Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe- A modern spin

One of our last weeks in Paris, we visited the Centre Pompidou's modern art museum. The museum consisted of two floors, and there really was something for everyone. There were pieces that sort of spoke to me, reminded me of home, pieces that creeped me out, and pieces that were not, by any stretch of the imagination, art. 

One thing that the Centre Pompidou did for me was create a little more of an appreciation for modern art. It made me remember that this style of art was born from somewhere, and highly influenced by "historical art," if you will. While walking around the museum, I stumbled upon this pice:

This is Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe by Alain Jacquet painted in 1964. Now, if you don't recognize the association between this piece and the piece by Edouard Manet: congratulations, you personally gave Chantel a heart attack. For a reminder:

Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe- Edouard Manet- 1863

In Jacquet's interpretation of the painting, three of his friends pose in place of Manet's original models. Jacquet's style was known at MEC art (mechanical, apparently.) The models are wearing modern clothes, and appear to be in almost exactly the same position. The big difference here is that Jacquet's style blurs the painting (much like a pointillism style). Because Manet's piece was such a scandal about social and sexual ideals, it can only be assumed that Jacquet is attempting to make a statement about this as well. 

Art has no set meaning, no one is right. But here is MY interpretation:

I think that the blurred lines on Jacquet's reproduction are very powerful. It makes a statement saying that sexuality and social norms can no longer be produced as clear lines or "black and white." Lines will always be blurred in this area, no one is completely right, and no one gets to see the entire picture clearly at once. 

Rousseau: The Origins of Society

     Though man is a highly organized creature, when stripped of his resources, he is no stronger than most animals. The difference, according to Rousseau, is that animals choose by instinct, whereas man chooses by freedom. Within this reading, Rousseau traces the progressive denaturalization of man and the limitations on human freedom. He argues that it is the denaturalization which leads to our struggles.

      I find it interesting that Rousseau decides to look back into early human society to contemplate the origins of modern social structure. He effectively does so as he traces the origin of inequality. He theorizes, as humans began to settle in locations, they also began to develop preferences as well as property. People started to recognize and to humanize other members of society. Just as this triggered thoughts of civility and equality, in the same right, this leads to inequality. As the strong were able to develop land and to gain property, the rich took hold of the poor, using humans as resources in exchange for security. The development of property - including human property - becomes a first step towards social inequality. Rousseau continues to outline the development of this social dynamic through tracing the origins of law and property, to the development of government, and from legitimate to arbitrary powers.

         One of his more powerful arguments is that mankind is restricted by rules of a system which represses them. As I came to this argument, I began to conclude that it is man's job to revolt against this system, against the rules set up to repress us. To revolt against this system is to revert to our natural inclinations, and our individual freedom. This idea of revolt is reminiscent of the recent situations in Baltimore, Ferguson, and throughout the country. Though the media represents these scenarios as animalistic and barbaric, they are part of an attempted uprising against the continuous and unjust treatment of African Americans. Countless times, African American men have been unjustly killed at the hands of police officers, and brushed off. These riots are the black community's attempt at revolting against the system which represses them. It is not barbarism, but humanism which drives this movement.

"Call Me Caitlyn"

Since this topic came up during class yesterday, I thought it appropriate to post about an unfortunate encounter I had with an old science teacher of mine on Facebook.  A few days ago, I had shared something criticizing those who refuse to call Caitlyn Jenner by her name. This is what the post said:

I made the decision to share the doesn't seem like too much to ask, just call her Caitlyn. Even if you can't accept transgender as being a thing, at least give someone the respect of calling them by their name.  Mr. Calloway does not feel the same way: this is what he had to say...

"Bruce Jenner is a douche...not a Transgender advocate or hero (Chaz Bono is much more of an advocate or hero, but many others would fit that role ) . He has been a huge right right wing supporter....anti black...anti poor....hell anti middle class...He has shown zero appreciation for anyone else's struggles especially people who were born one gender and are mentally and spiritually another. I call him bruce....because bruce was a douche... sleeping with a sick dying man's wife.....doing hard drugs but supporting locking kids up for doing the same thing....doing anything for fame and never really helping others...even his older children until he had his reality show.....and just because the gender changes....the douche is still the same....same douchey bruce.....

Sorry for the rant."

I was shocked when I read his comment, I have no idea how anyone could say something like that. Not knowing how to respond, I took the night to sleep on it.  The next day I made my response: 

"Okay.

