L'auberge Espagnole

In the last two weeks, I have been to Nancy and wandered about Metz more. I am still slogging through photos to find ones to post, and gathering my thoughts to relate something that would be either informational or somewhat interesting. That could take awhile.

I finally visited the interior of the St Étienne Cathedral today. Unfortunately, the photos I took were a bust. It is tall, and has an incredible collection of stained glass windows. I sat on the floor at the back of the cathedral, behind the organ pipes, trying to take a photo, and noticed the echoes of all the sounds -- babies crying, murmurs, even the wind -- all at the other end! Everything can be heard, and yet, nothing seemed to overpower, although perhaps the latter is because people tend to be a little quieter in churches. It is an incredible space, and although I am not Christian, I was deeply moved by its sheer presence.

This weekend, a series of events were held in honor of the opening of the Centre Pompidou in Metz (which I believe is not fully operational yet. The unaware person I am, I did not know about the festivities until sometime last night, when I happened to see a pamphlet lying under the mailboxes in my apartment building. So today I did a quick tour of a few of the art exhibits, some of which will remain until October, although everything this weekend was free.

There was a giant red half-sphere (dish?) by Anish Kapoor. The plaque on the door describes it as simple yet imposing ... made of a material that both attracts and intimidates. The viewer's image is both reflected and lost... What struck me about this piece, was not the work itself, but the juxtaposition of the symmetric modern piece installed in a symmetric classical room that had been constructed by skilled craftsmen. I do not know if it was meant to be displayed in such a manner, but it stirred, at least in me, both fascination and repulsion.

FRAC (Fonds Regional d'Art Contemporain) Lorraine hosted À Contre-Corps/Countering the Body, a collection of works centered around a devouring theme. There is black string over everything, including the entry courtyard. At first, I hesitated to walk on it, but it was the only way in, and then I saw others tromping all over it and figured that was expected... and it was! The string theme leads through the museum to different exhibits, a collection of photos with blindfolded participants "devouring" food laid out on a man's abdomen, a video of mouths. Again, fascinating but disturbing. The photo shows the end (or is it the beginning) of the strands of string, with lonely (bored?) docent slouching in the corner.

At the Musées de la Cour d'Or, an Alexander Calder retrospective, a timeline of his life and achievements, a series of mobiles, films of him and his works. There was one film in which the expressionless Calder made mechanical toys of circus animals of his making go through a miniature circus act, life-size scaled down to tiny. Again, something a little creepy about it, reminding me of a Stankmeyer film, but interesting. It also reminded me of a project my housemate, Steven, developed with one of his partners. They did the opposite of Calder, scaling up the tiny, by making the game, Mousetrap, life-size. Steven has moved on, but his partner still travels with that manifestation.

Across from FRAC, a sound display. A film of a cellist (whose name slips my mind) playing next to a canyon, the sounds melding, as the echos rebound to join the new sounds emanating from her instrument. When I arrived, Veronique (in the photo), who was greeting people at the door, offered to show me through the display, since she could speak English. Veronique translated what the other docents were saying for me. She has applied for a position at the new Centre Pompidou-Metz, and if anyone there happens to see this, she is a wonderful person and extremely helpful.

From the museums, I headed to Place Saint-Louis, where I was to see the highlight of my day. A band was mechanically playing the standard pop/oldies/dance pieces, like they were reading from sheet music. There were three "cannons" shooting out soap bubble "snow" over the dance area, where adults and children alike were jumping around, having a good time. The band played some Latin beats, but I have to say that no one dances to Latin beats like Latinos -- tall, proud, shoulders level, yet relaxed, smooth, and well, the hip thing! In the words of Liz Guerrini (née Zaragoza), the French (she actually said Europeans, I think) cannot move their hips. The theme of the dance was L'auberge Espagnole (Spanish inn), although I have to say that other than those few songs, I did not notice anything else that was Spanish, and really, those rhythms belong to Latin America and Africa rather than Spain.

And then I saw them. A couple who had certainly danced together for some time, was gliding across the floor. They moved, smoothly, assuredly, using the whole floor, with a grace that far outpaced anything else moving out there. They were relaxed and obviously enjoying themselves, and indeed a joy to watch as well. My camera batteries were running low, plus, my eye is also not quite as good, nor my shutter as quick as it used to be, but I hope I have captured some of their joyfulness.

Et je les ai vu. Un couple ce qui a bien sûr dansé ensemble pour un long temps, ils ont glissé à travers la piste de danse. Ils avancèrent, doucement, sûrement, employèrent toute la piste de danse. Ils ont été relâché et manifestement ils sont s'amusés, et vraiment une joie pour regarder. Les piles pour mon camera ont diminué, mon oeil n'est pas très bien, et mon obturateur n'est pas très vite, mais j'éspère que j'aie saisi leur joie de vivre un peu.

At some point, I remembered how much I actually enjoy photographing people. There is something about the human character that adds life to an image.

Pendant le séance, je me souvins que j'aime prendre les photos des gens. Il y a quelque chose sur le caractère humain ce que faire la vie dans un image.

I did not catch their names, but I did obtain their permission to use their photos in this blog, and left the url for them. I hope they have the chance to visit and download their photos!

Je ne sais pas ses noms, mais ils me permettent d'utiliser leur photos dans cet blog. J'éspère qu'ils puissent visiter et télécharger leur photos.

Photos for this entry are in my Metz Events album (there are other photos there as well).

Les photos pour cette note sont dans mon album Metz Events (il y a les autres photos, aussi).