Location | Paris: Meet Field School Blogger Kyubo Yun

Meet Kyubo (center, with Rhea and Courtney)-- a rare shot of the man perpetually behind the camera!

Tell us a little bit about yourself—school, background, major, reasons for taking this trip, anything else interesting you want to share.

Kyubo taking notes at the Gerhard Richter exhibition at the Pompidou (photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)

Hello, my name is Kyubo, and I am a Bachelor of Fine Arts student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. While art history was never one of my strongest subjects, I joined this trip because I saw the importance of training myself to read and write more effectively. I love to travel, and I’ve spent over two years traveling throughout Asia prior to coming to Kwantlen. I’ve never set a foot into Europe before, so this trip has surely been an eye opener for me. Seeing and being in the same presence as the paintings and works I’ve studied is one way of learning, but being with a group of intelligent, like-minded individuals was another great way to create conversations and learn.

What has met or exceeded your expectations or surprised you about Paris so far?

Everything! The richness of culture, it is amazing what a city can offer that is much older than Vancouver. I was very much used to the narrow spaces of cities, but here in Paris, the narrow spaces and streets opened up to huge expansive open areas, parks, and squares. It was an experience that I’ve never felt in any other city that I’ve been to. I also loved touching the bricks of cathedrals with the date and a name etched into them, and trying to imagine the number of people that had passed by before me. It’s not very often for me to be in the presence of these structures and paintings and get a real sense of history and the passing of time. It is surreal.  

Kyubo has helped create the visual story of our trip through his many photos and character studies of the field school participants. Note the many photo credits to Kyubo throughout these blog posts.

Give us some insight into your assigned art work from the Musee d’ Orsay. After seeing the work in person, what struck you most about it and/or how did the art work’s form, content, and context shift for you when seeing it?

Frederic Bazille and Eduoard Manet, Bazille's Studio (1870)

I was assigned L'atelier de Bazille [Bazille's Studio] by Frédéric Bazille and Edouard Manet. Upon getting past the lineups and bag checks at the Orsay Museum, the area opened up to an overwhelming space that I couldn’t take in all at once. It’s a feeling that I’ve never had in a gallery space before. My assigned work was with the Impressionists on the 5th floor. The Impressionists room was rather difficult to navigate due to the mass popularity of these paintings. Many groups surrounded the larger and the more famous paintings such as Manet’s Déjeuner sur l'herbe, while my chosen painting sat in a corner beside it, humble yet dignified. I somewhat enjoyed the fact that it was the lesser known of the paintings, as people took a quick glance, and walked past it without too much thought. I was given the opportunity to comfortably stand in the corner and observe the painting without much disturbance from the mass crowds that surrounded the nearby paintings. What I found the most interesting about my painting was that much of the information about Manet’s involvement in the painting was removed from the title card. I’ve only read that Manet painted him in judging by his style of painting, but when I saw the painting in person, I was able to see that the brush strokes of Bazille in the center was cross hatched while the rest of the painting was very smooth. The different style of painting was undoubtedly visible, and perhaps by removing the involvement of Manet from the title card, it would draw even more attention to those that didn’t know about the art work. The different strokes of the painting would not show in photographs, as they had to be seen against the light to notice the difference. Overall, the placement of the painting in a corner beside the greats played off as a supporting role of the Impressionist movement, and it reflected the fact that Bazille did support his Impressionist friends when it was needed for them to achieve what they have since accomplished.          

Today’s activity was located around the Eiffel Tower. What were your impressions?  What will you take away of the experience?  What, if any are the memorable moments for you?

A majestic view of Paris from atop the Eiffel Tower-- notice the Haussmannized streets.

