Le Jaquehammering

Well, more jack-hammering this morning, so i did some work while they were on their very long coffee break and then took the noise as a good excuse to get out and see some culture. I'm trying to see more contemporary work this week so headed over to the Bastille to check out La Maison Rouge.

On my way past the Basin de L'Arsenal i stopped to admire this, what is it called anyway? Over door mantel? Door super frame? Anyway this door thingy. Look at those carved ropes!

The outside of La Maison Rouge was not very spectacular. A little neon. glass door. But the show inside, a display of David Walsh's private collection was awesome in its curatorial prowess. Walsh is some big private collector from Tasmania, where he founded the Museum of Old and New Art.  And the evocative and sometimes jarring ways the collection hung together left me giddy. Stunned. Jack-hammered. No photos allowed of course but i did sneak one to give you some slight idea. Egyptian sarcophagus meet Giacometti meet these ceremonial clothes made of bark called 'tapas.'

Not as part of the show, but just part of the museum, there is a fountain that jets out water that forms text that is randomly generated from the internet. It was like having a hallucination. It's by Julius Popp and you can see a video about his work here if you want to cut and paste.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AICq53U3dl8


After all that i needed to walk around for awhile to clear my head and start feeling like i was in the world again. I went over to the Institut du Monde Arab to look at the view

The windows of the building are covered with this lattice like grid of metal. The apertures open and close depending on the amount of light/heat they want to let in.

And here's the view from the rooftop terrace. Oh right, i'm in Paris. Hey Terrace in Paris! I'm a poet!