Ceramic Art at WantedDesign
Interview with René-Jacques Mayer, Artistic Director of Sèvres-Cité de la Céramique
This year, the New York design festival WantedDesign, will highlight Sèvres-Cité de la Ceramique in a two-part exhibit. René-Jacques Mayer, discusses a two-part exhibit at New Yorks design festival WantedDesign and the collaborative residency programs at Sèvres.
read moreFUSED Grantees 2013
The French-US Exchange in Dance (FUSED) Announces 2013 Grantees
FUSED grants support the exchange of U.S. and French artists taking part in residencies and/or presentations in the partner country. This year 11 American institutions have been supported in presenting the work of French artists, and five French institutions will present the work of American artists in France.
read moreResidencies in Review
Residencies in Review highlights international residencies for writers and translators of French by sharing the experiences of past participants. Some of these programs provide literary artists with structure, scheduled workshops, meetings, and excursions, while others provide the time and space to work away from the concerns of day-to-day life and let the writers and translators plan their own work schedules.
read moreProust & Me Blog
Proust and Me: this is the first title Roland Barthes considered for the lecture he gave on Proust in the fall of 1978 at the Collège de France, and then at NYU. Not, he said, because "I compare myself to this great writer,” but because “I identify myself with him,” for 'In Search of Lost Time' is “the narrative of a desire to write.”
The Proust and Me blog is a collection of stories from notable authors, scholars, artists, and fans on their relationship to Proust and his writing.
read moreShow French Films on Campus!
Tournées Festival 2013 Call for Applications
With the aim of furthering appreciation for French film and culture, the Tournées Festival offers grants to American Universities seeking to host their own French film festival. Universities select five films from a diverse list of new French and Francophone releases to be screened as part of their Tournées Festival.
The Tournées Festival offers a wide selection of the most recent films from France and French-speaking countries: comedies, dramas, thrillers, documentaries...
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edito
Dear friends,
2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of Swann’s Way à compte d'auteur, the first volume of In Search of Lost Time. When Proust wrote it, he was convinced it would fall into oblivion in ten years. I am happy to say that Proust was wrong. Marcel Proust is still a powerful man who transforms lives.
news
Elisabeth Lebovici on Parallel Practices: Joan Jonas & Gina Pane in Houston
Along with Curator Dean Daderko, French writer, critic, and activist Élisabeth Lebovici led a conversational tour on Saturday May 11, of the exhibit Parallel Practices: Joan Jonas & Gina Pane at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Houston. Élisabeth Lebovici gave the audience extensive details and ideas for exploring on the selection of works by the two proto-feminist artists renowned for their fundamental contributions to the field of performance art, the American Joan Jonas (b. 1936, New-York City) and the French Gina Pane (b.1939 Biarritz – d. 1990, Paris).
news
Urban Corps CultureLab Concours / Contest
A l'occasion du Festival Urban Corps (12 au 18 mai 2013), la Mission culturelle et universitaire française de l'ambassade de France organise un concours de critique destiné aux 18-25 ans. Un voyage en France à gagner tous frais payés !
news
Show French Films on Your Campus!
With the aim of furthering appreciation for French film and culture, the Tournées Festival offers grants to American Universities seeking to host their own French film festival. Universities select five films from a diverse list of new French and Francophone releases to be screened as part of their Tournées Festival.
news
Residencies in Review: Banff International Literary Translation Centre
Let me first say that Banff is one of the most naturally beautiful places I have ever visited. The Banff Centre, a small complex set up in the hills overlooking the tourist town of Banff, is equipped with dining facilities, a gym, a wonderful library, performance spaces and comfortable, hotel-style rooms. Each year, BILTC brings together a fantastic group of translators and authors to work (both collaboratively and individually), talk about literature in translation, and be inspired by the natural wonder that is the Canadian Rockies.
blog
Proust's Letters and Life
Admirers of Proust have to overcome an anxiety before embarking on any study of his life; an awareness that Proust himself wouldn't have been very happy to hear that we are focusing on it.books
news
Residencies in Review: Banff International Literary Translation Centre
Let me first say that Banff is one of the most naturally beautiful places I have ever visited. The Banff Centre, a small complex set up in the hills overlooking the tourist town of Banff, is equipped with dining facilities, a gym, a wonderful library, performance spaces and comfortable, hotel-style rooms. Each year, BILTC brings together a fantastic group of translators and authors to work (both collaboratively and individually), talk about literature in translation, and be inspired by the natural wonder that is the Canadian Rockies.
blog
Proust's Letters and Life
Admirers of Proust have to overcome an anxiety before embarking on any study of his life; an awareness that Proust himself wouldn't have been very happy to hear that we are focusing on it.
blog
Writer par excellence
I find it extraordinary that whenever the national media in the U. S. wants to typify the writer par excellence it is usually Proust who is cited. His name crops up all the time in The New Yorker (as do new cartoons to add to the already impressive list; more cartoons devoted to Proust than to any other writer, I'm sure), The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, etc.
news
Residencies in Review: Marjolijn de Jager on the Villa Gillet
The atmosphere is serene and silent, perfect for working in solitude. Lyon is an amazingly walkable city, with a wealth of parks, museums, churches, theaters, and an opera house. It was undoubtedly one of the finest months I have spent in France!
authors on tour
Beatriz Preciado has become one of the leading thinkers in the study of gender and sexuality. A professor of Political History of the Body, Gender Theory, and History of Performance at Paris VIII, she is also the author of Manifiesto contrasexual, which has become a queer theory classic, and Pornotopía: Architecture and Sexuality in Playboy During the Cold War, which has was a finalist for the 2010 Anagrama Essay Prize. She received her PhD in the Theory of Architecture at Princeton and her Masters in Contemporary Philosophy and Gender Theory at the New School for Social Research in New York.