  I left early in the morning to go see the Eiffel Tower with Rhea and Courtney before my time was up in Paris. From below the tower looking up, I wasn’t particularly amazed, possibly due to the number of images I had seen prior to coming on the trip. The line-up wasn’t too bad in the morning, it took only 15 minutes in line and we were walking our way up to the first half of the Eiffel Tower. As we climbed higher up into the tower, the Haussmannized streets of Paris became more and more apparent of. At the peak of the tower, which we had gone up by an elevator, we were amazed to be able to get a visual map of Paris. I had realized that I wasn’t able to get an idea of what Paris looked like, because we had traveled on metros throughout my time here. I was able to point out all of the buildings and places we had been to, and I got a much better sense of what this city looked like. Overall, I felt that I probably wouldn’t go up the tower again, but I would highly recommend it to anyone who visits Paris for the first time.

Courtney looking out of a telescope over Paris.

Location | Paris: Meet Field School Blogger Andres Perez Castro

Meet Andres!

Tell us a little bit about yourself—school, background, major, reasons for taking this trip, anything else interesting you want to share.

Hi my name is Jose Andres Perez Castro and I am a Kwantlen Polytechnic University student. Currently, I am on my second year in General Studies, and my main goal is to transfer to UBC and apply to the Bachelor of Environmental Design program. My dream is to become an architect and I have dreamed about it since I was very little. My Mom and Dad have always designed and built houses when we lived in Mexico, and I can still remember when I was around 6 years old how I began to do little sketches and drawings of how I would design a room of the house, normally mine. Being able to participate in the Paris field school has inspired me even more to continue achieving my goals. I find the architecture here in Paris very astonishing, I was amazed with the grandiose and impressive architecture of the buildings at the center of Paris especially. Besides the huge inspiration for my future career goals, this field school has also helped me experience a totally different culture and to put in practice my French language skills. This trip has been a great experience for me and has created a stronger relationship with everyone in the group-- I do not think I see everyone as friends anymore, but instead more as a family.

Andres having fun at the Palais de Tokyo (notice his much beloved scarf!) (photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

What has met or exceeded your expectations or surprised you about Paris so far?

The city of Paris is a very photogenic city no matter where you look. The architecture is very impressive in the center and also in the modern suburbs. When I first arrived in Paris, I found that the people were very aware on their appearance and the way they would look and show themselves to the public. I found out that fashion is a very important and crucial concept here in Paris. I really enjoyed my stay here in the city because I think it had a huge impact on me and on the way I dress as well. One of the first things I bought here in Paris was my scarf and when I first wore it I began to feel more like if I belonged to the city. Another thing that I found very interesting was the transportation and the way the whole city is connected through the usage of the metro. It is almost like there is a metro station in every square inch of the city. I found that traveling on metro was actually pleasant, especially when there were musicians playing during the ride.

Give us some insight into your assigned art work from the Musee d’ Orsay. After seeing the work in person, what struck you most about it and/or how did the art work’s form, content, and context shift for you when seeing it?

Paul Cezanne, Gustave Geffroy (1895-95)

On June 5^th we were able to go to the Musee d’Orsay where I was finally able to see my assigned artwork for real and within just a few centimeters away from it. The name of this magnificent portrait painted by Paul Cezanne is Gustave Geffroy.  I found the painting to be bigger in size than what I had actually in mind, even though I had known the dimensions of the piece before. Being able to stand in front of the painting was a great experience for me because I was able to observe some of the actual brushstrokes and the way the paint was applied onto the canvas. I noticed the colors to be brighter and sharper everywhere on the piece, especially on the background and the bookshelves, which were the parts of the painting that Cezanne had spent most of his time on. Gustave Geffroy is a painting that Cezanne did not complete, and on some areas of the painting such as Geffroy’s face and hands, it is noticeable to see how Cezanne would sketch and apply the first layers with several different tones such as warm reds, yellows, blues, and browns. 

