DAY 3- Wednesday June 4th

Its now Day 6 or 7 and I am writing about Day 3. Confusing? Not to me:

Day 3 is Post-Modern Day! 

After walking from our apartment in the rain for 2.4 kilometers we assemble- me, Leslie, Prof. Taze Fulford- in the plaza of the Pompidou Center, the famous, much reviled and misunderstood (whats to understand?) monument to post-modern architecture. 

“Dave, what the heck is post-modern?" its what comes after modern, silly. Basically.....

"modernism is the enlightenment-humanist rejection of tradition and authority in favour of reason and natural science. This is founded upon the assumption of the autonomous individual as the sole source of meaning and truth--the Cartesian cogito. Progress and novelty are valorized within a linear conception of history--a history of a "real" world that becomes increasingly real or objectified. One could view this as a Protestant mode of consciousness."

"Whereas postmodernism is a rejection of the sovereign autonomous individual with an emphasis upon anarchic collective, anonymous experience. Collage, diversity, the mystically unrepresentable, Dionysian passion are the foci of attention. Most importantly we see the dissolution of distinctions, the merging of subject and object, self and other. This is a sarcastic playful parody of western modernity and the "John Wayne" individual and a radical, anarchist rejection of all attempts to define, reify or re-present the human subject."

I hope that clears the air.

 The students arrive late due to their being students. No, actually they had Metro issues, train broke down or something. Since the Pompidou opens for free admission at 2pm, we scout around the area for interesting “social spaces” including the requisite water features, trees, plants, materials, details, spatial organization, context, etc. In other words, landscape architecture…….

Next door to the Center is Stravinsky Fountain which is highlighted by a pool full of "whimsical" kinetic sculptures- unfortunately the pool was drained and the sculptures were not acting in a kinetic manner. Across from the pool is a wall-o-graffiti highlighted by the giant face of Salvador Dali. Is he shushing the medieval church next door? Isn't he dead? And where is John Wayne? Good lord! Could this be a post-modern moment?

 







  



We wander for a few blocks to the Fontaine des Innocents; much sketching ensues……




After lunch (a fine omelet with excellent cheese of course) we visit the construction site of a major re-development of the les Halles area into a giant covered retail and cultural center. Dare I say it? Post-modern, right down to the on-site worker housing….

Its 2pm so we go back to the Pompidou Center for our free admission. You saw the exterior in the photo(s) above- the interior sort of reminded me of a gigantic AgExpo, only with people instead of cows, pigs, etc. Kind of a letdown from the imposing P-M exterior with its exposed structure, mechanical systems and circulation. While inside we did see an interesting exhibition which, low-and-behold, included the very site we were to visit on Day 4. Way to go Prof. Taze! The exhibit featured the work of Bernard Tschumi, famous……....(wait for it)……......post-modernist!  The project of note was parc de la Villette, a design that Tschumi executed, and which was constructed in the 1980’s…….. 

more on that, Day 4!