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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2012 13:46:16 GMT
First of all, I have to confess that I complete bungled my trip to Lille this time. Having downloaded the programme for this year's Lille 3000 event "Fantastic," I already knew quite a few things I wanted to see, and I felt that I would have all the time necessary, just keeping in mind that it runs from 6 October 2012 to 13 January 2013. So I had already bought my train tickets about 6 weeks ago, made my hotel reservation, and off I went on Sunday afternoon after popping in to the nursing home briefly. It was during the one hour train ride that I realized the horrible mistake. I would be arriving at about 15:45. I needed to check in to the hotel of course to get rid of my stuff, but most of the stuff closed for the day at 18:00 or 19:00. That wasn't the bad part. The bad part was that I had not paid any attention to the days when things were closed, and just about everything at Fantastic is closed on both Monday and Tuesday. What a jerk! Well, I would just have to be very fast upon arrival and then use Sunday night to pore over the programme to see what I could salvage from it. The train arrives at Lille-Flandres, and the very first item on view, the UFO, was waiting at the end of the platform, but it wasn't going anywhere, so I knew that I would be back to photograph it the next day. I walked to the hotel but bounced back out on the street by 16:15 after a brief consultation of my Fantastic map. Just a few blocks away was Sainte Marie-Madeleine with two things on display, the big one being Subodh Gupta's "God Hungry." The Indian artist created this in memory of the tsunami in December 2004. Oddly enough, this is the second time that I have seen this installation, because it was part of the Nuit Blanche in Paris in 2006. It was in the Saint Bernard church right next to where I live, and the form of it that time was just a huge mound in the center of the church. I think the new display is more impressive. The other item on display in a side chapel was Daan Roosegaarde's Lotus Dome. It appears to be asleep, but if you approach it, the little wafers covering the surface are supposed to open in sequence and project stars on the ceiling. I could tell that it was very dangerous, as it had clearly drained the youth of Lille of their life force and left them crumpled against the walls. Also I wasn't going to approach it and have it freak me out to provoke general mirth among the spectators. And time was short! I had to find "The House Fallen from the Sky" as quickly as possible. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2012 14:06:56 GMT
Frankly, my map was not ultra useful, so I mostly relied on my instincts, and this time I was lucky.  Unfortunately, as I expected, there was a bit of a queue to get in.  It was also chilly and damp. Parents were whining as their children insisted on waiting. "You can stand on your head at home and it will be the same," was used as an argument, but it did not seem to work. One little girl even had to say, "I'll never ever ask you for anything again!" This promise seemed to carry as much validity with the mother as if the girl had said "I'll take care of the puppy and you won't have to do anything." The line moved very slowly, because only 10 people could go inside at a time. It took about half an hour to get in. I had to twist myself into a pretzel shape to squeeze through the attic window -- and you had to exit the same way you had entered. Jean-François Fourtou based this work on his grandparents' old Flemish house, and apparently the furniture and other elements are totally faithful to the photographs that he had taken. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2012 17:30:44 GMT
I was pretty sure that I would only frustrate myself if I rushed to one of the top two places on my list, even though they were open until 19:00. It was already almost 18:00, so I popped into the Palais des Beaux Arts just to see the entrance. Their special Fantastic exhibition called Babel (85 works concerning the Babylonian myth as seen by contemporary artists) was about to close for the day, but I was able to see how they had decorated the main foyer. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2012 17:43:56 GMT
And since this is the street that runs from the front of the Lille-Flandres train station, I went back inside to see the UFO by Ross Lovegrove. It twinkled, cycled, hummed and beamed. Not this time, I guess. It was another 400 meters to the Lille-Europe TGV station, where Fujiko Nakaya's misty installation could be seen. It was called "Sea Cloud" and consisted of 800 different mist sprayers creating a very fine fog in a complicated sequence. On the metallic wall of the nearby Suite Novotel, there was an effect by the Electronic Shadow duo (Naziha Mestaoui & Yacine Ait Kaci) called "Eternal Sunset." The style of sunset supposedly changes every day, but it is one of those things that is impossible to photograph properly. |
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Post by tod2 on Nov 8, 2012 18:16:58 GMT
Oh WoW! What a wonderful trip! Don't scold yourself too much Kerouac about the 'mistake' because we tourists to Europe get disappointed sooooooo many times when things are shut. I can hear myself shouting (in my head) "But I've traveled across the world to see this!- How can you not be open/renovating/gone to hell!" Those beautiful lights are so reminiscent of Vegas! All that was missing was the cowboy waving his arm  Just fantastic photo's - thanks so much. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2012 18:39:40 GMT
More to come. In any case, I have already scheduled a second trip to rectify my terrible error.
