LA CITE DU VIN: WINE MUSEUM IN BORDEAUX DESIGN BY XTU ARCHITECTURE
AUDACIOUS
CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE BY XTU
The
architecture and scenic design of La Cité du Vin are the fruit of a close
partnership between two firms: Parisian architects XTU and English museum
design experts Casson Mann. Their project – which combines a bold, poetic
interpretation of the spirit and intangible cultural power of wine with a raft
of immersive digital technologies – wowed the judging panel during the call for
tenders launched by commissioning authority the City of Bordeaux in late 2010.
This tender procedure required candidates to form architect-designer
partnerships to ensure that the structure and its content were part of a
single, cohesive project. A total of 114 submissions were received, 5 projects
were short-listed and 1 winner was ultimately chosen: XTU and Casson Mann, in
association with Canadian engineering form SNC Lavalin. GTM Bâtiment Aquitaine,
a subsidiary of Vinci Construction France, was then selected as the project’s
designated construction partner.
AUDACIOUS
CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE
The
architects from Parisian agency XTU, Anouk Legendre and Nicolas Desmazières,
have imagined a structure replete with symbolic echoes: the swirl of wine
moving in a glass, the coiled movement of a grapevine, the ebb and flow of the
Garonne... Their design captures the spirit of wine and its fluid essence: ‘a
seamless curve, intangible and sensual’ (XTU Architects) which addresses its
multiple environment. Horizontal and vertical lines are linked in a unique
continuous motion growing out of the soil along a large boardwalk ramp. More a
movement than a shape, it releases and reveals itself as it rises, creating an
event amid the landscape that connects with the bridge and river.
AN
INNER ‘ SOUL ‘
This
curve, matching the curve of the Garonne, is also reflected in the interior
volumes, spaces and materials. La Cité du Vin houses a major space in the shape
of the permanent tour on the second floor, an immersive voyage of discovery
into the world of wine. It winds around a central courtyard, allowing visitors
to enjoy a flowing visit to the full. The area is framed by a spectacular and
immersive wooden structure: 574 curving arches, all individually made,
constructed of laminated timber. These wooden arches continue up the tower to
the belvedere level in 128 spines, culminating at a height of 55 metres and
tying the whole space together by interlacing the different floors. They
accompany the visitor’s path at different levels, emerging on the outside of
the building as they rise up the tower. The iconic indoor spaces all have their
own particular identities, from the Thomas Jefferson Auditorium with its
ceiling of suspended wooden tubes and the belvedere with its mirrored bottle
ceiling to the immersive multi-sensory room with its curved glass walls printed
with large wine-based designs.
A
CONSTANTLY CHANGING APPEARANCE
Once
fully grown, La Cité du Vin will be a dazzling display of golden reflections,
reminiscent of the white stone of Bordeaux facades and in dialogue with the
lights of the Garonne. This design and the twists it incorporates capture a
fluid essence. Its outer structure consists of custom-printed glass panels
(both flat and curved) in a variety of colours, and lacquered, iridescent
aluminium panels in a single colour. The different, constantly changing shades
and angles of these panels give the building an appearance which develops with
the Bordeaux sky: reflections of the clouds, the city and the water enhance La
Cité du Vin’s evocative appearance. Set a distance away from the structure,
this shell offers shade from the sun and effective thermal protection.
Innovative
tools to achieve an aim
The XTU
agency’s use of innovative design tools to develop the geometry and complex
shell helped to perfectly capture the architects’ mental image of La Cité du
Vin and transform it into a sensational project.
https://www.laciteduvin.com/en?gclid=Cj0KCQjwxvbdBRC0ARIsAKmec9apKto_MeUwCKiu4C_x00QY8TMG46crd8_OmMmqDXEICG0Dr1hE3jgaAr5tEALw_wcB
THE
PERMANENT TOUR
VÉRONIQUE
LEMOINE
Director
of the permanent tour of
the
Fondation pour la culture et les civilisations du Vin
At the
heart of the visitor experience and the identity of La Cité du Vin, the
immersive, multi-sensory permanent tour occupies some 3,000 m² and features 19
different themed spaces, the majority of which are interactive. Visitors are
free to wander around the exhibition space as they see fit, with no fixed,
compulsory route. The permanent tour is an invitation to a voyage of discovery,
a journey through time and space exploring the evolution of wine and its
civilisations. Young and old alike will get to grips with the very rich
imaginary world of wine and how it has affected the societies and regions of
the globe for millennia, from 6,000 BC to the present day. From legends,
terroirs and landscapes to graphic arts, architecture and literature, the
culture of wine is an extraordinary epic which has inspired and shaped the
lives of humans for centuries.
The
permanent tour allows the visitor to wander freely. Visitors can browse around
at will, depending on their interests and the time at their disposal. As a
participant or a spectator, sitting or standing, they can alternate between
experiences which may be individual, collective, informative, fantasy or
multi-sensory. Everyone is free to organise their own individual visit.
Visitors
are joined on this odyssey by their personal handheld guide, connected to an
innovative device which detects the wearer’s position within the exhibition
space and sets of the appropriate multimedia content. The digital guide
delivers the explanatory dialogue in real time in the user’s selected language
(8 languages available), ensuring that as much of the material as possible is
available to visitors with (visual, auditory or cognitive) disabilities. The
guide also features a specially-designed programme for younger visitors.
Visitors can also use the personal digital guide to highlight their favourite
moments in the exhibition experience, and at the end of their visit they will
be presented with a personalised information booklet filled with opportunities
to learn more about their chosen subjects.
CHATEAU MARGAUX
CHATEAU
MARGAUX
PRUNING
Pruning
is essential. That is what the production quality and the longevity of the
plots depends on. Indeed, the number of buds per plant determines the delicate
balance of the vigour; pruning that leaves too many buds leads to a harvest
that is too abundant and unable to ripen sufficiently. Conversely, pruning that
is too severe leaves vines that are too vigorous, encouraging excessive growth
to the detriment of the maturity of the grapes.
There is, not only for each plot, but for each grape variety, an optimal balance that only winegrowers understand with experience.
Winter pruning extends into the spring by a green pruning and bud-thinning. This means avoiding a build-up of vegetation that is harmful to the exposure of future grape clusters to the sun and as well to concentrating the nutrients produced by the leaves towards the branches that support the grapes, which encourages ripening. Lastly, bud-thinning enables the winegrowers to select future branches for thinning in advance.
There is, not only for each plot, but for each grape variety, an optimal balance that only winegrowers understand with experience.
Winter pruning extends into the spring by a green pruning and bud-thinning. This means avoiding a build-up of vegetation that is harmful to the exposure of future grape clusters to the sun and as well to concentrating the nutrients produced by the leaves towards the branches that support the grapes, which encourages ripening. Lastly, bud-thinning enables the winegrowers to select future branches for thinning in advance.
