2008 - Australian events in France

‘Souvenirs Australiens’ is a collection of 60 rare photographs from the archives of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, which present a chronological history of the Australian Imperial Forces in France from 1916 to 1918.

The first images portray their early days in the ‘nursery front’ near Armentieres where one soldier describes it as ‘[so quiet now], you wouldn’t know there was a war on’. Reprieve was short-lived and the soldiers were soon to experience the terrible fury of trench warfare.

The focus of the exhibition is on ordinary soldiers and their capacity to endure the hell of the battlefield and to forge strong friendships with the people of northern France; not about the politics of the war or the grand strategies or the field marshals. The images document the horror of battle, the desolation of the battlefield and the courage and valour of ordinary men and women in the extraordinary situation of war. The photographs portray what ‘… no pen could ever adequately describe the misery and privations of the men holding the line. The trenches were ghastly ditches full of water and mud, and the decomposing remains of heroes of already forgotten battles’. In the words of Australian war historian Charles Bean, [this was a landscape] more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other spot on earth’.

The final images, taken after the Armistice on 11 November 1918, portray the soldiers who remained in France for the signature of the Treaty of Versailles, living in the villages they had liberated, helping bring in the first harvest after the war and parading across the Place de la Concorde in Paris. These photographs bear witness to the strong links forged between the people of France and the Australian soldiers, fighting in the name of a young nation that had been federated by their fathers as recently as 1901.

Approximately 295,000 Australian soldiers served on the Western Front between 1916 and 1918, from a population of only five million, of whom 45, 928 died and some 156,000 were wounded. More Australians were killed in action or died of wounds on the Western Front than all those Australians who participated in all other 20th century conflicts combined.

This exhibition, launched on Anzac Day, commemorates the Australians who died in the service of their country, honours their memory and their sacrifice, and pays tribute to all Australian servicemen and women, including those who are today in the field of battle, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in the Middle East and the Pacific, on peacekeeping missions around the world.

Further Information:
History of the Australians on the Western Front: www.ww1westernfront.gov.au
Australian War Memorial: www.awm.gov.au
 
This exhibition is presented by the Australian Embassy in Paris and the Australian War Memorial with the generous support of the Australian Government through the Department of Veterans’ Affairs as part of their program of commemorative events for the 90th Anniversary of the signing of the Armistice on 11/11/1918.

Department of Veterans’ Affairs: www.dva.gov.au


Australian Embassy
4, rue Jean Rey
75015 Paris
Tél. 01 40 59 33 00
Métro: Bir Hakeim / RER C : Champ de Mars-Tour Eiffel

Opening hours: Monday to Friday from 9.00 to 17.00

Free entry

A constructed world - Le feu scrupuleux
First part 18 mai – 31 août
Second part 7 – 21 septembre
CNEAI, Centre national de l’Estampe et de l’Art Imprimé

Since 1993, Australian artists Jacqueline Riva and Geoff Lowe have worked under the name of A Constructed World. Their work takes diverse forms, often performative, using the construction of platforms of work which include the audience. Their art can often be seen in terms of crisis of concepts of certainty, security and hierarchical values.

The exhibition “Le Feu Scrupuleux” of A Constructed World at Cneai takes place at the end of a preparation of more than a year, and is built around the center of art, the collection FMRA and in particular the Maison Flottante designed by Erwan and Ronan Bouroullec. It is organized around a series of new pieces linked to the question of repetition, failure and avoidance. From their interrogations on limits of memory, A Constructed World also recalls works that were previously exhibited at Cneai.

Le Feu Scupuleux, which gives its title to the exhibition, is ‘the absolute which has been accumulated’. The collection of the Cneai is the scrupulous fire because it makes choices between what is kept and what it refused. ACW’s exhibition interrogates what is worth saving.
The exhibition Le Feu Scrupuleux consists in two parts: the first, of May 18 at August 31, the second, from the 3 to September 21.

Le CNEAI
île des impressionnistes
78400 Chatou
Tel 01 39 52 45 35
Fax 01 39 52 43 78
cneai@cnei.com
www.cneai.com

More information about A Constructed World:
www.aconstructedworld.com   

The Presets and Midnight Juggernauts at Pantiero Festival
Sunday 10 and Monday 11 August 2008
Cannes

The Presets – Sunday 10 August at 22.15
Midnight Juggernauts – Monday 11 August at 20.55

More information:
www.festivalpantiero.com

The Spaghetti Western Orchestra
Tuesday 16th September to Saturday 11th October
Cafe De La Danse

 
In Concert - Classic Ennio Morricone!

