Art Of The Day Weekly
#342 - from 17 April 2014 to 23 April 2014
Europe at carnival time
The heir of the former museum of popular Arts and Traditions (in Paris) which marked an important phase in the world of museums in the XXth century, the Mucem in Marseilles must honour its memory. It does it just a few months after being inaugurated, with an exhibition that screens the survival of carnivals throughout the world. In the past it was a ritual, with its own codes, and religion tried to tear it away from paganism. In general it has become a folklore that has lost the keys to its understanding, except when it became politics. The puppets of Sarkozy, of Nazi military (during the much criticized edition of the carnival of Alost in Belgium in 2013) or the chariot of the “Greek loans” in the carnival of Nice are immediately identifiable. More than once they replaced the bears, devils or « conards » of Rouen, figures of transgression that symbolised initiation rituals. From Israel to Lithuania, from Sardinia to Iran, the choice is very wide and greatly illustrated.
• Le monde à l’envers, Mucem/Flammarion, 2014, 336 p., €39.90.
