VINGT Paris News

Nuit Blanche 2024: Saturday 3rd October19h-7h

This unmissable all-nighter of free art installations throughout the city runs this Saturday. Nuit Blanche, the concept of an all night arts festival is an initiative promoted by Mayor Delanoë in 2024, and has since provided a night of spectacular arts for the City's inhabitants and visitors.

This years festival centers around four locations: Buttes Chaumont, Chatelet-Marais, the Quartier Latin and Paris Métropole (Arcueil and Gentilly). The Mairie's website allows you to search by location and artist, and provides a suggested itinerary. Look at each map to get a good idea of the number and variety of attractions in each area.

North of Buttes Chamont, Le Centquatre is hosting four video installations including Fiona Banner's All the worlds fighter planes, which was developed from her 2024 book of the same name which comprised newspaper footage of all the worlds fighter planes in service - a video which raises questions of war and reporting, technology and morality.

Chez Jeannette

Susie Hollands and Ana Lee-Karkar writing for VINGT Paris

This is a new-look for the very tatty old bar once frequented students from L'Ecole internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq next door.  Now THE right bank hang-out for the arty-fashion-gay crowd, the bar is located right on the Strasbourg St Denis Market opposite Passage Brady's Indian alley - yes, a quartier trés métissé.

The food is decent and a solid choice for Sunday brunch - featuring "Jeannette's burger" - most dishes range from 7.50 to 19 euros. Of course it's more the high quality people-watching than gastronomical value we're seeking here.

The 1940s wallpaper is a throw-back to the era of the original Jeannette, an Auvergnate who passed the Bistro on to the next generation (from the region that famously produced and assisted the Costes as well as countless other Bistro and cafe owners) ...on the condition that they did not radically change the décor.  That's the reason it's a truly authentic patina - with a very slight sheen.

No drinks allowed outside which is the major down side and keeps La Perle in our good books. If we were to compare the two, we'd say Chez Jeannette has a slightly higher percentage of bearded men.

Chez Jeannette
47, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis
75010 Paris

More photos of Chez Jeannette on our Flickr group.

Nabaz’mob: An Opera for 100 Smart Rabbits

Stephanie Wells writing for VINGT Paris

Above the cacophony of the rue de Rivoli, an army of one hundred robot rabbits wait in a dark corner of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

“Nabaz’mob”, Antoine Schmitt and Jean-Jacques Birgé’s opera for one hundred smart rabbits, is an unexpectedly relaxing 23 minute experimental art and music installation. The rabbits’ ears and movements are choreographed to an original score emanating from tiny, but powerful, speakers in their bellies.

Festival d'Automne

The 38th edition of Paris' Contemporary Arts' festival kicks off with two exhibitions from Ugo Rondione: How does it feel? and Sunrise East. There is a huge amount going on each day, check their aujourd'hui page for last minute picks.

Split into six categories: Arts Plastiques, Théâtre, Dance, Musique, Cinéma and Colloques, Rondione's two exhibitions are the focus of the festival's visual arts for the first month.

In Sunrise East, a series of figurines each represent a month of the year.  How does it feel? attempts to create various atmospheric spaces, combining "architecture, voices and neon lighting to create a kind of sanctuary, both intimate and monumental".

On the theatre front, the visuals look stunning for William Kentridge and the Handspring Puppet Company's collaborative production of Woyzeck on the Highveld adapted from Georg Büchner's unfinished play. Catch it before it ends, this Sunday 27th September.

Portes Ouvertes

This weekend "Portes ouvertes des ateliers d'artistes" sees numerous studios across the 14e, 15e, 19e and 20e open their doors to the public.

The idea in each case being to unite Paris' residents with her artists, focusing on the artistic community within each arrondissement.

The Ateliers de Ménilmontant 2024 runs from 25th-28th September and includes studio's across the 20e and some in the 19e. Open up their map - first and second key to search for studio's you would like to visit. You can also preview the various artists work on the "les artistes" page. The two "points d'acceuils" are good places to visit first if you need more information about visiting the various ateliers. CAT, 42 rue des panoyaux, m° ménilmontant & MJC, 43 rue du borrégo, m° st fargeau.

Le Mairie du 15e is running asimilar event until 27th September where ateliers become public spaces. Though their website provides much less information, a map and leaflet are available to download. It is probably advisable anyway to visit one of their Information points listed on the website.

