Great article in the WSJ.

Mr. Henry can't quite put his finger on what it is about New York that he finds so seductive. Part of it is the sports scene—he is a rare example of someone who can explain third downs, double plays, pick and rolls, and the offsides rule, all in French. He expects to become a fixture at Madison Square Garden, where he has friends on the court and courtside. Spike Lee, practically the mayor of the Garden's sideline, was a devout Arsenal fan during the Henry era. And the Knicks' new French signing, Ronny Turiaf, numbers among Mr. Henry's closest friends—he even attended his introductory news conference at Red Bull Arena, in Harrison, N.J., towering above the crowd of reporters to snap pictures of his buddy.

Great story about petanque on NPR
 

The people playing are old, young and from everywhere. Biltsted points out players. "I'm from Denmark, we have a British guy, we have French people, of course. We have probably 17 to 19 different nationalities." The president of this local petanque club, which is called La Boule New Yorkaise, is Ernesto Santos.

Iannis Xenakis: Composer, Architect - The Drawing Center NYC

Iannis Xenakis: Composer, Architect, Visionary explores the fundamental role of drawing in the work of Greek avant-garde composer Iannis Xenakis (1922–2001). A leading figure in twentieth century music, Xenakis was trained as a civil engineer, then became an architect and developed revolutionary designs while working with Le Corbusier. Comprised of nearly 100 documents created between 1953 and 1984, this is the first North American exhibition dedicated to Xenakis’s original works on paper. Included are rarely-seen hand-rendered scores, architectural drawings, conceptual renderings, pre-compositional sketches, and graphic scores. Iannis Xenakis: Composer, Architect, Visionary is co-curated by Xenakis scholar Sharon Kanach and critic Carey Lovelace and will travel to the Canadian Centre for Architecture (June 17 – October 17, 2010) and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (November 7, 2010 – February 13, 2011).

January 15 — April 8, 2010 
Hours: 2-4pm 
Location: The Drawing Center 35 Wooster Street 
Phone Number: (212) 219-2166 
Website: www.drawingcenter.org <http://www.drawingcenter.org/>

New York: Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century at MoMA

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004) is one of the most original, accomplished, influential, and beloved figures in the history of photography. His inventive work of the early 1930s helped define the creative potential of modern photography, and his uncanny ability to capture life on the run made his work synonymous with “the decisive moment”—the title of his first major book. After World War II (most of which he spent as a prisoner of war) and his first museum show (at MoMA in 1947), he joined Robert Capa and others in founding the Magnum photo agency, which enabled photojournalists to reach a broad audience through magazines such as Life while retaining control over their work. In the decade following the war, Cartier-Bresson produced major bodies of photographic reportage on India and Indonesia at the time of independence, China during the revolution, the Soviet Union after Stalin’s death, the United States during the postwar boom, and Europe as its old cultures confronted modern realities. For more than twenty-five years, he was the keenest observer of the global theater of human affairs—and one of the great portraitists of the twentieth century. MoMA’s retrospective, the first in the United States in three decades, surveys Cartier-Bresson’s entire career, with a presentation of about three hundred photographs, mostly arranged thematically and supplemented with periodicals and books. The exhibition travels to The Art Institute of Chicago, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.

Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53^rd St.
New York, NY 10019
(212) 708-9400

Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (8 p.m. Fridays). Closed Tuesdays.
Exhibit runs April 11, 2010 to June 28, 2010

The Caravan Palace is quickly becoming one of the top international electro-swing bands. They played at our wedding back in 2006 and are currently on tour for the first time in the US. Check them out!

Thibaut Estellon a.k.a. The French Creative Connection shares a place in our hearts, as a leading purveyor of French Creatives here in New York City. We applaud his effort to help push the "French in America" cultural exchange in the right direction and we encourage you to read his blog often. We will be highlighting many of his blog posts and we hope that you enjoy his latest portrait of Artiste: Amelie Chabannes. (my wife)

Last night my wife Amelie and I attended Raimund Hoghe's, Boléro Variations at The Dance Theater Workshop. This was his premiere tour in the US and this fact created major excitement throughout the theater. People were extremely elated, especially the theater loyalists. After finding out that Homeland Security would not allow one of the French performers to enter the states, because of "passport issues", we were presented with a strong piece of organic, honest and vulnerable art. In my mind this was not a performance, but an art piece. The reason I make this distinction is because to view this as a performance, would not set your frame of reference properly. Many people where not prepared for the deliberate pacing and freedom that the piece established from the very beginning. I for one had difficulty dealing with the first act due to the fact that most of the things you see in this city are set to entertain the audience. We are not used to a slow pace, slow makes us uncomfortable, it's almost a dirty word. When you speak about pace, you start to think about performance, when you think about art you lose the reference of pace. If you where in a museum and were looking at something that unfolded at it's own pace, you probably wouldn't make judgments about the timing. It is when you are seated in a theater, where the elements of time and audience engagement are considered. These things are difficult to grapple with when you witness something like Boléro Variations, that doesn't even consider time on purpose. Overall, the experience was refreshing, unique and moving. The beauty and strength of the piece where exceptional. I hope that you all can see it tonight and let us know what you think!

Performer and choreographer Raimund Hoghe’s work questions conceptions of difference and expectations of the dancing body, advocating inclusive views of humanity and acceptance and celebration of self and others.

Created in Paris in 2007 and co-presented with Dance Theater Workshop, Boléro Variations features the music of Ravel’s Boléro, folksongs, and the soundtrack from the TV broadcast of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean’s ice-dancing performance at the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo.

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Last Friday, I had the pleasure of experiencing the visual and auditory performance of Metamkine. As is my habit, I often try and come under-prepared for performances such as these. I try to not learn too much about what I am about to experience. This helps me feel what I personally feel, not clouded by reviews and preconceived notions of what I should look for and what the critics say is noteworthy. I don't mind a trailer, but full previews are out.  I arrived at the FIAF to find that the show was about to begin and that my wife was stuck in a cab 10 minutes away, so I headed in solo, because the guy was giving me a look that said "you should get a seat because...." - I told her I would hold some seats and down I went. As I rode down the escalator, I noticed the beautiful videos of Marie Maillard and was delivered down into the theater ready and open for what was next.

The lights went out. The visuals and sounds entranced the audience into a hallucinogenic rabbit hole experience that pierced my ears, soothed my eyes and had a few people behind me looking like the guy from the Maxell commercial seen here:

The three artists performed live with vintage cinema projectors and other non identifiable (it was very dark, so dark that I never found my wife) pieces equipment positioned around the stage and theater and manged to "play" their instruments through the help of over 50 extension cords (so I was told). They used their hands, bodies and audio/video fragments to create an ambiance of tension and euphoria that took over the theater. Overall the entire experience was extremely interesting and creative and my only gripe was that "performers" where a bit out of view. I would have liked to have seen them more in the work. The visuals and audio where tremendous, but this is after all a "live" show in which people are part of. Perhaps I should have sat in the front row? Did you see the show? Let's us know what you think in the comments below!

Founded in 1987 and based in Grenoble, Metamkine (known in French as La Cellule d’Intervention Metamkine) is made up of musician Jérôme Noetinger and filmmakers Christophe Auger and Xavier Quérel. The trio’s research into the relationship between image and sound has resulted in works they refer to as live “musico-cinematic” creations.

Through the use of mirrors, multiple projectors, a live soundtrack of tape fragments, and ingenious on-stage editing, they produce and direct a new film live—simultaneously a performance and its document. A sensory immersion that must be experienced to be believed, Metamkine is brought to Crossing the Line in cooperation with Anthology Film Archives.

More: http://ameliechabannes.com