Photo of the Week

The annual Paris Carnival on February 22. Photo: Eric Tenin of Paris Daily Photo.

Tuesday, 21 February 2012 00:00

Paris Update Art Notes

WHAT′S ON ART TV?

Psychedelic effects rom "Global Groove" (1973) by Nam June Paik with John Godfrey).

Many visitors to the Centre Pompidou may not be aware of its extensive library of artist′s films and videos, which can be viewed on computers in the Espace Nouveaux Médias et Film on the fourth floor. To draw attention to this collection, the museum is holding an exhibition called “Vidéo Vintage,” cleverly displayed on old-fashioned TV sets in three rooms furnished with retro living-room suites. Seventy videos by 50 artists made between 1963 and 1983 can be watched from comfy armchairs, with works by everyone from video-art pioneer Nam June Paik to witty photographer William Wegman, performance artist Marina Abramovic, sculptor Joseph Beuys, film director Jean-Luc Godard and writer Samuel Beckett (a wordless play made for German television). Through May 17.

While you are there, have a look at the small exhibition “Josef Albers in America: Paintings on Paper,” in the

"Color Study for Homage to the Square, Platinum" (undated). The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Bethany, Conn., © Adagp, Paris 2012Galerie d′Art Graphique, also on the fourth floor, with over 80 color studies for the artist′s series “Homage to the Square.” These beautiful squares of color against color, many with the artist′s scribbled notes in the margin (on one: “Try again!”) take you inside his mind and show how much intense work was behind what some may take to be dashed-off abstract paintings that anyone could do. Through April 30. Heidi Ellison

Paris Update This Week's Events

For full details about an event, click on its name to visit the official Web site (in English when available).

Festival Circulation(s)

> Festival promoting the work of young European photographers, Bagatelle Garden, Bois de Boulogne, Feb. 25-March 25