Waving hello from the Opera House (photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

The painting was positioned in a corner of the room, however the painting occupied a whole wall just for itself. When Cezanne painted Gustave Geffroy, he tilted the desk towards the front of the composition in order to create an illusion, so the viewer would become more connected to the painting. The museum took in consideration the original intentions of Cezanne and therefore I find very incredible how the painting was hung at a certain height so that the viewer would experience the whole painting to its best effect. I find very interesting too how when I was analyzing the painting up-close and taking notes on my journal, this painting that nobody would stand for longer than 5 seconds in front of would become so crowded just because of the fact that I was standing in front of it and writing my notes.


Today’s activity included a bike tour of Paris. What were your impressions?  What will you take away of the experience?  What, if any are the memorable moments for you?

Our group bike ride through Paris was a bit wet.... to say the least.

The Eiffel tower "twinkles" at night and is quite a beautiful sight from the bike tour.

On a fresh morning on June 15th , Erin, Tessa , Rosa came jumping, and skipping, and rushing to my room to wake me up. - Knock! Knock! Knock! - I heard. 'Who's there?' I said in my mind. I stood up and walked towards the door, and as I opened the door slowly, there was nobody on the other side. 'Fair enough then' I said 'I'll just go back to sleep just for a little while.' Suddenly I just realized I had to meet with them to go shopping. I rushed and as I opened the door again, I saw Rosa walking on the hallway. 'Let's go!' I said, and off we went for shopping to La Defence. Later on that evening, we began our trip towards the Eiffel Tower where we looked forward to our amazing and kind of wet bike ride. I felt the experience from the ride was incredible as I was able to see what it would be like to ride the center of Paris. The streets, I found them to be more congested than when we first arrived to the city. However, the streets turned out to be in fact more comfortable once you became a conductor instead of a pedestrian. During the bike ride, I was assigned a very important and crucial position for the group, 'Le Derrière.' My job was to stay behind the group to make sure everyone ahead of me was doing great. I was able to experience the city in a very different way during the bike ride because I felt like if I was a regular citizen who rides their bikes in the city. Some of the knowledge gained during the bike tour was very impressive, such as the history of how Paris was formed and the appearance of the Notre-Dame before when it used to be completely black. I believe that the connection between me and Paris grew stronger during this bike ride.

Location | Paris: Meet Field School Blogger Yvonne Lee

Meet Yvonne!

Tell us a little bit about yourself—school, background, major, reasons for taking this trip, anything else interesting you want to share.

My name is Yvonne Lee, and I have lived in Canada all my life. I have visited the United States several times, a few times to Hong Kong, and have been to Japan once. After hearing about the possibility about this trip from my teacher Dorothy, I realized I had to be in this class. I have never been to Europe before, and I always wanted to go. I wanted to go to see the artworks I have been learning about from art history in person, and this field trip was the perfect opportunity for me. I am in my 4th year at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and I am aiming for the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. I often work in digital media and paintings. I have always been intrigued by the traditional paintings and artwork, but I also keep an open mind towards contemporary art. What I wanted to get out of this trip is a better understanding of traditional art within the context of contemporary art. I also wanted to get inspiration, or at the very least some ideas of what I want to do next for my artwork.

Yvonne and other students had fun with the task of photographing Kwantlen's mascot Quentin against Parisian backdrops (photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

What has met or exceeded your expectations or surprised you about Paris so far?

