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ONLY BE PARISIAN
Only-Be Parisian
Paris Vegan Day, November 28th
Again, ville lumière will host the second edition of Paris Vegan Day on November 28th, 2010 from 11.00 to 23.30 (www.parisveganday.fr), an excellent opportunity to rent apartments in Paris. On this day, the emphasis will be placed on promoting the vegan philosophy, which is not only a way of eating, but a way of living and a set of practices under the slogan “we are what we eat.” Vegan culture refers to principles of ethical living, green and healthy, but without sacrificing pleasure, taste and fun. The origin of these philosophical and spiritual motivations can be dated to the sixth century AD, when the philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras, made a plea for a meatless diet and his followers formed a vegetarian community. It is undeniable that in Western societies the consumption of meat and animal derivatives, in the name of a mythical need for proteins that must be met at any cost, i.e. through the manipulation and mass destruction of animals. Farming practices would make even the most unrepentant sadist blush, and have given rise to diseases, such as the recent mad cow or foot and mouth disease. Others might arise from genetic manipulation, which is still very recent and does not allow us to assert that the increase in certain cancers is linked to these new scientific practices. These behaviors are seriously affecting our health. It is known that excessive consumption of meat eating is a big mistake, leading to hypertension and arteriosclerosis, as well as lead to a reduction of other nutrients necessary for our body, and may lead some to suffer from nutritional imbalances or organ...
Controversy about Larry Clark exhibit in Paris
On October 2nd an interesting photography exhibition opened at the Musée d´Art de la Ville in Paris focusing on the controversial work of Larry Clark. The director of the legendary film Kids (1995) Clark is first and foremost a prolific photographer, who has been documenting the seedier side of life and youth culture for decades. Both in his film work and photography, Clark is dedicated to representing lost youth, violence and rebellion. The exhibition, entitled “Hello Kiss the Past”, features over 200 works by the photographer, some of them unpublished works which were recovered recently. His best-known works such as “Tulsa” and “Teenage Lust” will also be shown. In this way the exhibition provides a broad spectrum of photographer´s work, highlighting its direct and authentic way of looking at adolescence with everything that it encompasses: love, drugs, violence and sex. However, the Musée d´Art Moderne de la Ville in Paris has caused a huge controversy for having taken the decision to refuse entry to minors under 18 to the exhibition. According to Sébastien Gokalp, curator of the exhibition, as a public institution, the museum could not openly allow minors access to sexually explicit images of Clark. Moreover, the management of the museum feared having to face a wave of protests from the Catholic community in Paris. However, considering that many of these works have been shown in other renowned museums and/or feature minors themselves, some criticize this move as being too drastic, and highlight that it threatens artistic expression in France. If you do not want to miss this interesting presentation and you are of age, rent apartments in...
Introduction to Dynamic Meditation
Every Sunday at 19h on the nose a group of my friends get together in the apartment of S., a respected specialist in meditation who once lived in India. One day, I too sat upon the coloured blankets on the floor, inhaled the sweet smell of incense, heard the sound of silence and began to meditate. My friends had mentioned that it would be a good idea to wear something white as the colour represents purity. “And blue?” Certainly they said, it’s a symbol of peace. And brown? That’s okay too, as long as it’s a colour of something in the natural world. But you shouldn’t wear black because it doesn’t let the energy flow. So I arrived dressed in white from head to toe, like a bride without her prince. They also advised me that it was best to fast for at least three hours beforehand, because it could interfere with the meditation. I was very hungry afterwards; in fact, I had a craving for junk food. The day that I went, S. announced that we were entering in the ninth moon of the eagle, the animal that symbolizes perception and vision. They pinned coloured plaques to the wall, changed some up and tacked up black drawings. I didn’t understand anything but I heard the waves of meditation and began to relax, forgetting everything beyond the walls. Everyone was seated on the floor in silence and incense wafted through the air. Suddenly strange sounds could be heard, the dynamic meditation session had begun. Eyes closed and seated on the floor, I began to breathe through my stomach, not,...
Cubism: fragmented reality
Who does not know of or seen Les Demoiselles d´Avignon? When the master Pablo Picasso painted it in 1907, it was considered the most emblematic work of a new artistic avant-garde movement: Cubism. Paul Cézanne was the father of Cubism, which is characterised by his geometric vision of the reality and the influence of primitivism. It is a landscape that becomes a jumble of squares and triangles, minimizing the details to be seen in several views of the same subject. There are no more Renaissance classic rules of the perspective: there is a decomposition of the space and there is no concern for detail, the palette of colours loses in sheen and its filled with brown, grey and beige tones; the collage technique appeared; their favourite subjects are the nudes, the objects and the urban scenes. “Les Demoiselles d´Avignon” is a good example to illustrate and understand the keys of Cubism. This is a group of five prostitutes of the Avinyó Street in Barcelona (in the Gothic quarter), represented among the curtains of a brothel. Some seem to have an African mask instead of a sweet face, because Picasso and other artists of the twentieth century were passionate about primitivism. The bodies have no feminine forms, but are more masculine, heavy and geometric. The theme of the nude is a classic, because it suggests women in the bathroom and it is, precisely, in the “The Turkish Bath” by Dominique Ingres, in which Picasso was inspired. But he gave a revolutionary performance. It is only in 1916 when this painting was exhibited at the Salon Table d´Antin. In 1939, the...Photography, erotic or pornographic?
The photography lovers among others have been waiting for it all the year long: the Pirelli Calendar 2010 has finally been launched with photos taken by the photographer Terry Richardson. This company publishes this exclusive calendar, where the world’s best photographers have been photographing world famous models, since 1964 (with a break between the years 1974 and 1984). The images of the 2010 edition have been labelled as very erotic. What does “erotic art” exactly mean and what is the difference between nude photography, erotic photography and photography which is pornographic? Which factor really decides to which of these three genres an image belongs? Nude photography is not necessarily erotic. Sometimes it focuses only on some details of the human figure. The lights playing on the skin and the body can produce some astonishing effects and images of great artistic value. We can, on the other hand, define erotic photography as a kind of photography that is sensual along with allusive images aimed to stimulate our sexual desire. Typically, these pictures do not even show “everything”, the entire nude, but use accessories such as sexy lingerie, tight and almost transparent clothing and also objects that can make you think about a sadomasochistic sexuality. In fact there is a genre called “no nude” erotic photography. It is well known that the images, which only suggest, insinuate, without showing anything explicitly, stimulate our curiosity much more, our desires and the fantasy than the ones, where nothing is hidden. The erotic genre was already developed in the first part of the XIX Century, soon after the invention of photography and is obviously...
