Alain Delorme au Bon Marché

If I have the time this week-end - it is also my husband's birthday - I would like to swing by the Bon Marché and see this.

Alain Delorme presents 8 of his totems at the Bon Marché

Vernissage January 15th

January 15th - February 19th 2011

Palais de Tokyo with Kids: Part I

The Exhibit

Fresh Hell, Palais de Tokyo

Adam McEwan (Carte blanche - collective of artists)

Until January 16th 2011

I took my kids to the Palais de Tokyo over the winter break during one of those fantastically cold days when not even kids want to play outside.  Don't be deterred by the name of the show - children always seem to enjoy their visits to this museum.  The installations and vast open spaces tend to spark their interest.

Talking to small children about art:

I like to ask my kids to describe what they see, point out objects, shapes and colors.  If they can't touch the works then I ask them what they think it is made of, what it feels like.  We even talk about what the artist may have been thinking about or how he made the work, if it was difficult, how he may have been feeling.  I also ask them how it how it makes them feel.  The important thing is to get your kids to talk about art and let them interpret it for themselves.  It's an excellent opportunity developing communication and means of expression.  Just don't push it - It should be fun.

The Palais de Tokyo also offers a wide array of activities for children that I talk about here.

Other amenities:
• Stroller access (4/5 points, Museum staff allows the use of the handicap access points for strollers)
• Baby facilties (2/5 points, wall hanging changing table for small babies.  Unisex bathroom is not very hygenic. No point for nursing.) 

• Kids menu in the restaurant (4/5 points, no high-chairs.)

In front of Rudolf Stingel's, Untitled, 2003

Installation by Serge Spitzer (until January 16th)
My son particularly loved this installation by Serge Spitzer which involved a pneumatic system propulsing capsules in a labyrinth of tubes across the main hall of the museum.  The system evokes that which was used under the streets of Paris until the 1984.

Works include: Jonathan Borofsky, You are Alone Slow Down There is No One to Please but Yourself, 1975-76. 

Mattias Faldbakken, Untitled (Video Sculpture), 1986. Rob Pruitt, Esprit du corps 1986

Michael Landy Market Stall IX, 1989

Agathe Snow, Wallpaper, 2009.

Restaurant Tokyo Eats

Click here for the menu

Le Bon Marché

I passed by the Bon Marché today to check out the Christmas window display. I think in another life I would have been a window dresser. Andy Warhol used to do window displays. My mother met Andy Warhol once. But, that is completely besides the point. The windows were interesting, but lacked Christmas magic. That is, at least from what would be a child's point of view. I'll take the kiddies to Printemps and the Galéries Lafayette. I'll let you judge for yourself.

If you do happen to go to the Bon Marché, the kids can check out the Tiny Tales Exposition by Tiphaine Verdier Mangan level -1. The artist takes us on a poetic journey through vintage illustrations and miniatures mis en scene. There is also an exposition of photos from Sophia Coppola's latest film, "Somewhere".