In the beginning, what surprised me about this trip was how much I enjoyed some of the exhibits. The Orsay and Pompidou museums were quite interesting for me since there were many art movements represented that spoke to me. In the Orsay, I discovered Symbolism, which was an anti-realistic and anti-naturalist movement, and focused on imagination and spirituality. What I found interesting about this movement was how similar it is to the fantasy and sci-fi art I also enjoy. The Symbolists painters used mythology and dream imagery for their works, but painted paintings that were more personal to them. They would use symbols they would only understand themselves. I am really grateful for being able to see this exhibit, and my only regret is not spending more time at the Orsay to absorb more of it. The other exhibit featuring Gerhard Richter at the Pompidou was amazing as well and gives me hope to keep pursuing digital work. His paintings were hyper realistic, but each one had their own narrative. What I found interesting about his work was how he made the painting look blurry or show a motion blur. Something else that surprised me was some of the artwork looked smaller or bigger then I have imagined and there were some details that I had never noticed before when I looked closely at them in person. There was this Byzantine art piece called Cenni di Pepe, which had patterns in the back of the painting and portraits of people in the frame. There were also several large paintings where we discovered something new about them, because we were able to see the details of the painting instead of looking at it through a slide. I would love to come back to Paris to visit the other museums I have missed. I think being in Paris is a good opportunity if you are an artist. Even if you do not like the traditional art, there are other artworks to fit every genre and approach.

Give us some insight into your assigned art work from the Musee d’ Orsay. After seeing the work in person, what struck you most about it and/or how did the art work’s form, content, and context shift for you when seeing it?

Paul Gauguin, Artist with a Hat (1893-4)

I was unable to find my assigned work, Paul Gauguin's Artist with a Hat but I did find a self-portrait of Gauguin that struck me; another self-portrait titled Portrait of the Artist. The colour palette is similar to his self-portrait with the hat: faded olive green on his shirt and yellow in the background. The brushstrokes outline his facial features, but the colours are quite faded. The style is similar to his other works where he aims for the painting to be more “primitive” looking. The painting was started when Gauguin went to Tahiti to escape modernism. Gauguin was very anti-modernist and wanted people to not forget where they came from. He saw that Paris was modernizing itself very quickly, and he needed a place to escape. Therefore he went to the French Polynesia and stayed there to create his art. Gauguin has made several self-portraits there, but what struck me about this painting was this is the first time Gauguin was looking away.

Paul Gauguin, Portrait of the Artist (1896)

There were no other self-portraits like this on display, so it made me wonder why he painted himself like this. Perhaps it was because he no longer wanted himself to look at the audience, or perhaps he was commenting on how others look at him. It is difficult to tell if he used a photograph or not, since it is possible to draw a side-view of yourself with a lot of mirrors. This does go back to the question of why he did this. Since this was originally created after his Tahiti show was rejected by art critics, the painting could reflect the kind of emotions he wanted to convey at that time. He was disappointed with how the art critics did not like his work, and perhaps he wanted to document himself like this.

Today’s activity was at the Pere Lachaise cemetery. What were your impressions?  What will you 

take away of the experience?  What, if any are the memorable moments for you?

Today we entered the cemetery in Pere-Lachaise. What I first noticed was how crowded the graves were in comparison to the ones I have seen in Vancouver. There were several graves that were an inch apart from each other. I first visited the artist Daumier to pay my respects to him, and it took some time to find. To my surprise, Daumier’s grave was nothing spectacular like some of the other graves. His grave was simple and undecorated. Daumier died poor so his family must have not been able to afford much for the funeral. Although, it looks like the top part of the grave was recently added. The bottom part of the grave had lots of moss, yet the block above it was clean. It was interesting to see Daumier’s grave amongst the other graves, since his was plain in comparison. What surprised me even more then Daumier’s grave was Max Ernst’s grave. There was no tombstone or sculptures to remember him by, instead it was a plaque, just a plaque on the wall just like everyone else. There was nothing special about it, and I had almost missed it because I assumed the grave was going to be special. All there was on his plaque was his name and when he died. It shocked to me that an artist who helped create a famous movement was treated this way. I then realized that perhaps this also shows how insignificant Ernst may have been during his time. I saw several new graves of people who died in 2000-2012 with large tombstones who I did not know, while a man who was trying to make a difference in his community was given a plaque.

Plaques along walls at Pere Lachaise mark death in a less grandiose way than the large gravestones (photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

The group dinner was a special night for us all!