I’m sorry that you feel that way, really I am because that’s a really hateful and ignorant thing to say.
2. This isn’t the first time you’ve made some type of conservative, disrespectful, quasi-homophobic/transphobic comment on one of my posts so now I feel obligated to respond.

3. The fact that you are using her apparent “douchey” personality to justify your blatant hateful and disrespectful attitude towards her is unbelievable. It’s crazy that you’re using that as an excuse to not accept her as a human being and give her the respect that everyone deserves to be called by her name. Like honestly… wow. I really hope you don’t stay this close-minded for the rest of your life because we have way too many people like that on the planet as it is. It’s okay to think that for the first 65 years of her life, she has done things that you don’t agree with, but it’s NOT okay to use those little things as reason for you to say: “just because the gender changes....the douche is still the same....same douchey bruce…” You sound like a bitter, sexist, transphobic, conservative old man who needs a reality check. To be honest, right now I’m embarrassed that I am your friend on here. I admit that I thought you were cool back in the day, but damn—I don’t know what happened. When did you become so heartless and full of hate? For real though, you don’t have to like someone to treat them with dignity and respect.

4. I am not saying the Caitlyn is a transgender advocate, but you don’t need to be one to be CALLED BY YOUR NAME; just give her some respect.

Not sorry for the rant."   

*BOOM* Look out now!  

I felt so proud of myself for that response. But then I realized that perhaps I was too hard; it could come across as a personal attack on him, which definitely wasn't my intention at all.  So you may be wondering why I'm writing my chronique on Caitlyn Jenner.  This whole debacle with my old science teacher reminded me of the discussions we would have in class. Sometimes we would disagree with each other and that's okay.  The problem arises when we use someone's opinions as justification for not treating a person with the respect that everyone deserves.

Space & Liberty

This interview with Foucault discusses the relationship between architectural space and personal freedom. Naturally, this relationship is not black and white. He discusses that it is not design which ensures freedom, but rather the practice of freedom which perpetuates liberty. According to Foucault, there is no system/design/etc. whose nature is absolutely liberating. The system may permit freedom, but it does not perpetuate it. It is the responsibility of man to engage in practices of liberty. The system may attempt to perpetuate liberty, but this is only possible through the existence and practices of its inhabitants. The system itself cannot fundamentally perpetuate freedom, as it is reliant upon the "reciprocal relations" between the system and its inhabitants. 

I find this idea very characteristic of modern thought, as it directs focus toward the individual. It looks not at the authority of the system or at its command over personal freedom, but rather at the individual whose role it is to practice liberty within that system. Foucault claims that the architect is not necessarily part of the power system, as it is dependent upon man. He also mentions that man has the ability to contort the intentional design of the architect, a point which I find very interesting, as it reflects very existential themes. Foucault perceives the individual as essential to the system, and even capable of altering their reality. 

Mind over matter: A hypochondriac studying abroad and all the problems that arise

It has been a week since I flew back to the States from Paris, and as I begin to reflect upon the past three months, I am starting to realize how life-changing the trip was.  I am incredibly lucky to have been given the opportunity to live abroad.  However, towards the end of the trip I started to “lose it” emotionally and psychologically.  Eventually, the stress of travelling took a negative toll on my body. Without divulging too much into the personal details, I will say that I wasn’t feeling well at all, and the fact that I’m on the hypochondriac spectrum didn’t help.

I soon succumbed to my mind’s paranoid thoughts; I kept thinking what if I have cancer/mono/flesh-eating bacteria/[insert fatal illness here].  It was definitely not the business.  Google and WebMd took control of my life as I was constantly looking for answers, which is something you’re not supposed to do because then your brain makes you believe that you actually exhibit the symptoms of X illness. After about a week of driving myself bonkers I eventually made a doctor’s appointment to find out what was wrong with me. Luckily, everything turned out to be alright; there was nothing wrong with me. 

In retrospect, I probably should not have obsessed over looking up symptoms on WebMd.  Usually I don’t, but being in a foreign country intensified my hypochondria. I kept thinking: “Well if I die today, at lease I’m in Paris…that can’t be that bad right?” It sounds completely foolish to me now, but in the moment I was actually thought something was seriously wrong me…hypochondria is definitely no laughing matter.  

That whole ordeal taught me two things: (1) French medical care is on point; and (2) there is a lot of truth in the saying: “mind over matter.”