The Spaghetti Western Orchestra rides into Paris, with a wagon train of instruments, to perform all the classic Ennio Morricone music including; The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Once Upon A Time In The West and For A Few Dollars More.
With a fistful of humour and a bucket-load of fun, the orchestra underscores these brilliant musical adventures: all the sound effects of the iconic spaghetti western movies - every punch up, gunshot, and jangling spur - is recreated using coat hangers, cornflakes, nail clippers, rubber gloves and other ingenious ‘instruments’ pulled from their saddlebag of tricks.
The Spaghetti Western Orchestra is a tribute to the maestro Morricone, performed by a posse of magnificent musicians.

"Simply fantastic and a must-see show." The Age, Australia



Paris Season at Cafe De La Danse
On sale now
Tuesday 16th September to Saturday 11th October
To book tickets www.gdp.fr or call 0892 392 192

Show times
Tuesday to Saturday at 8pm
Saturday matinee at 4pm
Sunday at 7.30pm

Café de la Danse
5, Passage Louis Philippe
75011 Paris

More information:
www.spaghettiwesternorchestra.com

The Australian Ballet &
Bangarra Dance Theatre in Paris
29 September – 4 October 2008
Théâtre du Châtelet

 
The Australian Ballet will tour three works to Paris in September - October, marking the company’s 30th international tour in its 46 year history. The company will present contemporary, mainly large scale Australian works, full of awesome ensemble movements and exquisite passages that showcase the brilliance of Australia’s leading classical dancers.

The Australian Ballet is proud to be performing with contemporary Australian indigenous dance company Bangarra Dance Theatre with ‘Rites’ by Bangara’s founding artistic director and choreographer, Stephen Page. Rites features dancers from both companies in an arousing piece of dance theatre set to Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. The company will begin the tour at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on 29 September, opening with a compelling double bill featuring Rites alongside a brand-new interpretation of Symphonie Fantastique from acclaimed Polish choreographer Krzysztof Pastor, and followed by the French debut of Graeme Murphy’s Swan Lake. One of the company’s most successful productions of all time – Graeme Murphy’s multiple award-winning Swan Lake is a powerful interpretation of the iconic ballet. The production has been greeted with rapturous standing ovations and critical acclaim in London, Cardiff, Shanghai and Tokyo resulting in the company receiving the 2005 UK Critics’ Circle Award for ‘Best Foreign Dance Company’.

The Australian Ballet last toured Paris 43 years ago in 1965 with a mixed bill and Raymonda starring Ballet dance legends Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev.

SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE and RITES (WITH BANGARRA DANCE THEATRE)
Théâtre du Châtelet
29 September – 30 September: 3 performances


GRAEME MURPHY’S SWAN LAKE
Théâtre du Châtelet
2 October – 4 October: 4 performances


ABOUT THE WORKS:
Swan Lake is one of the world’s favourite ballets. This dazzling version, created by Graeme Murphy and Janet Vernon, is one of the company’s most successful productions of all time. Set to Tchaikovsky’s immortal music, this spectacular intrepretation features a contemporary storyline of drama, wit and passion. Murphy has brought the spirit and scale of classical ballet into the 21st century with extraordinary results.

Rites features electrifying contemporary choreography from Stephen Page, fusing the intense spirituality of indigenous culture with the beauty of ballet. Created in 1997 for the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, Rites was the outcome of a groundbreaking collaboration between The Australian Ballet and Bangarra Dance Theatre. Set to Igor Stravinky’s monumental score The Rite of Spring, the work is divided into six parts: ‘Awakening’, ‘Earth’, ‘Wind’, ‘Fire’, ‘Water’ and ‘Dreaming’.

Symphonie Fantastique, which premiered as a ballet in 1936, was another of Massine’s symphonic ballets. The Australian Ballet commissioned inventive Polish choreographer Krzysztof Pastor to create a brand-new dance interpretation of Hector Berlioz’s score, influenced by the heady narrative of opium, obsession, black magic and death. This dramatic work designed by Tatyana van Walsum premiered in Melbourne on 30 August 2007.

www.australianballet.com.au
www.bangarra.com.au