After the cemetery, we also got to have our big group dinner. The restaurant was this cute hole in the wall kind of place with two great musicians. The staff were also very friendly and patient with us. We danced, we sang, and we laughed. It was probably the most fun experience I had on this trip as a group. My table with Yvonne Littlewood, Jess, Tessa, Erin and Amanda was crazy. It was so much fun. And Jessica has a beautiful voice. She gave us a small opera performance and everyone was just quiet as she sang. Andres was also quite the dancer. He was not afraid to show off his moves. To make things better that night, as we were walking home, there was a “flash mob” near the Notre Dame. It turned out to be an annual gathering of picnickers around the Notre Dame, something that happens the third Thursday of every year in June. It started out with a couple doing a late night picnic and has since grown to over 20,000 people celebrating this annual event. It was quite inspiring, and some of us have discussed wanting to do something like it back at home.

We happened upon Paris's famous Le Diner en Blanc  in front of the Notre Dame cathedral on the way home from our special group dinner. At first, it looked like a massive flash mob! (photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)

Location | Paris: Meet Field School Blogger Holly Brooks

Meet Holly standing atop the Arc de Triomphe!

Tell us a little bit about yourself—school, background, major, reasons for taking this trip, anything else interesting you want to share.

Hello! I'm Holly Brooks, a student finishing up in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. I signed up for the trip because I really wanted to experience culture outside of the west coast of North America. Europe is especially interesting to me as so much modern fantasy is based off of European elements. It's been quite the experience to see historical things in person rather than rely on descriptions and representations. As well, I wanted to experience being in a place with a vast history tied to it. It really drives home how young Canada is.

Holly walking the city with Yvonne (Jessica in foregrouns, Kenny in the background) (photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

What has met or exceeded your expectations or surprised you about Paris so far?

Paris has been a wonderful experience. I think the most surprising thing is how volatile the weather is. I think it's rained almost every day I've been here, it will be sunny one minute and rainy the next. I mean that quite literally. British Columbian weather has nothing on how quickly the weather here shifts. Another curious feature is it seems all of the stairs here are spiral staircases. I've always thought of them as being archaic castle architecture, it's interesting seeing them in modern buildings. Walking through a city not laid out in a grid is also quite a different experience for me, I enjoy how narrow streets wind off the main path. It makes the city seem more sculptural. I also really appreciate how I can walk and take transit everywhere. I hate the west coast's car culture, I get excited every time I hear talk about expanding the Skytrain out further into the Lower Mainland. Taking the Metro has really shown me what we're missing out on.

Give us some insight into your assigned art work from the Musee d’ Orsay. After seeing the work in person, what struck you most about it and/or how did the art work’s form, content, and context shift for you when seeing it?

Claude Monet, The Coal Workers (1875)

The artwork I was assigned to research, Monet's The Coal Workers (1875), wasn't actually on display in the Orsay! I've been debating what to write about instead, I've seen so much amazing art over the last week and a half. As much as I'd love to write about Daumier (a favourite artist) and the Crumb retrospective (at the Paris Modern Museum), I'm going to talk about something not really mentioned in art history classes: bizarre art at the Louvre. Boltraffio's Pala Casio (1500) has the goofiest looking cherub. It's floating at the top of the painting in a thick miasma, or perhaps it's a hole in the sky? It's hard to tell, the placement of the cherub's arms and head suggests more body should be visible given how small the cloud is. Which leads me to the next part-- The ukulele it's holding. Yes, I'm serious. I'm sure it's supposed to be a lute or guitar, but the creature's proportions to the instrument make it far too small to be either. I love the cherub's arm placement, its right arm seems to hover disconnected from the rest of its body. And if the right arm is that big, where is the left arm? There's certainly not enough cloud there to hide it! The rest of the painting is much more competent, it really makes me wonder how much of an afterthought this cherub was. The Death of Cleopatra by Giampetrino probably stands out in my mind as the most surprising painting--it shows a snake biting Cleopatra's nipple while she stands there with a coy smile on her face. It's absolutely hilarious. The painting looks good, it's painted quite well. Her pale body is framed by a dark background, giving it emphasis. With her gesture, you know she reached into a basket and picked up the snake (that it's not just a snake happened to leap on her). But it's impossible to really get over the disconnect between what is supposed to be happening and what is being shown. It's a good example of how history was used as an excuse to paint hot naked babes, with the pretense that it's tasteful because there's a reason for her being unclothed.

