Paris's Picasso museum finally reopens after renovation | ||
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Paris (AFP) - A top-level sacking, harsh words from the artist's son, delays and a huge budget overrun -- Picasso museum reopens its doors in Paris on Saturday amid the fallout from a fraught $71-million renovation. Just over five years after it closed for what was intended to be a two-year refurbishment, the museum -- housed in a 17th-century baroque mansion in Paris's historic Marais quarter -- has been extensively modernised and is more than twice its previous size. Costs, however, stand at 22 million euros ($27 million) over budget due to an increase in the scope of the works, a rift has opened up between Picasso's son Claude and the French government and the museum's director of nearly a decade, Anne Baldassari, no longer has her job. The gallery, which first opened in 1985, boasts one of the world's most extensive collections of Picasso's work with around 5,000 paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, photographs and documents. Most of the exhibits were left to the French state on his death in 1973, the artist having spent most of his life in France. Others were donated by his family including his widow Jacqueline. According to new director Laurent Le Bon, the expansion -- which has boosted the museum's exhibition space to 3,800 square metres (41,000 square feet) -- will allow it to display far more of its collection, only a fraction of which was previously displayed due to lack of space.
- 'Fluidity' -
"Everything has changed and nothing has changed. You still have the basic structure of the building... but at the same time everything has been redone," Le Bon told AFP. "There is a lot of fluidity... one can move around much more easily than before, one has a freedom which goes well with the spirit and the works of Picasso," he said. Le Bon said architect Jean-Francois Bodin's renovation sought to modernise and expand the gallery -- considered to be austere yet luminous -- while at the same time preserving its essential character. The original conversion prior to the museum's 1985 opening was carried out by Roland Simounet and aimed to create the ideal showcase for Picasso's work while also allowing the public to glimpse a great 17th-century mansion. As part of the renovation, offices have been turned into exhibition areas, former stables transformed into a huge reception hall and the basement excavated. New minimalist exhibition spaces are characterised by grey terrazzo, bare stone and whitewashed walls. But the sacking of Baldassari in May 2014, just months before the museum's reopening, has cast a shadow over the conclusion of the project.
- Staff rebellion -
The director, who had been at the helm for nine years and at the museum for over 20, was summarily sacked by France's then Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti following a staff rebellion and accusations of authoritarian management. Her dismissal prompted Claude Picasso, who supported Baldassari, to accuse the French government of not valuing his father's work and of dragging its feet over the reopening. "(Baldassari) is the scientific authority who has been responsible for the growth of the museum for many years," Picasso told Le Figaro at the time, adding that he would regard any replacement who thought they could take her place as an "impostor". Baldassari, however, will not be entirely absent from the reopening which has been timed to coincide with the 133rd anniversary of Picasso's birth on October 25, 1881. The former director eventually accepted an offer from Filippetti, sacked herself in a surprise August reshuffle by President Francois Hollande, to carry out the hanging of the inaugural exhibition in recognition of her years of work. In future, the museum is expected to hold one major exhibition each year. The first in mid-2015 in collaboration with New York's Museum of Modern Art will take Picasso's sculpture as its theme. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Google exec makes record skydive from edge of space | ||
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Washington (AFP) - A Google executive set a new record Friday by jumping successfully from near the top of the stratosphere -- some 135,000 feet, or 41,000 meters high, his project website said. The record dive by 57-year-old Alan Eustace, who is a "senior vice president of knowledge" at Google, was conducted as part of the Stratospheric Explorer project to allow manned exploration of the stratosphere above 100,000 feet. According to a statement from the Paragon Space Development Corporation, Eustace completed the four-hour mission over Roswell, New Mexico, using a specially designed space suit and balloon module to carry him to the stratosphere. "Ascending at about 1,000 feet per minute, Alan achieved his target altitude in about two and a half hours," the statement said. "He spent a short time, around a half hour, experiencing the wonders of the stratosphere before being released from the balloon. In rapid free fall, Alan experienced a short period of near weightlessness and within 90 seconds exceeded the speed of sound." The previous record was set by Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner in 2012, jumping from a height of nearly 128,000 feet or 38,969 meters, also from New Mexico. Eustace's free-fall into the atmosphere lasted about five minutes, and he deployed his parachute at around 18,000 feet "and floated gently to the ground," the statement said. "Within four hours of launch, Alan arrived at the launch site where the team and guests toasted his achievement and safe return." Paragon produced the recovery systems for the project, designed by the engineering firm ILC Dover with assistance from several other consultants and companies. The New York Times, which first reported the news, quoted Eustace as saying, "It was amazing. It was beautiful. You could see the darkness of space and you could see the layers of atmosphere, which I had never seen before." The Times said that Eustace was propelled from the module with a small explosive charge, sending him traveling briefly at supersonic speeds, creating a sonic boom heard by observers on the ground. According to Paragon, the system has wide-ranging applications for the study of the science of the stratosphere. These include the "development of means for spaceship crew egress, the study of dynamics of bodies at Mach 1, new high altitude aircraft suits, and setting of records for space diving, sailplaning and ballooning." Without special equipment, humans cannot live at that altitude, according to Paragon, which says that "besides being unable to breath, exposure to the vacuum of space will cause fluids in the body to boil." The space suit is similar to those used for the Apollo missions and on the International Space Station, the company said. The missions by Eustace and Baumgartner offer hope for rescue and evacuation from troubled spacecraft. The US space shuttle was fitted with a crew evacuation system after the 1986 Challenger disaster. The private firm World View Experience announced that it had obtained the rights to offer these dives for "near space" tourism and research. For $75,000, adventurers can duplicate the experience. "World View will have voyagers floating peacefully to the edge of space for a one-to-two-hour space cruise within a luxury capsule complete with bar and lavatory, which is transported by a parafoil and high-altitude balloon," the company said. "They can even share the experience in real-time with loved ones thanks to in-flight Internet access." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Williams beats Wozniacki to reach WTA Finals title match | ||
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Singapore (AFP) - Two-time defending champion Serena Williams beat Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) to reach the WTA Finals title match in Singapore on Saturday. The world number one posted her fourth win of the year against Wozniacki and will face either Simona Halep or Agnieszka Radwanska in Sunday's final. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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