Beatriz Preciado / Walls & Bridges
Beatriz Preciado has become one of the leading thinkers in the study of gender and sexuality. A professor of Political History of the Body, Gender Theory, and History of Performance at Paris VIII, she is also the author of Manifiesto contrasexual, which has become a queer theory classic, and Pornotopía: Architecture and Sexuality in Playboy During the Cold War, which has was a finalist for the 2010 Anagrama Essay Prize. She received her PhD in the Theory of Architecture at Princeton and her Masters in Contemporary Philosophy and Gender Theory at the New School for Social Research in New York.
interview
Interview with Boulet
Boulet refers to his work as autofiction. “Things always go wrong,” he told Bell, “it’s never completely true.” Perhaps you can find the tools to tell truth from fiction in this interview with American comic artist Jim Benton and critic Scott McCloud.Visual & Performing Arts
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The French-American Fund for Contemporary Theater 2013 Grantees
The French-American Fund for Contemporary Theater has awarded $205,000 to institutions in France and the U.S. to support residencies and the presentation of contemporary theater. Nine U.S. institutions will present the work of fifteen French artists, and six French institutions and festivals will present the work of nine American artists.
news
The French-US Exchange in Dance 2013 Grantees
FUSED grants support the exchange of U.S. and French artists taking part in residencies and/or presentations in the partner country. This year 11 American institutions have been supported in presenting the work of French artists, and four French institutions will present the work of American artists in France.
interview
Interview with René-Jacques Mayer on Wanted Design
This year, the New York design festival WantedDesign, will highlight Sèvres-Cité de la Ceramique in a two-part exhibit. In a recent interview, René-Jacques Mayer, Artistic Director of Sèvres-Cité de la Céramique, discussed the exhibit and the collaborative residency programs at Sèvres with Thomas Delamarre.
interview
Interview with Boris Groys on Alexandre Kojève
In this interview, philosopher, art critic, essayist and curator, Boris Groys discusses his most recent curatorial project After history : Alexandre Kojève as a photographer. The exhibition, which was presented in Paris at the Palais de Tokyo in Novemeber 2012, and is currently on view at the James Gallery at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City, is the result of Groys’ discovery of Alexandre Kojève's (1902–1968) immense visual collection in the Kojève archives at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
events
French-Moroccan performer and photographer, 2Fik presents a brand new body of work at Maison Française. After his exhibition, “2Fik or Not 2Fik”, his new project will feature photographic recreations of classic paintings.
2Fik Exhibition at Maison Française
May 23 - June 28, 2013
Maison Française
interview
Interview with Alain Buffard
French choreographer Alain Buffard presented his work at this year's APAP festival as part of the 'French Highlights' series. In this video CUNY talk with David Thomson, one of the dancers in the piece, about the process of creating the piece, and working with Alain Buffard.Film, TV & New Media
news
Renoir, a Film by Gilles Bourdos
Gilles Bourdos has made a film that traces the story of the two Renoirs, Auguste and Jean and the woman between them, Andrée. Andrée was Auguste’s last muse, and Jean’s first wife. She was in all of his early silent films, and was the star of Nana.
events
As part of the World Nomads festival, French Institute Alliance Française presents a month of Tunisian films curated by Dora Bouchoucha, one of Tunisia’s most successful female film producers.
Tunisia in Film at FIAF
May 7-28, 2013
French Institute Alliance Française
news
A Video Interview with the Directors of Leviathan
Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor are instructors in Harvards ‘Sensory Ethnography Lab’ which takes as a premise that artists, scientists and academics rely too heavily on words to convey ethnographic experiences.
events
Claude Autant-Lara's A Pig Across Paris (La Traversée de Paris) (1956), a rediscovered comedy/drama starring Jean Gabin (Grand Illusion) and French comedian Bourvil as blackmarketeers smuggling four valises of precious pork through the streets of Occupied Paris, will run at Film Forum from Friday, May 24 through Thursday, May 30 (one week) in a new restoration.
A Pig Across Paris at Film Forum
May 24 - 30, 2013
Film Forum
news
Show French Films on Your Campus!
With the aim of furthering appreciation for French film and culture, the Tournées Festival offers grants to American Universities seeking to host their own French film festival. Universities select five films from a diverse list of new French and Francophone releases to be screened as part of their Tournées Festival.
news
A Drive-in Movie Theater comes to the Grand Palais
Roller-skating, a cheeseburger and fries for dinner, and a drive-in movie: it sounds like a teenager's date night circa 1955 in some American town, or for a few weeks this summer, a night out at the Grand Palais in Paris.With special thanks and gratitude to our sponsors