Today’s activity was at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. What were your impressions?  What will you take away of the experience?  What, if any are the memorable moments for you?

Picture from inside the Pere Lachaise cemetery.

Today's activity was to visit a nearby graveyard. Nancy explained there's a culture of graveyard tourism, in fact we were able to get maps of the graveyard to locate famous people who were buried there. I was surprised to find out this was the graveyard Daumier was buried in! For some context, Daumier was an amazing French artist who worked primarily in lithography in the nineteenth century. He experimented in painting and sculpture in ways that were completely against the grain, predating many of the artists we associate with modernism. He struggled financially, especially late in his life after going blind and no longer able to earn a living. Off the top of my head I believe his funeral was paid for by the government, and one of his contemporaries wrote about how outraged he was that so few people attended the funeral of such an important man. I located his grave. It's quite humble, but in recent years someone must have paid for it to be cleaned up. There's a newer base to it with an elegant fence, black poles with chain surrounding the grave. The original stone is far more weathered, it's pitted and stained where moss likely once grew. The portion of the graveyard his grave is in is filled with ruins. Untended graves, broken and fallen over columns, a sizable tree growing out from a grave with tombstones leaning against it. This is all in sharp contrast to the graveyard near the Catacombs which seems to be higher class, there's a lot more ritzy mausoleums and sculptural graves in it. The only ruins I noticed were posts knocked down here and there, and they would be simply put on top of the tomb they belonged to. Some graves were covered in moss, but they were fewer in number.

New life grows from the old.

Dorothy also wanted me to talk about some of the souvenirs I've purchased while here. There was a yard sale type event in the streets of the neighbourhood we’re staying in, and so I bought a few things and researched their history. One is a dagger with a beaten scabbard. I spent an entire evening trying to figure out what it is and who may have owned it. It turns out it's a Georgian kindjal, likely made in between 1890-1915. The sword possibly came out this way due to exotic item collection. For example, think of all of the Japanese and African pieces that were being imported for their exoticness. Another thing I bought with history to it is a beret with a military pin on it. The pin gives the date 1935, the symbol on it signifies being part of the Foreign Legion 2nd Parachute Regiment. The beret it is on is red, likely signifying being awarded a red beret by the British Special Air Service. While the Red Berets were officially recognised in 1944, I'm left with the impression the berets were being awarded earlier than that. It's certainly something I have to research more.

Exploring Pere Lachaise, the largest cemetery in the city of Paris (photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

Location | Paris: Meet Field School Blogger Tessa Nickel

Meet Tessa!

Tell us a little bit about yourself—school, background, major, reasons for taking this trip, anything else interesting you want to share.

Hey there, my name is Tessa Nickel and I am a Bachelor of Fine Arts major at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. As long as I can remember, I have wanted to be an artist. I remember specifically when I was seven years old drawing myself, with a paintbrush in hand, and although my facial features were in direct proportion to that of a Picasso guitar, I proudly stated, "when I grow up, I am going to be an artist!" Although I don't think I really knew what that meant at that age, here I am studying the works of some of the most well-known artists in the world, in the very place that they practiced their craft. I came on the trip for this exact reason. Sitting in a lecture hall with a slide projector at times made me feel so detached from the art works I was viewing. To come to this beautiful city and be close enough to touch the works of Van Gogh or Monet has been so surreal for me.