The 14e is also hosting the same event this weekend and though their website is also lacking slightly in information, download their pdf to get a better idea of what is going on there. This runs for two days, this Saturday and Sunday (27th & 28th September).

Photo: from www.ateliersdemenilmontant.org

20 Sex Symbols (Les Femmes)

1. Héloïse
2. Jeanne d'Arc
3. Madame de Pompadour
4. La Dame Aux Camélias
5. Kiki de Montparnasse
6. Marianne
7. Jeanne Moreau
8. Brigitte Bardot
9. Catherine Deneuve
10. Carla Bruni
11. Arielle Dombasle
12. Rachida Dati
13. Sophie Marceau
14. Fanny Ardant
15. Lou Doillon
16. Louise Bourgoin
17. Vanessa Paradis
18. Emmanuelle Béart
19. Virginie Ledoyen
20. Noémie Lenoir

Photo above features Brigitte Bardot, below Lou Doillon

Join VINGT at 59 rue de Rivoli - L'Aftersquat

Originally a squat occupied by the KGB (Kalex, Gaspard and Bruno), three artists have been at the forefront of the renovation of 59 rue de Rivoli and attracted many more to the group (an Association Loi 1901).

In days gone by the squat was threatened with expulsion even though it was allegedly the third most visited contemporary art venue in Paris. Ten years passed between legal issues and renovation and finally, on September 9 the centre re-opened with a new name "L'Aftersquat", under Paris City Hall sponsorship.

Danielle Voirin, a photographer who has documented the lives of many of the artists through a long-running project, covered the opening.  Join VINGT Paris for a special visit to 59 Rivoli/L'aftersquat and meet 22 artists from 10 different countries.

Sunday September 27th at 6:00 p.m. 

Creative Writing Classes for the Autumn

For any aspirational writers out there in need of refinement and inspiration....

Artist and essayist Sarah Riggs will lead a class in creative writing at the Tamaas Foundation,  84 rue de Ménilmontant, 20e starting on September 29th. Her classes explore poetry and journal writing, and will offer her own experience as well as that of other writers for a supportive environment. 

The first class will be Tuesday September 29th from 16:30 to 18:30.  Email sarah direct at sriggs (at) freesurf.fr for more information.

John Baxter, co-director of the Paris writers workshop, is offering a series of three-day Master Classes on the writing of memoir, biography and autobiography. 

Its Only Rock N' Roll – Guy Peellaert and Dominique Tarlé

Stephanie Wells writing for VINGT Paris

If only walls could talk. Fortunately Dominique Tarlé's photographs tell all. Through October 30th, the Galerie de l'Instant presents "Rocks Off", a collection of works by possibly the best rock and roll photographer you've never heard of.

Its 1971. A nubile Keith Richards, pajamas settled to the edge of suggestiveness, lights a cigarette from a mysterious unsmiling blond. Click.

Mick Jagger, half sober, lounges on a Louis XVI banquet table littered with glasses as a heavy lidded Richards strums his guitar. Click.

Roger Daltry, Marianne Faithfull, and the incandescent Jimi Hendrix are among the subjects of Tarlé's debut photography exhibit in France. All disheveled hair and lascivious torsos, Tarlé captures consciously cool rock icons from uncannily simple perspectives. His obvious ease and, not only physical but spiritual proximity to his subjects sets Tarlé’s photography apart; he is as if possessed by the same spirit.

Don't take my word for it. Ask him. Every Saturday from 14h-19h, Tarlé holds court in person at the Galerie de l'Instant, answering what we want…no. Need to know.

20 French Sex Symbols (Les Hommes)

1. Abelard
2. Henri IV

3. Bel-Ami (Georges Duroy)

4. Jean Gabin

5. Serge Gainsbourg

6. Alain Delon

7. BHL (Bernard-Henri Lévy)

8. Vincent Cassel

9. Sarko

10. Louis Garrel
11. Romain Duris
12. Dominique de Villepin
13. Thierry Henry
14. Stéphane Guillon
15. Jean-Paul Belmondo
16. Marc Lavoine
17. Harry Roselmac
18. Gérard Darmon
19. Guillaume Canet
20. Yoann Gourcuff

Photos: Above Jean Gabin from in "Pépé-le-Moko", below Louis Garel featured François Ozon's "Un Lever de Rideau".