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Published by Cedric Benetti
on Friday, November 28, 2008 at 11/28/2008 05:35:00 PM.
On the night between November 26th and 27th, some mysterious group pasted numerous hundreds of posters in some streets of Paris, depicting the colorful face of Sarkozy in the now mythical Obama campaign style. The posters have different slogans ranging from "Producing a clean ecological source of energy" to "Create one million fixed jobs", followed by a big "Yes we can!"
No activist group has yet claimed responsibility for this widespread and well orchestrated action, but judging by the amount of money spent on such a campaign, it can't be the secret art project of some students over at the Beaux-Arts...
Interstingly the areas the posters can be found (the pictures here are taken next to my apartment in the second arrondissement) are all strong voters of the political left, such as the Marais, Bastille, Republique and other parts of the city.
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Published by Cedric Benetti
on at 11/21/2008 07:18:00 PM.
This year, they finally came up with a good idea for the winter celebrations by putting a big Christmas market on the Champs Elysées Gardens. between Place de la Concorde and the Rond Point des Champs Elysées. Some 90 little wooden huts were built by craftsmen from the north out of polish fir trees. The huts are filled with crafts and foods from all over Europe to symbolize the French presidency of the European Union. The scent of waffles and candy and caramel apples is in the air, now all that's needed is Christmas music instead of the never ending traffic noise of the busy avenue that separates both sides of the market.
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Published by Cedric Benetti
on Monday, November 17, 2008 at 11/17/2008 11:25:00 PM.
Those wanderers of you who happened to get lost around the Place de la Concorde these days may have noticed the large amount of concrete road blocks standing around...
Well maybe it's time for a new (I say new!) tourist attraction in Paris. The Eiffel tower is old game and tiring with the experience of playing the sardines game or sharing breakfast breath in a claustrophobic elevator going up (same experience you get in the metro every morning). So why not come to Paris, you the Tourist (that's "you"with a capital U) and visit the Berlin Wall... in Paris... sorta downsized... jumpable some might even say. Give it some time! It will get its fame over the years. And if not, we can always sell those roadblocks to the British.
The soon-to-be no-go-zone. Unless you are able to lift your legs. But it might hurt. Maybe.
"Help, I can't see the Eiffel tower!" Who cares if you got this beautiful vintage wall to stare at! Raurrr!
The complete building plan on the extend of the wall is not known yet, and no official statement has yet been made. On our try to get an exclusive interview with one of the roadblocks, the questioned roadblock remained silent and refused any coment whatsoever.
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Published by Cedric Benetti
on at 11/17/2008 12:34:00 PM.
Finally the Persian Gulf region will get one of the rare things they don't have (yet) over there: it's own opera house! Crazy lady Zaha Hadid and her Pritzker Prize-winning architectural madness will create a cultural center in the middle of the newly created Lagoons District of Dubai.
The complex will accommodate an opera house with a 2500 seating capacity, an 800-seat playhouse, a 5000-square-meter (54000 sq ft) arts gallery, a performing arts school, and a '6 star' themed hotel on a purpose-built island in Dubai Creek. It is also said that it will feature two libraries, an outdoor theater, and a marina.
Hadid's team describe the project as:
"The proposal houses all of the facilities within a single striking structure. The gentle winding form evokes images of mountains or sand dunes. Rising out of the ground, this form is both a part of the landscape yet very much a distinct element in the skyline. The surrounding landscape forms build up to the main building."
This wacky new project twill be added to the immense array of what is today a pharaonic building site, also known as 'Dubai'.
On a sidenote:
25 percent of the world's cranes are in Dubai at the moment, which makes a grand total of 30000 cranes, compared to a population of 1.3 million, this means there is a crane for every 44 people in Dubai.
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Published by Cedric Benetti
on Sunday, November 16, 2008 at 11/16/2008 08:04:00 PM.
In the middle of nowhere, amidst a desolate stretch of dusty highway outside the Texas town of Marfa (pop. 2,121), a solitary new-century white cube emerges from the desert, disguised as a PRADA shop and created in 2005 by Berlin-based artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset. The fake shop comes complete with actual Prada shoes and bags from the Fall 2005 collection displayed in the window.
Scared of vandalism, the structure is under video surveillance. Who would want to steal those shoes? Honestly, which fashionista that takes herself seriously would want to get these out-of-season (2005? good lord that is so yesteryear) shoes? And what if someone breaks into this shop? will the police be there in less than five minutes? are they hiding under a quite large rock next to the shop? If so, why don't I smell doughnuts around here?
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Published by Cedric Benetti
on at 11/16/2008 05:26:00 PM.
The Philharmonie de Paris, a great symphonic concert hall of 2,400 seats and whose construction had been postponed for about 20 years, should complete the Cité de la musique in 2012 in the Parc de la Villette in Paris. Mainly dedicated to the welcoming of great symphonic formations, the Philharmonie de Paris will present other forms of musical expression, which notably call upon a sound system, such as jazz or world music.
In 2007, Jean Nouvel won the architecture competition for the construction of the auditorium. He brought in Brigitte Métra as his partner, and the Marshall & Day agency in partnership with Nagata Acoustics for the acoustics. The cost of the construction of the new auditorium should reach 170 million euros, taken care of equally by the State and the Ville de Paris.
The location of the future philharmonie (Blue polygon)
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Published by Cedric Benetti
on Thursday, November 13, 2008 at 11/13/2008 08:24:00 PM.
Deep in the little wrought streets of the Marais lies a little british shop that sells healthy foods and drinks, from healthy biologically grown... well you get the idea: healthy food, nice setting, come in if you are not scared of the english-speaking folks, because this place is nicely run by a lot of anglophone people. Try their organic food! Stay for a chat.
And in case you wanna party in the streets, go next door and try out this set of headphones that is on display in the street, playing funkee music!
Or go for a vintage shopping spree at this shop (also next door, no need to search that much). They sell incredible stuff, but don't look at the pricetags...
I am Cedric, discoverer of things that would go unnoticed in the streets of Paris, historic haven of fashionistas and city of lights ('lights' as in 'enlightenment', not street lights).
But seriously: I'm an expat from Luxembourg (the country, not the garden), living in the center of Paris (hence 'Paris 2nd arrondissement'), and currenlty studying architectural history...
places to go and weird stories to know about the city of lights... Improve your brain's useless knowledge parts, impress your neighbors, raise the roof, and anoy your friends with these funny facts and places