Birmingham Royal Ballet from UK and Cie 111 from France are the residence artists for the programmes in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Participating schools include: Elegantia College, Fung Kai Liu Man Shek Tong Secondary School and TWGHs Li Ka Shing College.

For the 2011 Project, more than 60 students joined a fun-filled casting and 38 of them participated in workshops hosted by Birmingham Royal Ballet as well as two local artists. Beside the school showcase in Dec 2010, they also presented their public show in Feb 2011 at the foyer of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

The short piece they performed was based on Birmingham Royal Ballet’s signature piece, “Hobson’s Choice”. It is an uplifting ballet which tells a love story between a humble shoe maker and his boss’ daughter. The show was well-received by a large enthusiastic audience.

Related posts:

1. Artists-in-Residence Project continued
2. The Final Stage: Artists-in-Residence Project
3. The Artists-in-Residence Project in HK

From 20 January to 27 February, the recently inaugurated Europe branch of BGL BNP Paribas in Luxembourg is hosting an exhibition by sculptor Tom Flick.

Already a talented artist, Luxembourg native Tom Flick perfected his skills in sculpture during his studies at the Fine Arts Faculty of the Lycée Technique des Arts et Métiers.

The artist subsequently exhibited his works in both individual and collective shows in Austrian cities including Vienna and Innsbruck and then moved further afield with exhibitions in countries such as Germany and Italy… His works are generally sculpted in alabaster and represent nudes or non-conventional forms.

The artist is now unveiling his works in the branch’s “Culture and Partnership” area, a dedicated space that hosts artistic and cultural exhibitions throughout the year.

An exhibition not to be missed!

Related posts:

1. Lorenzo Lotto’s body of works on display in Rome
2. “Open Season III” to open in Luxembourg
3. An Exhibition to Honour the Unification of Italy

For over 5 weeks, the Festival line up of 2012 will reveal 45 films of action, romance, comedy, thrillers, children’s films, animation and documentaries from the very best of French contemporary cinema – which have been commercially released in France the previous year. The festival will also include several Australian Premières and a prestigious International Première.

With more than 130,000 attendees last year, the Alliance Française French Film Festival has become one of the most important film events in Australia and the largest festival of French cinema in the world, outside of France.

For more information about the full programme, screening schedule, special events, and cinema locations…

Receive up-to-the-minute updates via the Facebook and Twitter page.

Advance tickets will be on sale from Wednesday 1 February 2012, along with the Alliance Française French Film Festival official website launch at: www.affrenchfilmfestival.org

Related posts:

1. French Film Festival 2012
2. Opening Night at the French Film Festival in Australia
3. Travelling, the Rennes Film Festival

About David Hockney

Born in Bradford, England, David Hockney became famous in the early 1960s and one of the leaders of the pop art movement in the United Kingdom.

After emigrating to the United States in 1964, Hockney  was known for his “swimming pool” paintings, then for his elaborate stage sets during the ’70s and for his photo collages during the ’80s.  His easel paintings made during the 1980s show the influence that Matisse and Picasso exerted over his art.

In the last decade, Hockney has returned to painting in the open air, observing with honesty and intensity the scenery remembered from school holidays spent in East Yorkshire. He is now widely recognised as Britain’s greatest living artist.

About the Exhibition

Created especially for the exhibition, vivid, large-scale paintings inspired by the Yorkshire countryside will be displayed next to drawings by the celebrated English painter. Alongside a selection of works spanning more than fifty years, these new pieces will shed new light on Hockney’s fascination with landscapes.

The exhibition will also present a number of his works painted from the Fifties onwards. These include the photo-collages of the Eighties and Grand Canyon paintings of the late Nineties, which put the Yorkshire works in context and highlight the striking relationship between past works and his current thinking and practice.

The exhibition will include a display of his iPad drawings and a series of new films produced using 18 cameras, which will be displayed on multiple screens and which will provide a spellbinding visual journey through the eyes of David Hockney.

Designed by the curators Marco Livingstone and Édith Devaney, the exhibition “David Hockney: A Bigger Picture” was organised by the Royal Academy of Arts in London, in collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Ludwig Museum in Cologne.

For more information about this event

Related posts:

1. Exhibition: “Aimé Maeght and his artists” in London
2. Restoration at the Quimper Museum of Fine Arts
3. Creative Talent on display at the employees’ Summer Exhibition

Unique models of religious and civilian buildings in wood, ceramic and cardboard are at display in an impressive exhibition: “Tolerance: beacon for faith and life”, at the National Archaeological Museum in Sofia, the capital city of Bulgaria.

The miniature models exhibited represent houses of religious diversity primarily from Bulgaria but also from Russia, Italy, Norway, Romania and France and highlight the importance of tolerance.

Plamen Ignatov, Vihren Mihaylov, Todor Nanchev and H.E. Stefano Benazzo, the four artists of this exhibition, all invested a great deal of passion and painstaking detail into their creations.  For instance, the UNESCO-listed “Rila Monastery” model took 17 years to make,  as it required 6 million partially burned matches to make the work the same colour as the original.

The exhibition, which opened on January 10th, 2012 is under the patronage of Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov and the mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova, This event has been organized by the Italian Ambassador in Bulgaria, H.E. Stefano Benazzo, with the support of main monotheistic religions in the country.

As part of its global commitment to fight discrimination and promote diversity and in line with its pro-active social responsibility policy in Bulgaria, BNP Paribas S.A. – Sofia Branch is  supporting this outstanding exhibition.

