Category: photography

Paris’ Pompidou Centre hosts a May 68 happening, 50 years on

The Pompidou Centre in Paris hosts the ‘Mai 68 Assemblée Générale’ happening to mark the 50th anniversary of May 68 in France. The event runs until 20 May.

In May-June 1968 massive student protests and strikes across France nearly brought down President Charles de Gaulle and his government.

Fifty years on, the Pompidou Centre hosts in Paris a happening called ‘Mai 68 Assemblée Générale’.

May 68 posters and slogans

Graphist artist Philippe Lakits will reinterpret the slogans and posters of May 68 in a 60 metre long frieze designed for the event.

The May 68 slogans have had a powerful impact in a France without newspapers, radio or television, which were all on strike at the time.

Most of the May 68 posters were produced in the Ateliers populaires (People’s Workshops) that art and graphic design students will try to revive in the Pompidou Centre Forum.

According to the event organiser Romain Lacroix, the main May 68 topics on the posters are nowadays ‘somehow irrelevant:

Feminism was hardly touched on, now it’s much more to the fore. Ecology was also neglected, even if the Larzac became an issue… these are issues that are of interest to the younger generation.

Besides the picture frieze, debates and conferences will take place in a mobile lecture hall designed by Olivier Vadrot.

Georges Pompidou and May 68

The Pompidou Centre has a specific link to May 68.

Georges Pompidou, who was General de Gaulle’s prime minister at the time, managed the crisis while he was bringing it to political closure.

In 1969 after being elected president, Pompidou decided to to have an arts centre built which opened ten years later in 1977.

We can see clearly how it’s a question of how to make protest part of the museum. It’s due to the fact that the first artists whose works were shown at the Pompidou Centre in 1977 were those demonstrating on the streets in 68.  [ . . . ]

Continue at Source: Paris’ Pompidou Centre hosts a May 68 happening, 50 years on – culture – RFI

Commemorating the Global May ’68 Events 

Fifty years after the transformative May ’68 student-led protests in France, universities and cultural institutions across the country are presenting diverse programs and events that revisit the spirit of the ’60s in all of its facets, from revolution to social activism and more. Check back here periodically for an updated listing of events.

Read More: Commemorating the Global May ’68 Events | French Culture

“Jane and Serge: family album”: the mythical photos of Birkin and Gainsbourg by Andrew Birkin

“Jane and Serge: family album”: the few words that define the new exhibition of the Museum of Fine Arts in Calais perfectly summarize the relationship of the iconic couple. A man, a woman, a family in the broadest sense, the 1960s, freedom and love, all told in about sixty photos captured by Andrew Birkin, Jane’s brother.

More story and video at Source: “Jane et Serge : album de famille” : les photos mythiques de Birkin et Gainsbourg par Andrew Birkin

11 things we learned from Fabien Cousteau – who lived under water for 31 days

The food was ‘really, really awful’.

In 2014, Fabien Cousteau and his team embarked on a mission to break the world record for the number of days spent living under water.

They set up temporary quarters on Aquarius, an 81-ton vessel that serves as the world’s only underwater marine laboratory located nine miles off the coast of the Florida Keys and 63 feet beneath the sea.

Then 31 days later, the team emerged back on the shore, breaking the record formerly set by Mr Cousteau’s grandfather – the famous ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau – by a day.

Four years later, Mr Cousteau relives his Mission 31 experience on Reddit’s Ask Me Anything and here are 11 things we learned from the aquanaut. [ . . . ]

Read More at Source: THE IRISH NEWS 11 things we learned from Fabien Cousteau – who lived under water for 31 days – The Irish News

Julia Child “France is a Feast” exhibit

I love these rarely seen black and white photographs taken by Paul Child in France between 1948 and 1954.

The recent exhibit features 60 rarely seen black-and-white photographs taken between 1948 and 1954 along with notebooks, logs, letters and a Rolleiflex camera that Paul Child liked to use because it allowed him to look down and capture people unobtrusively.

Paul’s wife, Julia Child, became a celebrity cookbook author and “The French Chef” on television.

Julia Child
Julia smoking a cig in Cassis 1950
Juila Child2
Julia Child, telephone booth