Checking out the view of the Haussmann buildings from the Opera. Left to right: Andres, Yvonne, Jessica, Rosaura, Rhea, Courtney, Tessa, Kyubo, Amanda (photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)

What has met or exceeded your expectations or surprised you about Paris so far?

The biggest thing that surprised me was the kindness of the people. I had constantly been told how rude Parisians were and that as an English speaker I would be treated terribly, but I haven't found this at all. These people are proud of their language and take pride in their city that is so full of history and culture. They demand respect for it from people who visit and so what people sometimes take as rudeness, I see it as their right. If you treat the people, their space, and their environment with a sense of quiet observation and avoid the mentality of a bull in a china shop, they will pay you the same courtesy. However, if you are obnoxious, loud, butcher their language, and don't apologize for any of it, I see it as an okay for them to mock you a bit in their Parisian fashion.

Tessa capturing the action along a busy Parisian boulevard (photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

Give us some insight into your assigned art work from the Musee d’ Orsay. After seeing the work in person, what struck you most about it and/or how did the art work’s form, content, and context shift for you when seeing it?

Vincent Van Gogh, The Dance Hall in Arles (1888)

There is something about Van Gogh that I have felt connected to as a person. Now I am not saying that I am about to take hard to drugs and alcohol and cut my ear off, but I feel like his heavy struggle as an artist is something any of us art students could relate to. On the second day of being in Paris when we went to the Orsay and I finally got to see my assigned painting The Dance Hall in Arles in person, and it was a lot more emotional then I had expected it to be. The colours of the work were so much more cohesive and rich then when I viewed it in a book. When seeing this work in person and in an amazing environment like the Orsay, it was so entirely different then viewing it in any classroom at home. His thick and gestural style of painting onto the canvas gave life to the work. I could see his perfections and mishaps all just inches from my eyes. Being able to see his work so closely made me feel closer to Van Gogh, as I could visualize him working and I was so close to something that he had poured his soul into. I never thought I could feel a connection like that to another artist that had lived 100 years before me.

Today’s activity was at the Palais de Tokyo and the Paris Museum of Modern Art. What were your impressions?  What will you take away of the experience?  What, if any are the memorable moments for you?

The "Intense Proximities" exhibition was made even more ironic with the presence of African museum attendants around every corner. While not an intended part of the show, they were very much part of the conversation students had at the Palais de Tokyo (photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)

Today we went to the Palais De Tokyo, a contemporary art museum that I had never previously heard of before today. After this past week, where we had spent every day at a different museum, where they seemed to grow larger and with bigger, more beautiful bodies of work, my brain (and my particularly angry feet) felt entirely spent. I didn't know if I could handle another museum. I didn't expect a lot walking in, but this has been my favourite gallery we have been to so far. It is so unique from anywhere I have her been. It was so much more interactive then any of the museums masked with "do not touch" signs we had already experienced. Many of the pieces invited you to walk within or among them, to walk into a pitch black room and view them. You gained a connection from their accessibility and the modern issues they challenged you to stare straight in the face of. The environment of the three floored gallery was also amazing. The building on the inside had an unfinished industrial feel that itself was an installation as opposed to the stark pristine white walls of a classic gallery. They also allowed you to view the process of the future shows being installed, which is something people rarely get to see in a gallery, which was one of my favourite parts of the experience. The one thing I would have a criticism about were that the security guards were almost all African. In a gallery where a large percentage of the works were based on racial issues, I had originally thought that it may have been part of the show. After speaking with Dorothy however, she had informed me it was not on purpose. The irony of this issue being within a place questioning racial issues particularly baffled me, but I made a conscious effort to not let this affect my view of the art work being displayed. These works were really in a place I hope to work toward in my art practice, and an amazing introduction of what is to come when our group heads to Kassel, Germany for Documenta to see an international exhibition of some of the greatest that contemporary art has to offer. 

Political graffiti was a prominent part of the downstairs exhibition space in the areas undergoing renovation at the museum (photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)