See the catalogue of the exhibition

Related posts:

1. Food bank project “Sofia Table” launched in Bulgaria
2. Paris of Love
3. The art of the contemporary tapestry

BNL, the Italian subsidiary of the BNP Paribas Group, is a partner of the exhibition “Il Quirinale. Dall’Unita d’Italia ai nostri giorni” (The Quirinale Palace: from the Unification of Italy to today), which will run from 30 November 2011 to 17 March 2012.

It’s a delightful initiative commemorating the 150th anniversary of Italian unity (1861 –2011).

There are two parts to the exhibition:

•    A section showcasing Italian history and art, including works of art, precious objects and books.
•    A documentary component, which includes documents, photographs and illustrations as well as television and film clips. This part of the exhibition gives visitors an insight into the role of the Head of State during the period of Italian unification and the years that followed.

A two-volume exhibition catalogue is available, which includes the majority of the key documents from the President, the Secretary General, historians and others that can be viewed during a visit to the exhibition.

Finally, BNL is also commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy through its support for “La Costituzione fa scuola” (“The Constitution goes to school”), a project dedicated to the young students attending the 100 schools in the suburbs of Rome during the 2011-2012 school year. The objective is to distribute 14 different posters by the artist Pablo Echaurren illustrating the key articles of the Italian Constitution.

Through these initiatives, BNL, which will celebrate its own 100th anniversary in 2013, aims not only to fulfil its responsibilities as a socially responsible economic player, but also to encourage the spread of cultural values that are authentic, common to all and specific to the country’s collective heritage.

Photo Credit :  Quirinnale_Regina_Margherita

Related posts:

1. Lorenzo Lotto’s body of works on display in Rome
2. An exhibition space for the works of Tom Flick
3. “Paris, Before – After”: a new exhibition

All French cinema lovers, the French Film Festival in Australia is approaching its 23rd year!

Starting on February 2012, over 40 films, action, romance, comedy, thrillers, children’s films, animation and documentaries commercially released in France in 2011 will be played across the 6 capital cities of Australia.

More than 130,000 attendees last year have made the Alliance Française French Film Festival one of the most important film events in Australia and the largest festival of French cinema in the world!

This festival is organised jointly by the Alliance Françaises of Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

Visit the French Film Festival website for more information and to register and receive updates on the festival.

The Facebook page is also available for you to get the latest updates.

Related posts:

1. The French Film Festival 2012 in Australia is approaching
2. Opening Night at the French Film Festival in Australia
3. The Annecy Animated Film Festival Turns 50!

BGL BNP Paribas’ Private Banking Centre “d’Villa” is hosting an exhibition of works by Kim En Joong, the internationally renowned painter, ceramist and stained-glass artist, from 16 November 2011 to 20 January 2012.

Kim En Joong was born in South Korea in 1940. He discovered calligraphy at the age of 16 and gravitated toward the graphic arts, entering the Fine Arts School of Seoul in 1959. During his studies, he attended French classes given by the Missions Etrangères de Paris missionary organisation. This experience developed his interest in Europe and France and he soon decided to study western painting.

A singular artist and a man of faith for whom painting is a sacred art, Kim En Joong is known the world over as a reformer of Christian art. Priest-artist or artist-priest, above all he is a painter of light, of the inexpressible and indivisible. His painting, in the abstract landscape tradition, lifts the veil on a world of beauty and spirituality, revealing an incandescent inspiration and beckoning believers and non-believers alike to a place where art and faith are intimately linked.

BGL BNP PARIBAS, 10A Boulevard Royal, L-2093 Luxembourg
Mondays to Fridays, 9 am to 4 pm
Guided tours on request

Related posts:

1. A painting in search of light
2. Raoul Dufy’s “inimitable style”
3. David Hockney RA: A Bigger Picture

“Le passage à niveau” in the Context of Art History

A small group of early landscapes, among them Le passage à niveau, already reflected Léger’s central standing in the context of his epoch. With the Impressionists he shared an interest in the natural world which was gradually witnessing the incursion of civilization and technology. Yet by this time he had already abandoned the harmonious visual language of Impressionism and destroyed his earliest works. He felt closer to the Futurists, who translated the pulsating rhythms of modern life into rapid, vital linear staccatos. Under the impression of Cézanne as well as Picasso’s and Braque’s Cubism he developed an abstract idiom that established his highly autonomous position in the context of the Parisian avant-garde and would blaze a trail for developments in modern art.

The state of Léger’s painting “Le passage à niveau” (1912) must be described as fragile, due to the pattern of deep cracks that have developed in the paint layer and the complexity of its substance. To prevent possible damage, the painting has never been lent out since the opening of the Fondation Beyeler in 1997. The restoration work will begin with a comprehensive inspection aimed at determining the principal measures to be taken to stabilize the image.

In the course of the project, the painting will be studied and documented under various lighting conditions in order to obtain further information that is in part invisible to the naked eye. These will include oblique lighting (to bring out the surface structure of canvas and paint layer), infrared (to reveal initial drawing or alterations in the composition), ultraviolet (to detect later restoration measures), and x-ray investigation (to reveal various paint layers). A microscopic inspection and evaluation of the state of preservation with the aid of digital mapping should likewise provide important information.

Following this basic investigation, a suitable restoration plan will be drawn up and restoration measures undertaken.

By revealing Léger’s painting technique, we hope to gain a better understanding of his creative process and determine ways to stabilize the work’s fragile state, in order to enable an appropriate and long-term presentation in the context of the collection.

Related posts:

1. A painting in search of light
2. Tracking the restoration of a painting, in celebration of 130 years in Australia
3. The original colours of the Jan van Scorel polyptych restored