PLANTING
Great
wines are always produced from vines that are at least twenty years old. So the
main objective of our wine-growing practices is to maintain the old vines in
production for as long as possible. But their life expectancy doesn’t always
fulfill our hopes... In particular, the Cabernet Sauvignon variety, the heart
of our vineyard and the soul of our wine, has a very high mortality rate.
The main solution is to replace the plants, one by one, as and when they die. This is called “complantation”. This practice, as old as the vineyard, occupies all our winegrowers for two months just after the winter pruning. We replace between 10,000 and 15,000 plants per year! But it’s only at the price of this lengthy work that we’re able to maintain the high density of planting in our plots (10,000 plants per hectare); this allows the harmonious management of the vigour of the vines.
The complants themselves have a limited life expectancy... At the end of the day, it’s the whole plot that expires. So we then have to carry out a complete renewal. What a sacrifice! First, we have to pull up all the vine stocks and then let the soil rest for six years. Finally, we replant it and wait until these new vines grow and age in order to produce great wine.
The main solution is to replace the plants, one by one, as and when they die. This is called “complantation”. This practice, as old as the vineyard, occupies all our winegrowers for two months just after the winter pruning. We replace between 10,000 and 15,000 plants per year! But it’s only at the price of this lengthy work that we’re able to maintain the high density of planting in our plots (10,000 plants per hectare); this allows the harmonious management of the vigour of the vines.
The complants themselves have a limited life expectancy... At the end of the day, it’s the whole plot that expires. So we then have to carry out a complete renewal. What a sacrifice! First, we have to pull up all the vine stocks and then let the soil rest for six years. Finally, we replant it and wait until these new vines grow and age in order to produce great wine.
FROSTS
Among
all the risks that are the farmers’ lot in life, frost and hail are the two
most terrible and unfair. In just a few minutes they can reduce to nothing a
whole year, or even several years’ efforts. But by some sort of miracle, the
great terroirs more often than not, escape these misfortunes. Hail is almost
unknown at Château Margaux.
Why ? We really don’t know. On the one hand, if frost misses the greater part of our vineyard, it’s thanks to its particular situation, close to the river where the thermal inertia protects its surroundings from the cold and is sufficiently elevated to escape the accumulation of masses of icy air. Every rule has its exceptions… our white plot presents such a sensitivity to spring frosts that we decided, as of 1983, to install an anti-frost system. The principle is simple: we spray the vines with water for as long as the frost lasts, generally until dawn. The heat produced by the formation of ice enables the maintenance of the temperature above the limit below which the vegetation is destroyed. Before starting the sprinklers, we have to take into account the temperature, the wind and the air humidity, and all this at three o’clock in the morning! When the decision has been taken, in spite of fatigue, it’s a huge consolation to save the harvest and to be present at the fairy-like show given by the ice as it forms around the buds.
Why ? We really don’t know. On the one hand, if frost misses the greater part of our vineyard, it’s thanks to its particular situation, close to the river where the thermal inertia protects its surroundings from the cold and is sufficiently elevated to escape the accumulation of masses of icy air. Every rule has its exceptions… our white plot presents such a sensitivity to spring frosts that we decided, as of 1983, to install an anti-frost system. The principle is simple: we spray the vines with water for as long as the frost lasts, generally until dawn. The heat produced by the formation of ice enables the maintenance of the temperature above the limit below which the vegetation is destroyed. Before starting the sprinklers, we have to take into account the temperature, the wind and the air humidity, and all this at three o’clock in the morning! When the decision has been taken, in spite of fatigue, it’s a huge consolation to save the harvest and to be present at the fairy-like show given by the ice as it forms around the buds.
PLOUGHING
We
intentionally keep the work of the land traditional, although a great part of
it is carried out by high-clearance tractors and equipment that is of
ever-increasing efficiency. Our four ways of ploughing: surfacing and
desurfacing, surfacing, desurfacing rhythmically throughout the farming year is
done in an almost unchanging way. It’s true that our soils, generally light and
well-structured thanks to regular addition of manure, lend themselves well to
this superficial work.
More strangely perhaps, we continue, twice per year, to remove the “cavaillons” by hand. This consists of loosening the coating of soil left around the vine stocks by the ploughs.
Our interest in research doesn’t only apply to new techniques, but also the old, traditional ones. For that reason, we are currently conducting some ploughing experiments with a horse. We would like to be able to draw on years of experience before returning to that method of ploughing, should that be the case.
More strangely perhaps, we continue, twice per year, to remove the “cavaillons” by hand. This consists of loosening the coating of soil left around the vine stocks by the ploughs.
Our interest in research doesn’t only apply to new techniques, but also the old, traditional ones. For that reason, we are currently conducting some ploughing experiments with a horse. We would like to be able to draw on years of experience before returning to that method of ploughing, should that be the case.
PROTECTION
OF THE VINES
Obtaining
grapes that are ripe enough presupposes a perfect control of the phyto-sanitary
condition of the vineyard. During the last thirty years, the quality of
treatment products, their efficiency and their ease of use, hasn’t stopped
improving. The power and precision of the new spraying equipment have also
contributed a great deal to this success.
Mildew, powdery mildew, black-rot, excoriation, almost all fungal diseases, with the notable exception of the wood diseases, esca and eutypiose, that particularly affect the Cabernet Sauvignon variety, are now well controlled. Powdery mildew is controlled by sulphur and mildew by spraying copper sulphate, the famous “Bordeaux mixture”.
The case of grey rot (Botrytis cinerea) is certainly more delicate, but the low instance of vigour in our vines and their traditional behaviour create rather unfavourable conditions for the development of this disease.
The problem presented by parasites, insects and spiders is complex in a different way. In the nineteen eighties we questioned all of our vineyard protection policy with the objective of finding an alternative method to chemicals to preserve the balance of the spider and insect populations. After a few years of work, we were able to stabilise the situation. Since then, all these populations cohabit and autoregulate themselves without us having to take any action, or only in an organic way. At the end of the nineteen nineties, sexual confusion was developed in order to stop the grape worms reproducing. Not one insecticide is now used in our vineyards.
Mildew, powdery mildew, black-rot, excoriation, almost all fungal diseases, with the notable exception of the wood diseases, esca and eutypiose, that particularly affect the Cabernet Sauvignon variety, are now well controlled. Powdery mildew is controlled by sulphur and mildew by spraying copper sulphate, the famous “Bordeaux mixture”.
The case of grey rot (Botrytis cinerea) is certainly more delicate, but the low instance of vigour in our vines and their traditional behaviour create rather unfavourable conditions for the development of this disease.
The problem presented by parasites, insects and spiders is complex in a different way. In the nineteen eighties we questioned all of our vineyard protection policy with the objective of finding an alternative method to chemicals to preserve the balance of the spider and insect populations. After a few years of work, we were able to stabilise the situation. Since then, all these populations cohabit and autoregulate themselves without us having to take any action, or only in an organic way. At the end of the nineteen nineties, sexual confusion was developed in order to stop the grape worms reproducing. Not one insecticide is now used in our vineyards.
THINNING
In 1986, Château Margaux was the first vineyard in the Médoc to practise thinning, which consists of removing a certain number of clusters before the start of the ripening period. In most of the young vines, the harvest in practice is too abundant to produce a quality wine; by reducing them at their mid-term, that is to say just before they change colour about the beginning of August, we encourage the ripening of the other clusters left on the vine, without increasing the vigour of the plant.
In 1986, Château Margaux was the first vineyard in the Médoc to practise thinning, which consists of removing a certain number of clusters before the start of the ripening period. In most of the young vines, the harvest in practice is too abundant to produce a quality wine; by reducing them at their mid-term, that is to say just before they change colour about the beginning of August, we encourage the ripening of the other clusters left on the vine, without increasing the vigour of the plant.
This technique also allows us to select the best clusters and to eliminate
those that are badly placed on the vine, or that are already late compared to
the others. It is work that is really meticulous and differs for each vine,
grape by grape, which gives a good idea of the increasingly precise and
rigorous attention given to the care of the vineyard.
YIELD
The
yield from the vines, expressed by their production (kilos of grapes or
hectolitres of wine) is a key factor in the quality of the grapes. Too abundant
a harvest never ripens because the vines become exhausted for no other reason
than trying to feed too many clusters at once. In order to protect the quality
of the wine and the longevity of the vines, the Margaux appellation has fixed a
limit that is in general the most restrictive in the Médoc.
TRELLISING
The
very high density of the plantation in our vineyard (10,000 plants per hectare)
would lead very quickly to an impossible tangling of the branches if we didn’t
provide a good trellising. Primary objectives are to allow free circulation
between the rows, on foot or by tractor, and to maximize the exposure of the
clusters to the sun, a factor so necessary to their optimal ripening.
The trellising consists of two successive steps: first, lifting of the branches. That is done thanks to a set of mobile wires that we pick up as and when the vine grows. Then the cutting, or “topping”, of the tips of the branches, carried out mechanically by a piece of equipment on the overhead clearance tractors.
The trellising consists of two successive steps: first, lifting of the branches. That is done thanks to a set of mobile wires that we pick up as and when the vine grows. Then the cutting, or “topping”, of the tips of the branches, carried out mechanically by a piece of equipment on the overhead clearance tractors.
RIPENING
The
acquisition of the grapes in a perfect state of ripeness is the precondition
for producing a great wine; consequently, all our winegrowing practices are
directed toward this objective. But by far and away the most important factor
is the terroir: it’s their aptitude to enable the wine varietal to ripen well
that distinguishes the greatest growths. To enable a grape to ripen “well” is
to ensure that its components, that is to say sugar, acidity, aromas and
tannins, evolve together at the same pace. In the Bordeaux region, we’re lucky
enough to enjoy a temperate climate and a moderately rich soil, allowing the
vines to accompany the grapes in this effort to create the perfect balance.
MANURE
The
objective of manure is to bring to the vine the nutrition that it needs,
without excess that would increase the vigour to the detriment of the quality
and in respect to the environment.
A manuring process known as “deep manuring” can also sometimes be applied as a preamble to a new plantation. Its objective is to restore structure and life to the soil. In all cases, we only use organic fertilisers that integrate naturally into the environment. A large part of this is brought in the form of bovine manure, produced by our herd and composted for at least a year.
A manuring process known as “deep manuring” can also sometimes be applied as a preamble to a new plantation. Its objective is to restore structure and life to the soil. In all cases, we only use organic fertilisers that integrate naturally into the environment. A large part of this is brought in the form of bovine manure, produced by our herd and composted for at least a year.
HARVEST
At the
end of the year’s work comes, at last, harvest time. Everything is finished, or
nearly finished: the ripening is completing “August develops the must”, the
great balances are happening, or not, in the grapes. However, a bit of suspense
remains, because it’s in these last days that a good vintage still has a chance
of becoming great. First, we have to choose the date, examine the grapes and
analyse them, squeeze them, feel under our fingers and our tongue the softness
of the pulp and the firmness of the tannins; ignore the big clouds rolling
around in the sky in order to gain several more days and allow the Cabernet
Sauvignon to finally reach perfect ripeness. In the meantime, we’ve formed our
two hundred pickers into five teams, each made up of wine growers, and a
majority of young students, who, instead of experience, bring us their
willingness and their good humour. The pickers, more than half of whom come
back year after year, receive training.
Here they are now, working hard in our plots. First, the Merlot, always earlier, then the Cabernet Franc, and finally the Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, always later. The thinning operations in the summer have already allowed us to dispose of the unwanted clusters but a last rigorous sorting is imperative. The responsibility comes back directly to each picker and then to a specialist team for a final sorting before the grapes are destemmed.
Here they are now, working hard in our plots. First, the Merlot, always earlier, then the Cabernet Franc, and finally the Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, always later. The thinning operations in the summer have already allowed us to dispose of the unwanted clusters but a last rigorous sorting is imperative. The responsibility comes back directly to each picker and then to a specialist team for a final sorting before the grapes are destemmed.
http://www.chateau-margaux.com/en/savoir-faire/travail-vigne/gerbaude
CHATEAU MARGAUX
WINE
AND MUSIC, HARMONY AND DISSONANCE ( 16th - 19th CENTURY
)
( PASR EXHIBITION NEWS )
For its
second major artistic exhibition, La Cité du Vin reveals the richness of the
links between music and wine through a sensitive, audiovisual journey, which in
turn calls to mind the arts of painting, music and the stage. From the Renaissance
to the end of the 19th century, reminders of the association between wine and
music, inspired by antiquity, are numerous and appear in renewed forms in all
circles, whether princely, bourgeois or popular. Dionysus (Bacchus for the
Romans) is the god of wine and of creative inspiration. In its allegorical
forms, music is itself frequently associated with wine, love and sensuality.
Based on the custom of amorous meals in songs and the conviviality of banquets,
taverns and cabarets, the alliance of wine and music goes back centuries and
finds expression in all social strata. We find these mythical and symbolic
references at the heart of great pictorial works, but also in popular imagery,
the decoration of everyday objects, in ballets and operas as well as in
repertoires of songs, either published or in the oral tradition. The exhibition
reflects this profusion through six themed sections and nearly 150 works from
French and European collections. Recordings of operas, excerpts of ballets and
unpublished drinking songs are offered for listening and form musical
interludes along the journey.
DIONYSUS:
TRIUMPHS & BACCHANALIAN PROCESSIONS
Dionysus
was the fruit of the illicit love between Zeus and Semele, daughter of the king
of Thebes. Brought up in secret, after lengthy wandering in the East, he
returned to Greece to be recognised. An ambivalent god, he was a benefactor
when he gave men the gift of the vine, but he also had a wild and even violent
dimension. Relief sculptors and painters of ancient drinking vessels largely
chose the joyous and beneficent character of the young god. In his festive
procession (thiasus), he is usually portrayed wearing a long chiton (long linen
tunic) and a panther skin, holding a kantharos (vase with high handles to drink
the wine) in one hand, and in the other a thyrsus (long stick covered with ivy
leaves or topped with a pine cone). He is accompanied by maenads (bacchantes
for the Romans) who personify the trance and the orgiastic spirits of nature.
Dressed in panther skin, equipped with a thyrsus and tambourine, they perform
convulsive dances with satyrs who are often musicians. These triumphs were of
great inspiration to the painters of the Renaissance, who give sensual,
exuberant and sometimes parodic interpretations. The decoration of refined
objects, but especially the official processions of princes, court spectacles
(Lully in the 17th century), those of the elite (Massenet late 19th and early
20th century), but also those of the street, have been inspired by them over the
centuries.
https://www.laciteduvin.com/en/experience-la-cite-du-vin/temporary-exhibitions/wine-and-music-harmony-and-dissonance
DANCE:
BACCHANALIA, BALLETS, POPULAR DANCES
The
very spirit of dance is embodied in the ambivalent figure of Bacchus, the god
of feasting, transgression, excessive and indecent joy provoked by drunkenness.
Dance is a symbol of lasciviousness, but it is also an initiatory ritual both
in its ancient and mythological reference and in its later social uses: in
modern times, the ideal aristocratic education could not do without dance.
Carnival and the seasonal festivals during which most ballets and masquerades
were danced, are based on features of the ancient cult (bacchanalia and
saturnalia): processions, floats, dressing up and masks hold a
large place in them. Here we transgress the established order, the hierarchies,
the social rules and decorum through acclamations of joy and excesses. The
heroic ballet, of which Rameau was the champion in the 18th century, continued
with the elite tradition in Paris at the Académie royale de musique, and later
at the opera with Massenet in the early 20th century. Across the centuries, the
branles, popular urban or village dances that celebrated royal events such as re-found
peace, have associated the consumption of wine with the use of instruments
suitable for dancing outdoors.
LOVE
& DRUNKENNESS
Wine
associated with love exalts sensuality and pleasure. The gods were the first to
succumb to it, as illustrated by many representations blending wine consumption
and eroticism, sometimes coming close to the image of the brothel. The story of
Dionysus, god of wine, consoling Ariadne, abandoned by her lover Theseus on the
island of Naxos, has also known great success in painting and in music. In the
17th century, entertainments in the court of the young Louis XIV exploited this
vein, that makes wine the auxiliary of love. Through the feast of Bacchus, it
is Love that is celebrated. The success of these creations can be measured by
the number of popular parodies that circulated afterwards. Licentious love is
omnipresent in pictorial works showing the effects of drunkenness in small
cafés and low-life places, especially among the painters of the North such as
Dirck van Baburen or Gerrit van Honthorst. Among the engravers, popular scenes
show urban entertainment in which intemperance and transgressions are hardly
repressed by the authorities.
CHARACTER
FIGURES & ALLEGORIES
Many
artists represent wine and music in allegorical or moralising compositions. The
isolated figure of the intoxicated musician or the Drinking musician is a motif
that is very popular among northern painters in the early 17th century. The
most prolific are Gerrit van Honthorst, Dirck van Baburen and Hendrick ter
Brugghen. Their characters, represented at half-length, are always of humble
extraction. They hang out in taverns and lowlife places. They can sing along
with a lute, or hold a violin in one hand and a full or upturned glass in the
other. The feathered hat, an attribute of love, frivolity and sensuality,
characterises their clothing. To express the Five Senses painters also offer
individual human figures bearing an attribute, or a series of five subjects in
the most sought-after staging. Another proposal is to portray the Five Senses
by skilfully using the excuse of a banquet to associate the stereotypes of a
musician (Hearing), a wine drinker (Taste), an admirer caressing a courtesan
(Touch), a coquettish woman (Sight) and a smoker (Smell). The Still life allows
a more restrained approach, less immediately sensual, but more meditative. It
may seem at first glance to praise the pleasures of life, but with subtlety it
reveals a more complex message, ambivalent and often moralistic. The border
between still life and vanity thus appears very tenuous.
https://www.laciteduvin.com/en/experience-la-cite-du-vin/temporary-exhibitions/wine-and-music-harmony-and-dissonance
PHILIPPE JAROUSSKY: '' SOVENTA IL SOLE '' - VIVALDI
CONCERTS
& AMOROUS MEALS
Music
and wine are frequently associated in scenes involving couples around a table.
The meal is almost finished but still visible. The music books have just been
opened, the couples intertwine and serve each other wine while others play and
sing in perfect harmony. From the end of the Renaissance, these scenes have
inspired painters, engravers and also the master decorators of keyboard
instruments. They evoke shared sensual pleasures, temperance, but sometimes
also, in an elegant and restrained vein, the parable of the Prodigal Son with
the fallen women. It was around these tables that a considerable repertoire of
serious music and drinking songs circulated in the educated circles of the
aristocracy and the wealthy bourgeoisie. They were either collected in
handwritten form, with amateurs recording their own favourites, or printed.
They were a flourishing speciality of both composers and printers in the 17th
and 18th centuries.
BANQUETS,
TAVERNS & CABARETS
Other
sociability exists around the table: that of the tavern, joyful or melancholy,
that of the inn, with consumption in the open air, or that of places devoted to
regulars who formed societies like the Chambers of rhetoric in Flanders or the
singing societies that developed in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some were
relatively closed, ritualised and literary (such as the famous Caveau which
flourished for two centuries), while others were more democratic, feminised and
popular, like the workers’ goguettes. A crucible for many literary creations in
the first case, home of a social and political identity in the other, these
places had in common the song and the consumption of wine around variously
laden tables. Here, the repertoire circulated in the form of very inexpensive
collections where the lyrics are associated with well-known tunes called
timbres. Their conscientious collection built up a repertoire that continued to
be practised until the Second World War. The stereotypes and the imagination of
these places are echoed skilfully in many operas and comic operas, where they
contribute to the drama and the entertainment.
https://www.laciteduvin.com/en/experience-la-cite-du-vin/temporary-exhibitions/wine-and-music-harmony-and-dissonance
VISITER
LA CITÉ DU VIN
Located
in Bordeaux, La Cité du Vin is a unique cultural facility dedicated to the
universal, living heritage of wine. It offers a spectacular journey around the
world, throughout the ages across countless cultures and civilisations. La Cité
du Vin has become an essential feature in the Bordeaux tourist circuit, but is
also a lively social venue for the inhabitants of Bordeaux and its surrounding
area. La Cité du Vin is a place to see, visit and experience.
The
architecture and scenic design of La Cité du Vin are the fruit of a close
partnership between two firms: Parisian architects XTU and English museum
design experts Casson Mann. Their project combines a bold, poetic
interpretation of the spirit and intangible cultural power of wine, with a raft
of immersive digital technologies.
At the
heart of the visitor experience and the identity of La Cité du Vin, the
immersive, multisensory permanent tour occupies some 3,000 m² and features 19
different themed spaces, the majority of which are interactive. Visitors are
free to wander around the exhibition space as they see fit, with no fixed,
compulsory route. Located on the eighth floor of La Cité du Vin, the belvedere
is perched at a height of 35 meters. The culmination of a visit to the
permanent tour, it invites visitors to discover the Gironde city and surrounding
area with a 360° perspective and taste a glass of wine from the very best wine
regions of the world.
In
addition to this tour, visitors can take advantage of wine culture workshops to
learn about the art of tasting with a cultural approach, or a journey through
the terroirs and know-how of the world in the multi-sensory area to awaken the
five senses. A true cultural facility, La Cité du Vin offers two major
temporary exhibitions per year as well as a varied cultural programme.
Encounters and debates, shows and festivities, terroir weekends, screenings,
and colloquia, La Cité du Vin is the cultural crossroads of the city of
Bordeaux.
A venue
open to all, La Cité du Vin offers numerous public areas hosting life and
exchange. Visitors can discover the building, take advantage of the landscaped
garden next to the Garonne, have a bite to eat, head to La Boutique, or spend a
while in the reading room perusing the various books and multimedia items for
reference use.
La Cité
du Vin is run by the Foundation for Wine Culture and Civilisations. An
accredited charitable organisation since December 2014, the primary purpose of
the Foundation for Wine Culture and Civilisations is to protect, celebrate and
transmit the cultural, historic and intellectual dimensions of wine. The
Foundation depends entirely on takings from La Cité du Vin and patronage
donations, which thus play a crucial role in the economic model.
https://www.laciteduvin.com/en/experience-la-cite-du-vin/temporary-exhibitions/wine-and-music-harmony-and-dissonance
CHATEAU MOUTON ROTHSCHILD
THE
MOUTON STYLE
The ambition of making Mouton a place of art and beauty can be seen everywhere. Outside, in the harmonious arrangement of buildings and open space, in the subtle play of perspectives, in the zen-raked pathways, in the peaceful symmetry of the two end-walls that frame the château, in the contrast between the vertical lines of Petit Mouton, a modest, ivy-covered, mansard-roofed Victorian residence built in 1885, and the horizontal lines of Grand Mouton, constantly enhanced and redesigned since the 1960s.
The ambition of making Mouton a place of art and beauty can be seen everywhere. Outside, in the harmonious arrangement of buildings and open space, in the subtle play of perspectives, in the zen-raked pathways, in the peaceful symmetry of the two end-walls that frame the château, in the contrast between the vertical lines of Petit Mouton, a modest, ivy-covered, mansard-roofed Victorian residence built in 1885, and the horizontal lines of Grand Mouton, constantly enhanced and redesigned since the 1960s.
Grand Mouton symbolises a whole art of living, and hence of
receiving guests. It contains several large rooms: the Column Room and its Old
Master paintings celebrating the vine and wine; the Dunand Room, in tribute to
the famous lacquer artist, who around 1930 created a harvest dance for the
liner Normandie; the Ramp Room with its sloping ceiling, its
statues and its tapestries. After the Grand Chai and its precious casks,
the Museum of Wine in Art, situated in a former
barrel hall, is a sight of splendour, containing exceptionally rare items of 17th-century German gold- and silverware, jugs, cups
and goblets from the fabulous treasure of the kings of Naples, antiques,
mediaeval tapestries, paintings, ivories, glassware, Chinese, Japanese and
Persian porcelain and much more. An unforgettable experience, it is a magical
place where so many artists and art forms, cultures and religions bear
resounding witness to the eternal and fruitful dialogue between art and wine.
https://www.chateau-mouton-rothschild.com/the-house/the-mouton-style
PABLO
PICASSO
We have to approach art as immediate as that of Picasso in a
way that is entirely direct, honest, spontaneous and innocent… What we
absolutely must not do is put him on a pedestal like some horror in a cemetery
and talk about him as “a great man”: everything about him is alive, in constant
movement, refusing to be confined in a lifeless statue. One of the grossest
errors propagated about Picasso, and one we hear most often, is the idea that
he is something to do with the Surrealists. In fact, in the majority of his
paintings, the subject is almost always completely down to earth, never drawn
from the dim world of dreams, never capable of being turned into a symbol, in
other words not in any way Surrealist. Human limbs, human subjects in human
surroundings; that is first and foremost what we find in Picasso.
Michel Leiris, Document 2, 1930.
Nothing can be done without solitude. I have created solitude
for myself no-one ever dreams exists. It’s very difficult to be alone nowadays
because we have wristwatches. Have you ever seen a saint with a wristwatch?
I’ve looked everywhere and I haven’t been able to find a single one, not even
on saints who are meant to be the patron saints of clockmakers
Picasso to Tériade, 1932.
GEORG
BASELITZ
CHATEAU MOUTON ROTHSCHILD
LA CITE DU VIN: WINE MUSEUM IN BORDEAUX DESIGN BY XTU ARCHITECTURE
LA CITE
DU VIN BOUTIQUE
The
Boutique is a modern, stylish 250m² space which mirrors the golden reflections
of the façade of La Cité du Vin, with tailored designer fittings. The store can
be accessed without an admission ticket, and offers a selection of items from
all around the world: decorative objects made from materials used in the world
of wine, such as barrel staves or corks, a range of beauty products showcasing
the benefits of vine products, edible treats, candles and lights, a wide
selection of books, comics, and mangas on the theme of wine, stationery, and a
selection of crockery and wine tasting items.
NIETZSCHE’S
DIONYSOS
DIETER
MERSCH ZURICH UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS
In his
considerations on an aesthetic of erscheinen1, which also incorporate Dionysus
in the title, Karl Heinz Bohrer asserts his thesis that Nietzsche’s figuration
of the Dionysian advances an aesthetic of In-Erscheinung-treten2—and that, if
anything, Dionysus is in actuality first and foremost in representing the god
of erscheinen (appearance). He combines two further theses with that as well:
First, that Nietzsche conceptualizes his work on the tragic—in which he
introduces the opposition between the Dionysian and Apollonian as the polar
struggle of artistic forces—not principally as a theory of the aesthetic but
instead as a “life doctrine” (Lebenslehre), which at its core is, as he puts
it, “the elementary, materialistic celebration of the life impulse (Lebensimpuls)
and [the] undermining of idealistic presuppositions such as rationality,
substance, subject” (Bohrer 2013,13).3 Secondly, Bohrer continues, wherever
this life doctrine is applied to the aesthetic, it primarily represents an
“aesthetic of the sublime,” without ever making clear whether it should be
understood “in terms of the theory of reception or the aesthetics of
production” (rezeptionstheoretisch oder produktionsästhetisch) (Bohrer 2013,
15).4 It is not my wish to contradict this, at least not completely, but rather
to effect a shift or re-accentuation of the basic underlying motif—whereby it
is important to recall once again that Nietzsche’s Dionysus, admittedly,
represents a direct provocation and an attack on the interpretation of the classics
accepted since Winckelmann, an interpretation that elevates the Apollonian to
its central point of focus; Nietzsche’s introduction of another principle to
oppose it, rather than representing a genuine invention, in actuality bridges
the small gap between Hegel and Hölderlin. If, namely, the Hegelian aesthetic
from the very beginning points to Schein and Erscheinung—as necessary
conditions of truth, for the truth would not exist if it were not to
“superficially appear” (scheinen) and “make its appearance” (erscheinen),
writes Hegel—Schein and Erscheinung would still nonetheless be bound up
everywhere with the criterium of the absolute; after all, the untruth of the
aesthetic rests squarely in the fact that it cannot do other than to draw upon
the language of Erscheinung. For Hölderlin, on the other hand, the Dionysian
advances to become a metapoetic symbol combining itself—the enigmatic and
continually transforming—with the practice of art.
Nietzsche
continues along these very same lines even while giving the metaphor a
thoroughly different twist. For if one wishes to express a formula describing
the dichotomy or the shift I am seeking to highlight, one would have to say
that, while Bohrer has a Romantic understanding of Nietzsche—or, to be more
exact, understands him to be the high point and peak of the Romantic, which
encompasses the aesthetic of the sublime and the “celebration of the life
impulse (Lebensimpuls)” and, most notably, the criticism of idealism, the
subverting of any accolades of the rational—Nietzsche still, however,
implements a number of characteristic conversions into the terminological
context that transport his art theory into an utter anti-Romanticism. With
that, the question arises as to ‘what’ Nietzsche means with Dionysus—who ‘his’
Dionysus is—and to what extent art even unfolds within him, within his form—as
opposed to his “beautiful appearance” (schönen Schein). In that, it will be
revealed that the key to the upheaval associated with this figure rests in
disaggregating a whole arsenal of terms constituting an exact, one-to-one
correspondence with the traditional art theory of the day, revolving around the
metaphor of the dream, the imagination and their dissolution, their
negation—something associated with a thoroughly other metaphoricity, namely,
that of violence, destruction and what one could call the “imposition of
differentiation” (Differenzsetzung). And if the former conceptualization proves
to be connected to a series of methods of form and process, the latter is
satisfied to avail itself of the figure of the caesura, of “dis-formation”
(Entstaltung) or resistance, whereupon the aesthetic concurrently discovers its
reflective principle. Nietzsche hardly implements this; rather, he just
indirectly insinuates it. As I hope to demonstrate, his art philosophy
discovers its anti-Romantic leanings in that, rather than bring to its zenith
something already applied long ago, it points to something in the future,
something other, something encompassing the innate need to break with tradition.
As is
well known, the Apollo/Dionysus coupling appears prominently in Nietzsche’s
work from 1871, dedicated to Richard Wagner and entitled The Birth of Tragedy.
Around the same time, in 1870, he penned his work The Dionysian Vision of the
World, in it reexamining the problem of aesthetic representation, which Hegel’s
aesthetic placed at the center of his art philosophy and which Romantic art
drove (trieb) to the very fringes of portraying what is impossible to
portray—and beyond (übertrieb5), recalling in particular the paintings of Henry
Füssli and William Turner—in a reversion to the approaches of the antique,
particularly the question of mimesis. Nietzsche broached the mimesis problem
not explicitly but rather masked within the dichotomous opposition of the
Apollonian and Dionysian. Both concepts, their complementarity as well as their
continual interplay, supersede that which, in terms of the aesthetics of
production, could be described as the actual core of the artistic process: the
genesis of something or, quite literally, its exposition (Darstellung6). And
that, according to Nietzsche, encompasses as a “double source” or “stylistic
opposition” (Nietzsche 1999a, 119, 46) both of the “artistic drives”
(Kunsttriebe) that “interweave” and “differ in their highest goals” (Nietzsche
1999a, 76, see also 14–15, 25–26, 59)— namely, the Dionysian and Apollonian, a
complex of leitmotifs that persist throughout Nietzsche’s entire philosophical
oeuvre even as they undergo numerous reinterpretations. He continues treating
them in Twilight of the Idols (i.e. Nietzsche 1998b, 185–187) as well as in
countless passages in his unpublished writings, especially those which stem
from the mid-1880s and are on the periphery of what he calls the “will to
power” (Willen zur Macht), whereby an increasing radicalization also becomes
apparent. At the very beginning of The Birth of Tragedy, we encounter the
expression “duplicity,” denoting what is still undecided (I will return to this
later). What is decisive, however, is that aesthetic representation, rather
than crumbling in its idea and Erscheinung as seemed immanent after Hegel,
emerges—to adapt Heidegger’s formulation—from a ‘struggle,’ a polemos or
polemic, chiefly encompassing form on the one hand while belonging to an excess
on the other, whereby “excess,” superficially speaking, signifies the Rausch7
or, in a Platonic sense, “mania” (creative madness) and, specifically speaking,
addresses the obsession of genius—or, to go even deeper, as is my aim,
addresses the “ecstasy,” a word evoking a slew of associations from the
protrusions of ‘Ex-istence’ (the very same word) through the budding of
materiality to that which we could, in a still highly abstract way, call ‘the
event.’
I will
now return once again to Nietzsche’s text on tragedy in order to unearth the
key characteristics. On the one hand, we see written there that the artwork is
“as equally Dionysian as it is Apollonian,” whereby Nietzsche speaks of “the
common goal of both drives (Triebe) […]” (Nietzsche 1999a, 28) and disparate
“ways to the creation of art” (Nietzsche 1999a, 128) so that the impression
arises that he is discussing an alternative—two fundamentally different
artistic processes yielding different kinds of works. Thus it literally attests
to an “opposition” (Nietzsche 1999a, 19), to artistic stances “which differ in
their deepest essence and highest goals” (Nietzsche 1999a, 76). On the other
hand, Nietzsche still emphasizes in the 1880s that both elements must first of
all come together in order to bring art into existence at all, though the way
they actually come together still remains unclear. Now the oppositional
dichotomy of the two forces—which never, of course, exist purely as forces or
urges on their own but instead foster energies allowing something to
emerge—owes its existence to a number of conceptual differentiations that
ascribe specific attributes to both the Apollonian and the Dionysian. In
reference to Apollo, talk centers on the illusion—the old mimesis problem as
discussed by Plato—as well as on the Traumbild or “dream-images” (Nietzsche
1999a, 15)—as classic metaphor for the phantasm, the imaginarium— and on the
“mask” (Nietzsche 1999a, 46), while in reference to the Dionysian it accords a
characteristic “ecstatic” celebration and “unmeasurable excess” (Nietzsche
1999a, 27, 128). In later years, these are positioned in even clearer
referential relationship to each other and delineated as subspecies of the very
same eccentricity; Nietzsche asks in Twilight of the Idols, “What is the meaning
of the conceptual opposition I introduced into aesthetics, between Apollonian
and Dionysian, both conceived as types of intoxication (Rausch)?” (Nietzsche
1998b, 48), whereby the answer to his question leaves no room for doubt that
dissociation or displacement distinguishes the Dionysian ecstasy as the primary
“basic aesthetic condition,” while the imaginary simply builds its corollary, a
corollary only defined upon the artistic nature (Kunsthaftigkeit) of art.
What
the Apollonian-Dionysian principle actually means, however, can only be
clarified in a juxtaposition of the two. For example, Apollo’s Telos—as we read
in the shorter text The Dionysian Vision of the World—is the form, the picture,
the statue (Nietzsche 1999a, 127), and its Gestaltung faithfully obeys the
“lovely semblance” (schönen Schein) (Nietzsche 1999a, 15) and its “law”
(Nietzsche 1999a, 26) of “measured limitation” (maassvolle[n] Begrenzung)
(Nietzsche 1999a, 16), as Nietzsche continues to maintain in The Birth of
Tragedy. In contrast, Nietzsche describes the Dionysian art or art
energy—initially deriving it, very true to Schopenhauer, from the “imageless
art of music” (Nietzsche 1999a, 14, also 21, 28–31, 76)—as emerging from the
“Spiel8 with the Rausch” (Nietzsche 1999a, 119–121, 130). But let us inquire as
to the meaning of Rausch—which, incidentally, is the attribute classically
assigned to Dionysius in the character of Bakchos: Rausch entails an
eccentricity, leaving the sphere of that which we could, along with
Schopenhauer, call the “principium individuationis”—the ability to
differentiate, accompanied by its embodiments of representation (Nietzsche
1999a, 120–122), whereupon things are, as it were, in their place; trees are
trees, houses are houses and people are subjects who make their decisions
autonomously and in the capacity of their own responsibility. By contrast, the
Rausch reveals the erupting force “of the general element in nature” (Nietzsche
1999a, 120). Going far beyond Schopenhauer—who nevertheless granted music a special
status inasmuch as it does not depict or represent anything but rather
manifests the “will” itself—Nietzsche accounts for the experience of the
Dionysian with the experience of chaos, in which distinctions no longer hold
any validity whatsoever and things blur together indiscriminately. It is for
that reason that Nietzsche, in examining the Dionysian, speaks of the
“‘barbaric’” (Nietzsche 1999a, 27), the “horror” (Nietzsche 1999a, 17) and
“terror” or “shock” (Nietzsche 1999a, 21), whereby it can be added that
“shock”—as Plato put it, that “freefall into the darkness”—belongs as much as
the Aristotelian “self-astonishment” does to the “primeordial” philosophical
feelings, that is to say, to those emotions that first teach us to
philosophize. What does this astonishment, this shock effectuate? Certainly,
the latter can be tied to the experience of the sublime à la the traditional
schools of pseudo-Longinus and Edmund Burke— but first, at the onset, this
shock creates a rupture, a shift, a catastrophë. Nietzsche, too, speaks of the
“tearing apart” (Zerreissung) (Nietzsche 1999a, 20), a dis-rupture of all ties
and points of reference as well as the destruction of the “usual barriers and
limits of existence” (Nietzsche 1999a, 40). The special thing about Nietzsche
is, however, that the “unsettling” nature of this rupture is not the kind to be
avoided at all costs, the destruction of an order prerequisite to life, but is
rather— also assuming the literal meaning of “unsettling” (entsetzlich)—that
which “re-settles” (versetzen) us into another place, through that very process
opening up something “never before perceived.” In short, it is the negativity
of the rupture that first serves as prerequisite of the other, the new. As a
result, what is decisive about the Dionysian is the wholehearted negation
(Nietzsche 1999a, 138), through which—as stated in Nietzsche’s work on the
tragedy—the “principle of sufficient reason […] appears to suffer an exception”
and the human being will, “suddenly become confused and lose faith in the
cognitive forms of the phenomenal world” (wenn er plötzlich an den
Erkenntnisformen der Erscheinung irre wird) (Nietzsche 1999a, 17) but, through
that very fact, stumble near to the “truth” of nature and of “life” (cp.
Nietzsche 1999a, 39): “Apollo stands before me as the transfiguring genius of
the principium individuationis, through whom alone release and redemption
in semblance can truly be attained, whereas under the mystical, jubilant shout
of Dionysos the spell of individuation is broken, and the path to the Mothers
of Being, to the innermost core of things, is laid open” (Nietzsche 1999a, 76).
One
must slightly mitigate the pathos of the formulation in order to reach the core
of what is meant; for if Apollo represents the language of form—whose
traditional principle is identity, whose Romantic criticism is the fragment,
whose irresolvability nevertheless holds to its basic tenet because the seal of
“measure” (Nietzsche 1999a, 27) applies even in those places where only the
frail appears (erscheint)—then Dionysus signifies the language of
differentiation, grounded in negation and only allowing itself to be spelled
out in the negative. It is for that reason that a note from Nietzsche’s
unpublished writings dating to 1885 combines the divinity with diabolos (cf.
Nietzsche, 1999b, KSA 11, 473); the word here, used in the singular, is not
meant to denote seduction—the diabolical as negative principle par
excellence—but rather should be read in light of the ancient contradistinction
between symbolon and diabolon, “throwing together” (Ger.: Zusammenwerfen) and
“throwing into disarray”9 (Ger.: Durcheinanderwerfen)—order and chaos as the
corresponding moments of interplay in a game (Spiel).
The
negativity of the Dionysian makes a decided appearance (Erscheinen) here as
indispensable moment of creativity. Nietzsche conceives of the creative much
less as emerging from creatio than from the Riss (“fissure”) or
differentiation. For this reason, I speak of the transition of an aesthetic of
representation or of form to an “aesthetic of difference,” as is characteristic
of the avant-garde throughout the transition from the art of the classical to
modernity, particularly at the beginning of the 20th century. One could say
that Nietzsche, within the emphatic language of the 19th century, premonished
the avant-garde. Moreover, this dramatically points to an elementary
“experience of difference” that also allows itself to be expounded as the
Aufscheinen (“dawning appearance”) of “ex-istence;” (cf. Lyotard 1994 and Mersch
2004) and that drama rests in its definitions of a higher truth, a higher truth
itself later revealed to be an illusion just as it is heralded with fanfare and
as it indicates a further dichotomy tracing a path throughout Nietzsche’s
work—namely, the polarity of “reflection” and “true knowledge” (Nietzsche
1999a, 40), or analysis, method and determination on the one hand and
revelation on the other. Put differently, the Dionysian means the very moment
of that Riss so literally tantamount to the Aufriss10 of presence—that
primordial tremor, to quote Heidegger, “that there are beings, rather than not”
(cp. e.g. Heidegger 1994, 3).
