Arts' 'The Kiss' of Death?, Marie Curie's Summer Home, Purloined Art & Paris' Iconic Wallace Fountains get a makeover (les Mis(t) Come to Paris...) plus, the Metaverse has landed.
We know. You're shy a few offbeat yet interesting Paris stories (...work is vampiring your soul...there's Netflix finales to re-watch, ..gotta grab the cats from daycare and the kids need fresh litter, the laundry reeks & that pesky asteroid is earth-bent on powdering the planet....(Kidding, but still.. there could be one)...
So, here's a sorta' smörgåsbord of stories – as Canadian legend Robertson Davies basically opined, 'read both high and low but avoid the mediocre'. Hoping I've a dusting of the former, a sprinkling of the latter and zippo of the middle stuff.
The issue that ain’t going away —Are 3-D lawsuits 'The Kiss' of Death for Famed French & the world’s other Museums? The scourge (benefit) of private/public 3-D scans.
Do lawsuits targeting museums' 3-D scans collections mean a sea of copies of the Elgin Marbles or Rodin's 'The Kiss' (Le Baiser) in every home? A bust of Nefertiti with every new laptop? A Tut in every Tesla? What happens to the very definition of 'original' artwork?
Unlimited quality copies of famous artworks aside, what’s the economic impact on a private museum, like Paris's Musée Rodin, the ONLY national one in France that pays for itself partly by making original editions of its bronzes? Can it survive if deprived of sales income? And, what of other museums?
3D Tech & Freedom of Information... Helping Greece or Heedless Greed?
What's at play:
En Brief: Using the UK's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) a firm called IDA (a combo of Harvard & Oxford Universities & Dubai's Museum of the Future), is suing the British Museum to allow it to make a 3D scan of the famed and contentious Elgin Marbles/Parthenon Sculptures. (The legal aspects are murky to me, but I think at least part of the issue is if the museum's 3-D scans are public assets).
IDA says it wants the scans to create reconstructions which, among other results, would also allow the Museum to keep one and thus send the originals back to Athens. Which, as we know, is quite the issue these days. (And allows IDA to seem bathed in the rich and glowing tones of altruism...)
(IDA supposedly entered the museum with a hand held and made a partial scan after being refused permission by the museum). Needless to day, this is also a contentious historical issue. Meanwhile....
Paris's Musée Rodin also being Sued! Seems an American 'fabrications consultant' is suing the museum, asking that it fork over its Auguste Rodin 3-D scans. The individual says they've already forced the museum to hand over the 3-D scans of Le Basier ( The Kiss) and Le Sommeil....
The person wants more access “in order to make commercial unlimited bronze reproductions in various sizes.” As in 10 meters tall for amusement parks, or 30 centimeters for the kitchen shelf? Or, to flood every departure boutique lounge on the planet? I've no idea, and there could very well be a vast and growing legitimate demand for highly accurate, bespoke quality reproductions for art connoisseurs. Said individual has also won a case against Berlin's Egyptian Museum for access to its 3-D scans of the bust of Nefertiti.
Seems that what's at stake is ownership of those 3-D scans. Are they public? Do they need protecting? Will marketers start mixing and matching famed creations?
If these lawsuits are successful...what Museum is next. Seems someone is already targeting the Louvre. Will the Met, the Guggenheim, or Museo del Prado be far behind? Will it lead to an open 3-D scan season on all museums?
France Announces Creation of Art-Trafficking Task Force (FYI this little story gem continues to develop & expand in scope as I write— involving more institutions).
You Can't Invent It: France's newly minted minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, says part of this new force's job will be to examine how 'illicit cultural objects' (add URL to story) are obtained. The new task force will be helmed by three folks armed with some serious ABF's (Art Bona Fides). Expect news and details by end of summer. Or, you know, when they get to it...
Which connects to...
This development comes after the ex-head of the world's most prestigious museum, the Louvre, was charged with complicity in possibly obtaining an Egyptian national treasure (a certain rare pink granite Stele, cost: €8 million), back around 2015...the period of the Arab Uprising--- French officials suspect hundreds of artefacts were looted during that time.
Read the great artnet piece here!
Related great, informative story also on The Louvre Abu Dhabi
Les Mis(t) Comes to Paris!
Famed Wallace Fountains at 150 years! Celebrated Iconic Wallace Fountains, at 150 years young, have a new'ish role to play. (And none too soon as Paris and regions facing heatwave in a few days! Temps to hit 38’ish…)
FYI: This is but a teaser: Full video coming soon!
Built to provide free, potable water to the poor, about half of Paris's iconic 100-plus Wallace fountains are now being fitted with mist-spraying nozzles to comfort folks as they survive our hellish, sweltering summer heat-waves. The new tech on old fountains will create a circle of mist where folks can cool down a bit. (Good news seeing as how we’ll most probably be facing more frequent and more severe heatwaves). The nozzles will be placed above the Caryatids. If you’re Black Ops skills are up to it, there’s a test fountain is supposedly happily misting away in the 14th arrondissement reservoir area.
