簽名活動，有逾 4,000人支持，組織負責人烏平斯基甚至認為村上隆今次展覽是「非法的」。法國前王室後裔曾以展覽侮辱其家族歷史為由，向法庭申請禁制令，但不獲接納。
47 歲的村上隆，藝術作品風格，既豪放又充滿色彩，有時還帶點淫褻的玩味，非人人能接受。他的作品漫畫味濃，最有名是 1997年的雕塑《 Hiropon》，一個漫畫女郎的巨乳噴出的人奶形成繩狀，她就做出跳繩姿態。另一出位之作是《我的寂寞牛仔》（ My Lonesome Cowboy）雕塑，展示一名年輕男子陰莖勃起，射出的精液成套索狀。

館方指批評者眷戀王權時代

雖然這兩個雕像都不會在今次展覽中展出，但文學批評家布拉西耶（ Anne Brassie）認為，這兩件作品足以證明村上隆的作品不配在凡爾賽宮展覽。
凡爾賽宮總監、前文化部長阿亞戈（ Jean-Jacques Aillagon）則為村上隆平反，指抗議的人都是來自「極右原教旨主義者圈子和極保守派人士圈子」，他們視凡爾賽宮為法國王權時代的遺物，與外隔絕，敵視現代化。他指今次展覽展出的作品「都經過仔細挑選，保證老少咸宜」，包括銀製雕像《 Oval Buddha Silver》和色彩艷麗的雕塑《 Flower Matango》。他希望讓參觀歷史建築物的遊客有機會接觸他們不大認識的藝術，也希望吸引村上隆的支持者到歷史建築物參觀。

法新社

(資料：蘋果日報)

The good thing about European film is that anything could be the theme of a film, this one is about chess, are you interested?

Imagine if a Hong Kong film on Chinese chess, would people go see? I doubt it. haha! That's why I love European films, 下棋悟出人生道理, great!

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| Dir: Caroline Bottaro | France/Germany | 2009 |
| Colour | 101min |
| Cast: Sandrine Bonnaire, Kevin Kline, Jennifer Beals |

Helene is no queen. She works as a maid in a Corsican hotel while living a mundane life with her husband and a rebellious daughter. But when she chances upon a couple playing chess, she becomes inspired to learn the centuries-old game. Upon seeing a game set while cleaning for an American expat named Dr. Kroger, she tries to convince her employer to tutor her. Thus begins her journey into self-discovery… Sandrine Bonnaire delivers a elegantly understated performance, supported by a surprising turn by Kevin Kline in a French-speaking role.

2009 Tribeca, Montréal Film Festival

Screening Time:
| 26/8/2010 (Thu) | 19:30 | AC |
| 31/8/2010 (Tue) | 19:30 | UL |

(Info adapted from HK Summer IFF)

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

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Tuesday, August 31, 2010