Unintentional Mountain Climb

Our taxi, packed with sun-craving Chicagoans, slowly approached a small cove along the coast of the Mediterranean. "This is as far as I can go", informed the taxi driver. We'd been looking for the beach, but all that lied ahead of us were sprawling mountain tops and a sand-less coast. 

We asked someone for the path toward the beach we'd traveled to find. Naturally, he directed us toward the mountain. We looked at each other as if to say "are we sure were about to do this?". In a silent agreement, we began to make our way toward the mountain. 

For several minutes, we scaled the side of the mountain, eventually reaching a point where the path took a steeper incline. At this point, we began to lose some of our classmates. The rest of us gripped our beer for dear life as we scaled the mountain in broken flip flops. 

About an hour passed before we reached the top of the mountain. We looked around, in search of this mysterious beach. Mollie pointed in the distance. "There, I see it". We all let out a sigh of relief. It took us a few more steps before realizing that it was not actually a beach, but rather a pile of rocks in the distance. We'd all somehow seen the same mirage. 

Thankfully, the path soon reached the second mountain, between which a small beach lied. Here lied a small beach, surrounded by aloe plants and cacti. I'd never seen anything more lovely. Soon, we'd all forgotten about our callused feet.

Michelin Guide

I love food, and there are so many great food in Paris, which is one of the things I enjoyed the most here. There are 26 3-star Michelin restaurants in France in the last updated research, and there are 10 of then in Paris. It is one of the foodie's paradises here. Since I didn't have much knowledge about those Michelin restaurants, I did some researches on them.

Where did Michelin starred restaurant came from?  There are michelin inspectors who are completely anonymous. They don't identify themselves, not even allowed to talk to journalists as well as not to disclose their line of work even to their parents. They wrote reviews on the Michelin Guides which are a series of annual guide books published by the French company Michelin for more than 100 years. Whenever it is published, it sparks a media frenzy which has been compared with the annual Academy Awards for films.

It is owned by one of the largest tire manufactures companies, the Michelin (SCA Campagnie Generate des Etablissements Michelin ), which is a tire manufacturer based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auergne region of France. Other than its red and green travel guides, the roadmaps, the michelin starts and for its company mascot Bibendum, colloquially known as the Michelin Man.

In 1900 the tire manufactured Andre Michelin and his brother Edouard published the first edition of a guide for French motorists. At the time there were fewer than 3000 cars in France, and the Michelin guide was intended to boost the demand for cars, which will also increase the demand for tires. This is a really smart marketing strategies.  The publication was suspended twice during 2 world wars, but after two wars, it got more popular. In 2005 Michelin had the first American guide and concentrated on New York. In 2007 Michelin launched first Japanese guide, which also has 26 3-star Michelin restaurants.

If you guys ever come back or has family want to try a 1-star michelin restaurant in Paris, and don't want to spend that much money, Benoit is a good place to try French cuisine in Paris. Or Sola, a 1-star Japanese restaurant in Paris as well. There are also restaurants without stars but taste really good with a good environment, the Kong. If you go to the Kong, only order the Plates.

And if you guys are ever interested in those restaurants in Chicago, personally west loop is a food heaven, the Publican, Avec, Momotaro, even though these are not starred yet, but all on the Michelin guides. Most of 3-star and 2-star Michelin restaurants in Chicago are molecular gastronomy, which I am not a fan.

Hope you will find this useful :)

 ( molecular gastronomy, alinea)

 (benoit)

(the kong)

Thoughts on Marseille

After much buildup from my grandfather, I expected Marseille to be even better than Paris, maybe even exceeding Barcelona because of its location upon the Mediterranean Sea and franco-phone people, which sounds like paradise to me. My grandfather was a part of the Brazilian Navy in the 1950's and 1960's, and his fleet would frequently harbor Marseille, often to gather supplies. In fact, most of the articles needed for my grandparents wedding were purchased there, interestingly enough. Anyway, I was truly excited to venture to this new town and explore the beauty of Southern France. I recall at one time even wishing to live there one day; something about any beach mesmerizes me. Little had I known my previous ideas of Marseille were a bit distorted.

Much has changed in 60 years. What I envisioned was a beautiful port in one section, perhaps a small canal leading to the heart of the harbor, with one long continuum of thick sand that formed an entire stretch of beach. I should have searched Google Earth before making assumptions. What I saw was a giant port and tiny areas they called beaches, some manmade perhaps 100m in length. The locals are rather loudmouthed and a bit cheesy (of course, I won't generalize the population based on several noticed behaviors). Some of the men genuinely creeped me out as they stared ruthlessly and made obnoxious catcalls to female passersby. I suppose I expected the city to have a somewhat Parisian vibe yet on the beach. Imprecisely.

