Wed 7 Mar 2012
There is an exhibit hall in the Tuleries Garden called the Jeu de Paume which, I assume, is where a game of that name was played-like raquette ball but without rackets.
I went there the see an photo exhibit of the Chinese phototgrapher, Ai Weiwei. He is an “architect, conceptual artist, photographer, blogger, Twitterer, interview artist and political activist. He filmed mostly in China, although he lived in New York City for a while at one time. With the advent of Twitter, he started posting his photos there and ended up in prison in China for a while as the government doesn’t want anyone to see bad things. He also wasn’t allowed to come to France for this exhibit. Most of his photos show areas where buildings and temples had been torn down in preparation for high rises and sites for the Olympics held in China a while back. He is also known for photos of “the finger”, flipping off whatever is in the background which is supposed to “challenge your own deference towards established power”. I find it rather ugly which shows my puritanical upbringing I guess.
The exterior of the Jeu de Paume.
A look at some of the photos-these of various people gathered in one place.
No photos were allowed-I took some before I realized they weren’t allowed. This guy was taking photos like crazy but I think he had permission.
Weiwei is also an architect and designed this for the Olympics. It’s called the Bird Nest.
I haven’t heard of this photographer. I guess I need to be more politically active. Isn’t the Jeu de Paume where they used to display the impressionts’ paintings — or is that before your time?
You like to blog, we like to read it. Most Chinese can’t do that. Can’t get on Facebook, can’t express an opinion contrary to the party. I’m not politically active, but I recognize basic human rights, and appreciate that Ai Weiwei is willing to sacrifice himself to draw attention to them.
After thinking again about the exhibit: WeiWei is a good dissident but not a great photographer