Posted in Art, Event, News, tagged Marseille, Mucem on October 24, 2020| 1 Comment »
Fabulous, literally….the rooftop at MuCEM
During November and December, MuCEM’s new Happy Hour programme includes free admission to all exhibitions from 16:00-18:00. This starts today and will last for the duration of the curfew. It’s worth remembering that all the public museums in Marseille are free too, for the next 12 months.
Details here and worth a click to see the lovely photo of MuCEM, better than mine! https://www.mucem.org/le-mucem-en-mode-happy-hour
Posted in Art, News, tagged Koons, Marseille, Mucem on September 21, 2020| 2 Comments »
Koons with one of his balloon dogs
Next year’s MuCEM blockbuster will be a show devised by and dedicated to US artist Jeff Koons. His sculptures depict everyday objects, including stainless-steel balloon animals which sell for stratospheric prices: ‘Rabbit’ sold for $91.1m. Curators at the Marseille museum have invited Kooms to ‘dialogue’ with their collection of thousands of items. He will choose 200 of them to exhibit and produce 20 works inspired by them. The artist has already been to Marseille twice to plan the show. (more…)
Posted in Event, News, tagged Marseille, Mucem on December 17, 2019| 2 Comments »
Fabulous, literally….the rooftop at MuCEM
MuCEM has announced its programme for the coming year, chapeau! to them for letting us all know.
One of the major exhibitions will be Pharaons Superstars, 29th April – 17th August which interestingly runs roughly parallel to Pharaon, Osiris et la Momie at Aix’s Musée Granet. Lots for the Egyptologists in 2020.
Here’s the listing: Mucem_Expositions_2020_Communique_de_Presse
Posted in News, Patrimoine, tagged Fort Saint-Jean, Marseille, Mucem on October 9, 2018| 4 Comments »
…you may be interested in the new space opened in the Fort Saint-Jean in July.
(c) MuCEM, Gabriel Popoff
Posted in Art, Event, tagged Ai Weiwei, Marseille, Mucem on June 19, 2018| Leave a Comment »
This is a highly political show – highly personal too. Much is about the artist’s relationship with his father whose ship from Shanghai back in 1929 docked right next to where MuCEM is today. Indeed it was France that inspired him to become a poet, a dangerous occupation back in China where he was later forced into internal exile for 20 years; which underlies the political theme of his son’s exhibition, that of the refugee.
Colored House 2015
Ai Weiwei has made items specifically for Marseille, in the first large-scale exhibition of his work in France. In the first room, visitors see one-tonne cubes of Marseille soap, one inscribed with the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the other with a Chinese Declaration of the Rights of Women. The centre-piece of the first room however is a recreation of a Chinese house from the Ming Dynasty, strikingly colourful in the cool white geometry of the gallery. But its covering in modern industrial paint is a comment on China’s modern rush to economic progress.
‘A small act is worth a million thoughts,’ Ai Weiwei
This theme carries through into the second room where the centre-piece is an installation of 61 chandeliers mounted on a traditional bottle rack. It evokes the type of lighting in international hotels in Chinese megacities, contrasted to the humble support of the bottle rack. It’s dazzling.
‘Creativity is part of human nature. It can only be untaught’, Ai Weiwei
The destruction of these blue and white dragon bowls symbolises the effects of the Cultural Revolution
Elsewhere in the room, there’s an installation of pots from 5000BC slopped with industrial paint (you may have seen these at the RA in London), plus a 2016 series of portraits of the artist made from lego.
‘A refugee could be anybody. It could be you or me. The refugee is a crisis, a human crisis’, Ai Weiwei.
‘My conclusion is we are one humanity. If anyone is being hurt, we are all being hurt. If anyone has joy, that’s our joy’, Ai Weiwei.
THE EXHIBITION RUNS UNTIL 12 NOVEMBER 2018
Posted in Art, Event, Food, News, tagged Ai Weiwei, Marseille, Mucem on June 16, 2018| Leave a Comment »
If you would like a preview of MuCEM’s summer show, ‘Ai Weiwei Fan-Tan’, head off down there on Tuesday 19th June when there is free entry 16-23:00hrs.
Plus…. (more…)
Posted in Art, Event, tagged Aix, Aix-en-Provence, hotel caumont, Marseille, Mucem, Navette Maritime, Nicolas de Stael, Picasso, Provence on April 24, 2018| Leave a Comment »
The first treat is the resumption of the ‘Navette Maritime’ service in Marseille. (more…)
Posted in Art, Book, News, Patrimoine, tagged Aixcentric, Arles, Art in the South of France, Auguste Chabaud, Cassis, Charles Camoin, Joseph Garibaldi, Marseille, Matisse, Mucem, musee bonnard, Musee Nationale Fernand Leger, Musee Picasso, Nice, Paul Cézanne, Regards-de-Provence, Renoir on April 16, 2018| 18 Comments »
…..is my new book which is being launched this week.
(more…)
Posted in Art, Event, Patrimoine, tagged Mucem, Notre Dame de la Garde on April 28, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Tomorrow sees the opening of the new show at MUCEM. It’s called ‘Lieux Saints Partagés’ and focuses on the sites where Christianity, Islam and 
Judaism all find commonality for place of worship. It’s not just Jerusalem – the exhibition takes in other places, even Marseille where, it says, Notre Dame de la Garde is a centre for all religions. (more…)
Posted in Art, Patrimoine, tagged en Balade, Marseille, Mucem on January 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »
We’ve had a great year of culture – maybe next we’re in for a year of sport? Marseille has won through to the final round to be chosen as the Capitale Européenne du Sport 2017. The other finalist (more…)
The South of France. Enchanted by the deep blue of the Mediterranean, the olive trees, poppies, irises and that dazzling light, artists found their creativity flourished under the hot sun. My new book takes you on a journey visiting museums and galleries as well as artists’ studios and their favourite painting spots. From Van Gogh in Arles, to Signac in Saint-Tropez; from Cézanne in Aix, over to Nice for Renoir and Matisse, the story unfolds of artists who knew each other and painted together in the warm south. Prepare too to meet colourful local artists who captured their beloved Provence for us to enjoy.
Buy: in Book-in-Bar, Aix, or online. Please click here: /art-in-the-south-of-france-the-inside-story/paperback/product-23586102.html
aixcentric 