Into the Mist Goals: Help Parisians cope with yearly summer heat-waves (la canicule) and nudge us to refill water bottles and ax our shabby water-bottle buying habit. (Bad Parisians, very bad!)
BG: The fountains come via one Richard Wallace - Vastly wealthy thanks to inheriting dad's fortune, Richard felt the people of Paris should share and benefit from his good fortune. He's been described as an interesting, discrete character who chose to stay in Paris during the Franco-Prussian war (1870), and subsequent Paris Commune, rather than flee for safer terrain. (An act which endeared him with the population).
Twas during that same Franco-Prussian war (…Commune...etc.,) with its destruction of urban infrastructure (aqueducts, etc) that Wallace grieved over how the poor suffered scrambling for safe drinking war, whose price and scarcity skyrocketed during the conflict. He and others also feared that, were folks to opt for alcohol over water, the choice might be permanent. Thus his idea for fountains to make clean water readily available to a wide swathe of the population. I believe Wallace designed the first two models then had Nantes sculptor Charles-Auguste Lebourg get involved.
The Four Fountain Models: Large model - (size: 2.71 m, 610 kg) - Inspired by the Fontaine des Innocents. Boasts 4 caryatids holding a dome with dolphins.
Wall-mounted - (size: 1.96 m) - Designed to be used throughout Paris, but few remain.
Small - size: (1.32 m) These dot the Parisian landscape, are mostly coloured wagon vert (not official, but I like that expression) and Paris's gazillion micro parks and other locales. They're push-button operated (and definitely not designed for tots, which is why its a howl watching them get drenched when someone tires to help them drink)!
Colonnade - These are 500kg'ers & 2.5m high. Less than 3 dozen were made with maybe two remaining. (…rue de Rémusat & ave des Ternes). There are also varied colours, tho' nothing compared to say Baskin-Robbins or a pack of Life Savers.
CATCH THE COLOURS: If you happen to be in the very funky 13th, near Univesite of Paris Cite Campus Grands you'll catch sight of...
A yellowish Wallace fountain (just what colour is that, really?)
Here's my You Tube video teaser on same, for an upcoming piece.
The above sits between what looks like a horrific marine accident ( a smush of rowboats, canoes & kayaks, a.k.a. the artwork “Monochrome for Paris” …though 'Psychotic Lake Fears' might also work) and the uni cafeteria!) Then, a 5 minute stroll gets you to 3 rue Jean Anouilh where you can eyeball a violet (?) -colored version! As in...
There's also blue...
Look for the full video in a bit!
France - You Snooze, You…You lose the summer house! Marie Curie - Old house slated for New International Venue for Scientific Gatherings & Research
A Polish billionaire, Dominika Kulczyk, has bought double Nobel laureate Marie Curie's old summer home with plans of turning it a “House of Sisterhood” and future “meeting and work space for exceptional women from all over Europe”. The house, in Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, is just outside Paris.
Kulczyk says Curie's home “belongs to all mankind and is a natural meeting place for women whose work transcends all the barriers we know”. (‘Transcending barriers’ should be Curies motto). Work is slated to end by 2025. The French gov't had said it planned to buy the home, but....guess Kulczyk was faster and more committed.
Curie's staggering achievements are well known, overcoming numerous obstacles from across many fronts to emerge as the woman with the 'biggest impact on world history', at least according to a 2018 BBC poll.
FYI: In total her family has 5 Nobels – Talk about family rivalries!
Curie Video: Here’s my early days You Tube video on Marie…..
Click here for great Curie BG:
More: Marie Curie: the woman who stirred up science
BEFORE YOU BOLT: SOME LINKS FOR YOU
That damned Metaverse - The METAVERSE ACADEMY lands in France.
Seems Meta parent Facebook and Simplon (French Digital firm) will train 100 students this fall in Paris, Lyon, Marseille & Nice. The focus is on the “the 3D world and interactions in the virtual universes.” (Reeealllly?) The goal is to prep students as “specialist immersive technology developers and support and assistance technicians”.
(Add immersive glitch joke, Here)
As there's no mention of AI robots nor a Holodeck, we assume the lowest-bidder option means resorting to humans to teach. Oddly, the stated goal is for 30% female students. Which might lead one to the real universe question of: “30%”...what the..., just why is that?
This Quote Surfaced during the French Terrorism trial in Paris:
"When fanaticism has infected a spirit, the disease is practically incurable. What can you say to someone who tells you that he would rather obey God than man, and that he is sure of entering heaven if he slits your throat?"
“Despite the chillingly contemporary resonance, that last sentence is Voltaire, taken word-for-word from his 1764 Dictionary of Philosophy, under the entry for "Fanaticism".”
Read the whole story “Arendt, Durkheim and Voltaire called to testify at Paris attacks trial”
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