The Saturday of adventures was concluded with a bus ride hotel-bound, a rather unpleasant one. I recognized that everyone on the bus was a melting pot of races, ethnicities, and social class. When is it not on public transportation? I didn't think much of it until everyone seemed to have a problem with another, shouting, cussing, and making a scene just to announce the discomfort of the packed-like-sardines bus. I am almost positive there was a fight in the back of the bus too. Something about this scene replays in my head and makes me ponder if the lack of respect is due to the heavy clash of cultures or perhaps if the Marseillais are genuinely like this. Nonetheless, I felt as if I was in an entirely different country. Even the lower class population of Rio de Janeiro would never behave like this in an equally overcrowded bus.

Despite the slightly negative behavior I encountered upon the beaches and bus, I still consider Marseille a breath-taking city with many attractions to see. I would return upon these circumstances to prove these ideas wrong or maybe even fortify them. I do wish, however, to be able to see the marvelous city my grandfather had the opportunity to appreciate; one can dream. Les calanques me manquent!

Cameras in Museums

 We have spent a lot of time in Museums with Chantel and in our spare time. For me, museums are one of the prime places for people watching. You can learn so much about people based on what strikes their fancy. What I noticed more than anything, though, was people and their cameras. There is nothing wrong with taking photos, but this was ridiculous. People would see a peace they were excited for or knew was famous, then run up to it, snap a photo, and walk away. PEOPLE DIDN’T EVEN STOP TO LOOK AT THINGS, ADMIRE THINGS. I did take a lot of photos on this trip, but after a couple weeks, I stopped taking photos of things, and only took them of people or once in a lifetime views. I noticed tourists in the museums seeing art only through a camera lens rather than truly appreciating and wondering about things.

I think that this is so sad for culture. Some of these paintings have stroked ideas and have been muses for many people, but the generation of the camera doesn’t give these things a second thought. They don’t take the time to enjoy and think about the works.

The same thing goes for lots of the landmarks that we saw. The beauty of Paris can not possibly be captured in a photo. Once I realized that a photo of the beautiful artwork on the ceilings of cathedrals did not even begin to give it justice, I spent more of my time just looking, observing. My grandma prefers the photos with me in it anyway.

I think it will be interesting to see if in time I regret making the decision not to take as many photos. I think I will be happy that I spent the time making and enjoying the experiences rather than worrying about something to look at later. Because cameras capture a lot, but its difficult to capture a lot of things.

Drink Up

Those of us on the trip that are youngsters (the majority) have greatly appreciated the low drinking age in France. Some of us got to order our first legal drink, or march into a Monoprix and buy as much alcohol as we wanted. And we didn’t even get our ID checked.

The drinking cultures varied vastly between the two countries, though. (I wish I could make a ven-diagram, but I am not talented with computers)

In my opinion, allowing teenagers to drink earlier simply allows them to fuck up sooner.

French teenagers turn 18 during high school. If they decided to get absolutely hammered every night and ignore school, it is not nearly as likely to destroy their future or their jobs as there are colleges for all levels of GPA (or lack of) out of high school and later in life.

On the other hand, Americans are only able to drink over half way through college. If a Junior in college decides to experiment with alcohol (as I think everyone should have the chance) and gets hammered every night then they risk failing college classes that prevent them from getting a job (or they show up hungover and lose any job they have.)

I am well aware that not everyone “goes crazy” with drinking, but if it happens sooner then it is not quite as detrimental.

Furthermore, I discovered that the idea of a “house party” doesn’t really exist here. Sure people might come over for a couple drinks, but it is nothing like a red-solo cup filled frat house as exists in the states. I don’t really know if that is good or bad, but it is definitely a difference.

In talking with this to my Host Mother, I realized that the French perception of American drinking was the red-solo cup stereotype, and that the American view of “a little” was VERY different than the French view of “a little.”

Lastly, I would like to mention the relationship that I think this has between young people and their parents. These are just observations as I obviously didn’t grow up in both places.

In America, by the time we are in our 20s our parents tend to trust us more. We have more freedom, we can (kind of) swear in front of them, and they (for the most part) are aware that we consume alcohol. Until this point though, this stuff is all kind of hidden (again, for the most part). I think this culture results in strained relationships, or at least truthfulness between parent and child.

