Friday, September 23, 2011

PARIS-DEHLI-BOMBAY (Pompidou Exhibit)

About a week ago, we checked out the very cool "PARIS-DELHI-BOMBAY" exhibit at the Centre Pompidou.  It was (sadly over now) asking and showing, "What is India today"?  50 artisits came together for this HUGE exhibition which explored the following themes: politics, urban development and environment, religion, home, identity and craft.
Sabine in a mirror exhibit

Sadly, I didn't take as many cool pictures as I should have ... being somewhere like this with a toddler is pretty intense.  She doesn't really 'do' the stroller unless we are moving at a fast clip.  A few people have asked me how we can take a toddler through a museum? Well, actually it is more like she takes us.  She pretty much sets the pace.  That is why it is intense, she doesn't just sit in a stroller passively rolling by the art.  Oh no, little miss thing is exploring the scene on her own terms - and I get to follow behind her.   Often times, we will look at a piece together and as she points to different aspects, I will sometimes put words to what she is looking at.  OR, I will ask her questions about it.  (Isn't that bright?  Is that a chair or is it a table? Etc.) 

I can see that some people would prefer that she not be there.  Just like on airplanes, some adults think that children don't belong in the real world.  (What?  Children want to visit their grandparents on the other side of the country too?)  Of course, this anti-kid mentality largely exists only in the 'first-world'.  You go to places like Turkey, Thailand, Guatemala and kids are everywhere and included in the minutia of daily life.  I can say this with first hand experience, not hearsay.  Kids are not 'better' behaved in said countries either, they are loud, curious, high energy and you know, kids.  Yet still, these societies aren't bothered by the younger set ... nor it seems to do they glorify youth (at least as we Americans do).  Maybe there is a connection there.  Elders are revered and kids are included - sounds balanced to me.  Anyway....


The best museums are the ones like Quai Branly or the Pompidou because there is a variety of types of expression there.  Statues, huge installations, masks, video, animation, abstract art, BIG paintings, music, furniture, anything really that can be imagined!  It is fun to take her and more to the point, it is good that is she is getting used to these settings - because we enjoy museums too much to stop going.  It is also very important to me that she gets regular exposure to art and expression - and learns how to enjoy someone else's vision of the world and beauty (or ugliness). 

That is why this India show was particularly awesome.  It exposed in all these different themes, manifestations, interpretation, art forms, materials and textures, objects and ideas: INDIA.  That being my favorite country (and Nepal) it was incredibly wonderful (and of course tragic at times) to see. Oh India, land of contrast, Oh India. 
Sabine getting her shoe tied, with Paris in the background








Believe me when I tell you, these photos don't even begin to do justice to the amazing and thought-provoking exhibit that was "PARIS-DEHLI-BOMBAY".  However for a very thorough viewing of the exhibit firsthand, check out this video.  PARIS-DEHLI-BOMBAY exhibit video link  Enjoy!

No comments: