Monsieur Hulot's City
dal 17/2/2004 al 2/5/2004
Segnalato da
17/2/2004
Monsieur Hulot's City
Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
Jacques Tati's Eye for the Modern. The Frenchman Jacques Tati (1908-1982) was not only one of the great comic geniuses of the 20th century, he was also a passionate critic of modern architecture and society. Tati's thematic content always reflected the beat of the times and concerned itself with man's battle with machines - the clash of the Old versus the New World. In his films Tati caricatured, among other things, the urban and architectural changes that took place during the 50's and 60's of the last century. The exhibition in the Architekturmuseum will be presenting photography and film clips from Tati's films, as well as original drawings and models.
The Architekturmuseum (Architecture Museum) der Technischen Universität
München in the Pinakothek der Moderne presents:
Jacques Tati's Eye for the Modern
The Frenchman Jacques Tati (1908- 1982) was not only one of the great
comic geniuses of the 20th century, he was also a passionate critic of
modern architecture and society. Tati's thematic content always
reflected the beat of the times and concerned itself with man's battle
with machines - the clash of the Old versus the New World. In his films
Tati caricatured, among other things, the urban and architectural
changes that took place during the 50's and 60's of the last century.
In the film 'Mon Oncle' (1958), the Villa Arpel - a mundane, fully
automatic private home - takes center stage, and will be shown in the
exhibition as a 1:10 scale model. Tati's works are characterized through
his one-of-a-kind talent for observation: the status-minded affected
behavior of upper-crust villa residents has never been so marvellously
and metaphorically depicted as in the fish-fountain scenes, in which the
tin spring is only switched on for 'important guests'.
In his last major film, 'Playtime' (1967), Tati condemned monstrous
high-rise municipal sprawls like, for example, 'La Défense' near Paris,
with its pre and post-construction alienation of its residents. For this
film Tati designed a 15,000 square meter area of colossal, towering
models complete with elevators, escalators and supermarkets. The film
takes place within this gigantic stage-metropolis that embodies a quasi
Paris-of-the-future, which, however, is representative for all major
world cities.
The exhibition in the Architekturmuseum (Architecture Museum) der TU
München will be presenting photography and film clips from Tati's films,
as well as original drawings and models. The show was organized by the
Cité de l´architecture et du patrimoine/ Institut français
d´architecture (Ifa), Paris, and was taken up by the TU München.
Press Preview: Feb. 18, 2004, 11:00 am
Opening: Feb. 18, 2004, 07:00 pm
Duration: Feb. 19 - May 2, 2004
Image: My Uncle, 1958, Villa Arpel.
Directed by Jacques Tati
Press information:
Tine Nehler, M.A.
Head of the Press and Public Relations Department
Pinakothek der Moderne
Kunstareal | Barer Str. 29, 80799 München
Telephone: + 49 89
23805-118