In France, the legal drinking age coincides with the “rebellious” phase. Because SOME of the rebellious stuff is legal, and kids can go out without worrying about being arrested, they don’t have to lie to parents either. I think that this would kind of help with the long term relationship between French youngsters and their parents. 

Anyway, I had fun drinking in France.

My New Friend #moo

Going to Giverny was more than I imagined, being able to see the place where Monet found the inspiration for his paintings was unreal.  The fact that I was able to be surrounded by nature did wonders for my soul.  I am a very spiritual person and in order to feel wholly connected to this Earth, I need to be around animals and plants.  To be frank, the only time I see beauty these days is when I’m out in nature.  Nature is so important. I find the hustle and bustle of cities to be exhausting. Especially cities filled with tourists and their God-forsaken selfie sticks. 

Despite the fact that the place was filled with annoying tourists, it was an incredible experience because I was able to appreciate how beautiful the planet is without being taken over by humans.  It’s not that I hate people, it’s just that sometimes I’m that person who would rather be chilling with the cows than dealing with people.  People can be very complicated, whereas animals are simple.  While it’s true that technically humans are animals too, animals haven’t been corrupted by modern distractions like social media. 

Anyway, after I walked around the jardin for a bit, I made my way over to the fields where the cows were grazing.  You would not believe how incredibly gratifying it was to see how perfectly pure the scenery was. Granted I probably took way too much photos of the cows, but I couldn't help it! I was blown away at how untouched it looked; the fields (and the cows) looked as if no time had passed from when Monet stood and painted to the present day.  

There was one cow in particular that I had somewhat of a moment with.  I noticed him slowly starting to make his way over to me, as if he knew that I wanted him to approach me. Eventually, he came all the way up to the fence and just stared at me. I wonder what he was thinking: was he confused as to why a human was staring at him or was it just a coincidence that he standing so close? Sometimes, I think about how humans are looked at from an animal's perspective...

Gelb-Rot-Bleau ("Jaune, Rouge, Bleu")

Though I'd been familiar with his work prior to our outing to the Pompidou, I couldn't help but "awh" at the immense collection of Vassily Kandinsky. I've always been particularly attracted to his color composition, and even more so after seeing his works in the flesh . He has a way of really giving life to flat, abstract images. 

Of the works displayed within the museum, I found his piece "Gleb-Rot-Bleua" particularly striking. Most of the pieces that I'd been familiar with prior to this one had seemed to represent a more concise, abstract image. This piece however appears to be composed of multiple subjects that almost seem to contradict one another. To the right, we see simple, geometric subjects in luminous colors, and to the right, darker, more complex objects. These elements work together to create dissonance between the primary colors and the elements occupying that space. 

As the plaque suggests, this dissonance is in fact intentional. This work is a product of his experimentation with aesthetic opposition and equilibrium - a focus during his time at Bauhaus. His intension is to create equilibrium between different and contradictory elements. 

The Pompidou is Excellent

I would not consider my time in Paris to be wasteful at all. In fact, I have been able to visit multiple historical and important world heritage sites such as: l’Arc de Triomphe, la Tour Eiffel, les Catacombes des Paris, including many other sites and different Art museums. And now I can add the Pompidou to that list as well. The Pompidou Center earns the distinct honor for being the only museum that I have visited to exhibit postmodern art which does not only include tradition paintings and sculptures. For that reason along with others, the Pompidou center does rate much higher on my personal rating for interesting Art museums. Continuing on that note, there were specific pieces that baffled me as how they could be considered to be postmodern or for that matter “art” at all. At the point that art was in during the 1970s and 80s there is nothing left to the imagination when artists end up drawing shapes and colors onto their canvas and call it art. Which brings to mind about how the value of art is placed, the people that determine the value of art are the art critiques. Those are the ones who hold the most authority of what is art and what is junk, or so you might think. The fact of the matter is that the persons who hold the most money that purchase works for huge prices, or the market, are the ones who place value upon the art. Which makes sense though since it’s those with the money which control most aspects of the world.

Notwithstanding of those with copious amounts of cash, there is a surprising amount of works at the Pompidou center which tickles my fancy such as the 16mm black and white film in a completely black room titled “Necropolis (The Lucifer Crank) for Anger, 2004” which had a surprising calming effect on me. The film was being constantly looped on a old time movie film projector which made that noise. I found myself staying in that room for longer than I had intended to, but it all worked out in the end.