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key indigenous australian issues
| home | news lAboriginal art to invade Paris15 May 2003 - PARISIANS are bracing for a cultural invasion, with Aboriginal art to cover the ceilings of a new museum in the French capital planned as the legacy of President Jacques Chirac.
Stephane Martin, the director of the $360 million Quai Branly Museum under construction near the Eiffel Tower, this week kicked off the search for an Aboriginal artist to undertake the monumental work. The museum is the pet project of President Chirac and will house artworks from Australia, Africa, the Americas and Asia when it is completed later in 2005. Mr Martin, who has discussed the project with Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Arts Minister Richard Alston, said the museum would contain about 200 Aboriginal artworks, including bark paintings and weapons. But it is the ceilings which will dominate one of the museum's two buildings on the busy Rue de L'Universite. Using special lighting and mirrors, the architects have designed the building so that the ceilings will be the main decoration of the four- storey structure. "It's an architectural trick," Mr Martin said. "When you see it from the street, you won't see anything specific on the facade of the building, but you'll have the paintings popping out with the lights and the feeling that they're just floating in the air." He said Mr Downer had taken a personal interest in the project, visiting the site while in Paris recently. And Prime Minister John Howard had ordered the involvement of the Australian Council in the search for a suitable artist. That search would be guided by the curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art at the Art Gallery of NSW, Hetty Perkins, as well as the National Gallery of Australia's senior curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Brenda Croft. The search would be completed by the end of this year, with the artwork to be done next year and installed in 2005, Mr Martin said. "It will be the first time, at least in Europe, where there has been a cooperation between the architect and an Aboriginal artist," he said. "The museum will recognise that world culture is not just based around the Mediterranean." Source: AAP relevant links :
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