Kimono exhibition

Taking advantage of the 01 May break and a relatively low density of people in Paris, we went to the Musée du Quai Branly to see a soon to close exhibit on kimonos, with many pieces loaned from Japanese collections, through an exhibit designed by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The collection is amazing, especially the most historical part, and illustrates the complex social codes behind this seemingly simple garnment, from a huge variety of materials and techniques, to the Edo era restrictions on whom could wear which type and which printing. And the subtle subversions from the merchant class (and actors, as for this 19th “I do not care” kimono that reminded me of a much more recent outcry!). Highly enjoyable (if slightly crowded!).

Napaljarri-wanu Jukurrpa

Merci, Simone! [in Strasbourg]

I posted this picture on the ‘Og last June, when I went to Rouen. At the time Simone Veil had just passed away and I wanted to recall her single-handed fight for making abortion legal in France… I received last week an email I first took for a spam, email from a curator of the European Parliament, in Strasbourg (where Simone Veil was for a while a European deputy and its President, its first female President), preparing a permanent exhibit in her memory and wishing to use my picture in the exhibit, to illustrate another perspective on her, away from official and family photographs. Completely unexpected, but I obviously gave immediately my agreement.

la maison des mathématiques

When I  worked with Jean-Michel Marin at Institut Henri Poincaré the week before Xmas, there was this framed picture standing on the ground, possibly in preparation for exhibition in the Institute. I found this superposition of the lady cleaning the blackboard from its maths formulas and of the seemingly unaware mathematician both compelling visually in the sheer geometric aesthetics of the act and somewhat appalling in its message. Especially when considering the initiatives taken by IHP towards reducing the gender gap in maths. After inquiring into the issue, I found that this picture was part of a whole photograph exhibit on IHP by Vincent Moncorgé, now published into a book, La Maison des Mathématiques by Villani, Uzan, and Moncorgé. Most pictures are on-line and I found them quite appealing. Except again for the above.

Osiris under water

On Sunday, we went to an exhibit at Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, about the underwater remains of the submerged cities of Thônis-Héracléion and Canope, near Alexandria, Egypt. The cities have been explored by Institut Européen d’Archéologie Sous-Marine (IEASM) in the past decade, with amazing vestiges that helped reconstituting the religious mysteries of Osiris [hence the name of the exhibit].