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Post by nycgirl on Nov 8, 2012 19:12:02 GMT
That first piece is very striking, and the upside-down house is a lot of fun. Incidentally, I would love to have the kind of kid who would actually beg to be allowed to see an art installation.  That "starry vault" is spectacular. A lot of the works seem to have a "light" theme, don't they? It looks like you saw a lot of neat stuff in the limited time you had. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2012 20:23:14 GMT
After a totally adequate meal at a microbrewery across from the train station, I returned to my hotel to plot a stategy for the next day. I found an excellent solution for the next morning at the MUba in Tourcoing. Lille, Roubaix, Tourcoing are a tri-city group all jammed together, and the Lille municipal transportation system serves all of them. Roubaix and Tourcoing are cities that existed only for the textile industry, and they have fallen on very hard times now that almost all of our clothing is made in Asia. They had pretty much become wastelands, but they have started to bounce back in recent years, although they are not out of the woods yet. The main thing I needed to discover was "what the hell is the MUba"? -- but at least it did not seem to be difficult to find on a map. It was to the right and just behind the city hall ( hôtel de ville) of Tourcoing. I would find it! The place opened at 10 a.m. on Monday, so the morning would be calm. Since I am an early riser, I was out on the streets by 8 a.m. in a steady rain. I decided to make sure I knew exactly where the Gare Saint Sauveur was, for when I would make my return visit. It is a former rail freight station, so it is not quite in the center of town. However, it is not too far from the hôtel de ville of Lille, so that's where I went first. It has a huge belfry. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2012 21:33:08 GMT
I bought an unlimited 24-hour transport pass for 4.10€ and took the Val to Tourcoing. The Val was the very first totally automated municipal metro in the world, which is admirable, but it is just so damned small! (There are two Val systems in Paris -- the CDGVal and Orlyval at the airports using the same small cars, but they don't go very far.) I took those photos near the end of the line, once the train has emptied out, but inside Lille itself the Val seems to be very crowded by my own standards. Clearly that it not the opinion of the Lille transport authorities because actually all of the stations are long enough to have trains with six cars, but they are only using 3 cars for the trains. Oh well, as long as they are happy with it. I just assumed that "Tourcoing Centre" was the station I wanted, and I was not wrong. I emerged in front of the main church of Tourcoing.  Probably the building with the big belfry will be the hôtel de ville, right?   It's 10:00 and time's a-wasting!  But no, dammit, this is the chamber of commerce!  Here's the city hall, back in the other direction.  And here's the MUba. At least I finally understand the name.  "Sorry about the misprint in the programme. We open at 13:00." Grrrrr!  I want to buy the house next door, which is for sale. Two car garage!  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2012 21:52:08 GMT
Am I really going to hang around for 3 hours? Should I just get back on the metro and return to Lille? But what would I do there? The other thing I have planned does not open until 14:00. All joking aside, I watched the local news on TV the same evening and there was a report about the effect of the non stop rain on local farmers. One of them showed a tractor barely able to drag its potato rakes through the mud. The farmer said that he was going to lose at least half of his crop this year because the rakes are supposed to pull the potatoes up to the surface while the dirt crumbles away. But right now, the potatoes are staying cemented in the mud and all the farmers can do is pick up the ones that are lying on the surface. They just can't go after the ones that are still buried. |
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Post by fumobici on Nov 9, 2012 1:59:31 GMT
This is really fantastic K2. And luckily for us often quite photogenic as well. The third arcade of lights photo, the first photo in the mist and the cookware spilling from the pulpit are my favorites but only just.
