Le Centre Pompidou
by Céleste
Vincent, Gaston, and I went to Paris over the weekend, to see Gaston off and to visit the city. Granted, it wasn’t the best time to visit Paris, but we certainly couldn’t have predicted the news over the last week. When we arrived on Thursday, January 8, we met a Parisian friend of mine in order to attend an exhibition at the Centre Pompidou. The exhibition was open until 10pm, which was helpful for us, as we had arrived at around 5pm, and thought that most museums and other landmarks would be closed.
I had been to the Centre Pompidou in 2006, when I visited France with my high school class, but I had only seen the outside of the building, including the fountain and the very strange street performers. This would be my first time inside the building.
The building itself has some very interesting architecture. Gaston called it a “hamster maze.” To get to each floor, one must take escalators up tubes on the front face of the building. The building looks like it’s been turned inside-out, with wiring and ducts where they can be easily seen. According to wikipedia, “all of the functional structural elements of the building were colour-coded: green pipes are plumbing, blue ducts are for climate control, electrical wires are encased in yellow, and circulation elements and devices for safety (e.g., fire extinguishers) are red.”
Here are some views from the top of the building.
We were attending the Centre Pompidou that evening for the Jeff Koons exhibit. Koons is an American artist, known for kitschy art and found objects. He seems like a love-him-or-hate-him kind of guy. Here are some examples of the works that we saw. He had paintings, photography, ready-mades, and sculptures. Clockwise from top left: Dogpool, Michael Jackson and Bubbles (sculpted to look like golden idols/deities), a hanging heart, and a painting of a little Fisher Price man.
Interestingly, there was an “adults-only” room called Made in Heaven, containing pornographic photos of Koons and his ex-wife, la Cicciolina, meant to present sexuality in a straight-forward and unabashed way. It was definitely awkward to look at with other museum-goers though.
After we saw the temporary Jeff Koons exhibit, we went to see the permanent collection. Unfortunately, we only had about 20 minutes to view the collection. Here is some of what we saw.
Overall, I felt that the Centre Pompidou could be a really cool museum to explore, with more time, and could provide some really nice views during the day, as well as at night. I don’t usually like modern art, and I typically prefer the much older museums, like the Louvre. However, I had a great time, due in part to the content of the exhibitions, and also due to the viewing it with great friends.