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Post by tod2 on Nov 9, 2012 4:39:48 GMT
I am loving the photos - dirty carrots and all That house you'd like to buy is really nice with it's little balcony. Although it was raining I was wondering if it was all that cold. Looks like around 10C - if there was no wind that could be bearable for me. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2012 5:51:39 GMT
Perusing the market of course did not take 3 hours, so what next? Might was well visit the church, I guess, it being right in front of me and all.  Still lots of time to kill, so I hopped the metro to the end of the line, right next to the Belgian border. Perhaps one day the metro will actually cross the border; the bus lines already do. A lot of people work in the Belgian city of Mouscron and vice versa. |
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Post by bjd on Nov 9, 2012 12:00:38 GMT
Another area of France I don't know at all. I find it interesting that these towns/cities that have fallen on such hard economic times still invest in these cultural events. Do they bring in that much tourism to justify the expense? It's also great that the locals go out to see these things with their kids. I really like the name of the place on the road sign: Risquons-Tout |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2012 13:43:11 GMT
Although it was raining I was wondering if it was all that cold. Looks like around 10C - if there was no wind that could be bearable for me. Yes, it was quite bearable, and the temperature was around 10°. I find it interesting that these towns/cities that have fallen on such hard economic times still invest in these cultural events. Do they bring in that much tourism to justify the expense? It's also great that the locals go out to see these things with their kids. I have never been to Lille when it was not full of British, Belgian and Dutch tourists. A lot of them probably just come for the day. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2012 14:42:57 GMT
Roubaix was one of the only relatively populous French cities to suffer from the "dead downtown" syndrome so well known in a lot of the United States. All of the shopping had moved out to suburban malls and hypermarkets and downtown was just a lot of empty storefronts and a few shops for the very poorest people with no form of transportation. In fact, after having been the world textile capital at the beginning of the 20th century, Roubaix now shares the title of "poorest city in France" with nearby Denain. 46% of the population lives below the poverty line. 30% of the population is now composed of non-European immigrants, but even they don't stay -- Roubaix also has the highest population turnover in France. In just 5 years, 42% of the population has moved in or out of town. Pretty grim. Nevertheless, Roubaix did something about its abandoned downtown. They scooped out the guts of several city blocks just off the Grand Place and created a large urban shopping mall while retaining most of the original storefronts.  All of these buildings are just façades for the shopping mall.  And there are some fine old Flemish buildings waiting to be refurbished.  I think this flat for rent has great luminosity but it needs total renovation for sure.  It was lunchtime, so I hightailed it back to Tourcoing. It was just a few minutes by metro.  Here I was in the land of mussels and not a single brasserie that I could see had it on today's menu. In fact it seemed to be pork day. Sautéed pork, braised pork, pork chops, filet mignon de porc... Now I like pork very much, but I just did not want any today, and I did not want to just go get a steak-frites or an omelette. The clock was just about ready to strike 13:00.... |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2012 15:22:54 GMT
Okay, I gathered with a half dozen other people and we waited for the doors to swing open. At 13:05, the doors were still closed, so someone pushed the "emergency" buzzer. An irate woman who clearly did not like to hurry in a town that time forgot said yes, yes, the door would be opened and one minute later we were inside. This exhibition was intriguingly called "Otherworldly: Optical Delusions and Small Realities." I absolutely loved it! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2012 15:52:44 GMT
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Post by bjd on Nov 9, 2012 16:09:20 GMT
What a wonderful exhibit!
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Post by tod2 on Nov 9, 2012 17:32:06 GMT
Just fantastic! The snow globes were my favourite. Just peering inside and seeing what those little figures were up to.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2012 17:56:44 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2012 18:29:25 GMT
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Post by fumobici on Nov 9, 2012 20:07:38 GMT
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Post by mich64 on Nov 9, 2012 20:43:30 GMT
Fascinating! I keep going back to photos and see more and more of the detail. It would have been wonderful to see this exhibit in person. We are very fortunate that you make these experiences available to us.
Where I am from, we are very used to so many services being open 7 days a week. We definitely felt the difference when we arrived in Caen on a Sunday where almost everything was closed Sunday and Monday. We were not expecting that, although I should have known better.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2012 20:55:21 GMT
I had to walk through some of the streets of Vieux Lille to get to the next place. The streets are quite lovely and I could not help snapping a few photos along the way. |
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Post by htmb on Nov 9, 2012 21:43:32 GMT
I am enjoying this thread very much, Kerouac. I especially loved seeing the different buildings along the streets of Lille. I've never been too interested in miniatures, but oh my goodness! Your photographs of the detail in these is very good. There was one photo of a miniature within a miniature (workshop photo) that I thought was just super.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2012 5:53:40 GMT
The Hospice Comtesse was founded by Jeanne de Constantinople, Countess of Flanders, in 1236 but the current buildings date mostly from 17th century. It was still an old age home and orphanage up until 1939. Anyway, what was on display were the works of Huang Yong Ping, a major dadaist artist from China whose works were often banned there. He moved to France in 1989 and is now a French citizen. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2012 6:04:41 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2012 6:11:06 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2012 11:50:21 GMT
I next happened upon what might be considered to be one of the most unusual buildings in Lille -- the cathedral. The first stone was laid in 1854 and it nevertheless took 150 years to complete the building. Actually, the central section was finished in 1869 and the church (not yet a cathedral) was inaugurated. In 1874 bells were given to the church, but the double bell towers that were planned had not yet been built. In fact, they were never built at all. A separate bell tower was built to the right of the church to house the bells. In 1913, the church finally became a cathedral -- Notre Dame de la Treille (Our Lady of the Vine). Construction plodded along bit by bit until 1947 and the cathedral still had no front, so they built one out of brick and decided that they were done. In 1991, they decided that the brick front would simply not do and that they would build something contemporary instead. And so the front of the Lille cathedral was created by Peter Rice, the designer of the Sydney opera house -- it was finished in 1999. The structure is completely independent from the rest of the building. |
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