Nietzsche both attempted to capture and mystified this extraordinary moment in ever-new turns of phrase and formulations. I quote: “The Olympian magic mountain (Zauberberg) now opens up, as it were, and shows us its roots” (Nietzsche 1999a, 23). At the same time, he speaks of the “salvation” (Erlösung) into or within the “mystical sense of oneness” (Nietzsche 1999a, 19), of the “truly existing (Wahrhaft-Seiende) and primal unity (Ur-Eine)” and the gaze into “the true essence of things” (Nietzsche 1999a, 40), which the “ecstatic vision” of rapture necessitates (Nietzsche 1999a, 26). Nietzsche himself appears to be literally hingerissen (“enraptured”) and mitgerissen (“swept away”) by his formulations, but even in the medium of language itself we find ourselves dealing with a delirium, a futility, one that seeks less to evoke the disparity between forces or between aesthetics of form and of event than it does to demonstrate a historical disparity—the dichotomy between the legacy of tradition and that which is expressible, future, that which presages something only later to be taken up by the avant-garde of modernity: an ongoing practice of the “destructive” or “deconstruction,” which presupposes the positives of the form, the medium and the representation, and therefore the elements of the classical aesthetic, in order to break with them and to chronicle within them the difference (Differenzpunkt) of their dissolution. At the same time, two dichotomous forms of knowledge are allocated to them. The first is the law of selflimitation and self-knowledge, which conceptualizes the artist as author and subject of his work, which bring to expression his/her intentio, his/her inspirations and his/her will. The second is the experience of a scar, an injury incurred upon time and its literal unheilen,11 a scar stylizing the artist as an anomaly, stigmatized and rejected—a scar that, as it is furnished with the insignia of its victim and his madness, is nonetheless, according to the auto-descriptions of Arthur Rimbaud, Lautréamont and also Antonin Artaud, able to articulate by name a higher “truth.” If Nietzsche—at least at the point in time at which he composed The Birth of Tragedy—appears caught within the radicalization of the late Romantic and continual formulation of its internal prolongations, it is my thesis that a deeper dichotomy is already rooted in the confrontation between the Apollonian and Dionysian, one that “ex-hibits” the breaking of the new epoch, its inescapable caesura that will simultaneously transport artistic practice into new terrain. Nietzsche only suggests this possibility without further explication. His reference to the Dionysian power of negation thus eases up the extreme Romantic fixation on the subject of the artist and his/her extraordinary genius, something Nietzsche himself doubtless always idealized; at the same time, however, he discards the “previous” expressive media in order to unleash that which has no endemic representation and does not tolerate symbolization—for the Other, the extraordinary, the not-yet-conceived, only “exists” in the sense of a giving, a gifting, where the language, the picture and, along with that, the forms of representation are destroyed, where the “difference” thus cleaves the medial in order to uncover in and through it a heterogeneity, an entity as invisible as it is unable to be represented.
Nietzsche both attempted to capture and mystified this extraordinary moment in ever-new turns of phrase and formulations. I quote: “The Olympian magic mountain (Zauberberg) now opens up, as it were, and shows us its roots” (Nietzsche 1999a, 23). At the same time, he speaks of the “salvation” (Erlösung) into or within the “mystical sense of oneness” (Nietzsche 1999a, 19), of the “truly existing (Wahrhaft-Seiende) and primal unity (Ur-Eine)” and the gaze into “the true essence of things” (Nietzsche 1999a, 40), which the “ecstatic vision” of rapture necessitates (Nietzsche 1999a, 26). Nietzsche himself appears to be literally hingerissen (“enraptured”) and mitgerissen (“swept away”) by his formulations, but even in the medium of language itself we find ourselves dealing with a delirium, a futility, one that seeks less to evoke the disparity between forces or between aesthetics of form and of event than it does to demonstrate a historical disparity—the dichotomy between the legacy of tradition and that which is expressible, future, that which presages something only later to be taken up by the avant-garde of modernity: an ongoing practice of the “destructive” or “deconstruction,” which presupposes the positives of the form, the medium and the representation, and therefore the elements of the classical aesthetic, in order to break with them and to chronicle within them the difference (Differenzpunkt) of their dissolution. At the same time, two dichotomous forms of knowledge are allocated to them. The first is the law of selflimitation and self-knowledge, which conceptualizes the artist as author and subject of his work, which bring to expression his/her intentio, his/her inspirations and his/her will. The second is the experience of a scar, an injury incurred upon time and its literal unheilen,11 a scar stylizing the artist as an anomaly, stigmatized and rejected—a scar that, as it is furnished with the insignia of its victim and his madness, is nonetheless, according to the auto-descriptions of Arthur Rimbaud, Lautréamont and also Antonin Artaud, able to articulate by name a higher “truth.” If Nietzsche—at least at the point in time at which he composed The Birth of Tragedy—appears caught within the radicalization of the late Romantic and continual formulation of its internal prolongations, it is my thesis that a deeper dichotomy is already rooted in the confrontation between the Apollonian and Dionysian, one that “ex-hibits” the breaking of the new epoch, its inescapable caesura that will simultaneously transport artistic practice into new terrain. Nietzsche only suggests this possibility without further explication. His reference to the Dionysian power of negation thus eases up the extreme Romantic fixation on the subject of the artist and his/her extraordinary genius, something Nietzsche himself doubtless always idealized; at the same time, however, he discards the “previous” expressive media in order to unleash that which has no endemic representation and does not tolerate symbolization—for the Other, the extraordinary, the not-yet-conceived, only “exists” in the sense of a giving, a gifting, where the language, the picture and, along with that, the forms of representation are destroyed, where the “difference” thus cleaves the medial in order to uncover in and through it a heterogeneity, an entity as invisible as it is unable to be represented.
The
distinction thus made virulent correspondingly straddles on the one hand the
Schein and the Erscheinung in terms of the significance of the “what,” which
draws its execution and determination from its individuation, and on the other
the “Erscheinung of the Erscheinung” in the sense of the “which” (quod), that
eventfulness of a presence which never “makes its appearance” (erscheinen) in
the positive but rather can only be grasped in the negative (cp. Mersch 2002,
355ff.).12 This also means that as long as art is working with form,
representation or technē, it remains media-bound and proceeds as Apollonian;
but as soon as these are dethroned and traversed by art, that which lacks
conceptualization and fails in purpose is allowed to emerge. This, and none
other, is the meaning of the Dionysian: The medium constitutes, shapes and
makes sensory; its fracture or breaking, on the other hand, confronts with a
gap, a Durchriss (“a rupture, having been torn through”), whereby the
“unfitting”—unfitting in the sense of something stepping “outside itself”—
reveals itself. We are then dealing with “another” present time, not one whose
presence is already hidden in its Zeichen (“sign”) or Auszeichnung
(“distinction; sketching or characterization”), its framing or staging, one
which Jacques Derrida designated as “deferred action” and the unavoidable
a-presence (Derrida 1978, esp. 310–311), but rather one in which the experience
of the negative and of alterity intersect, one which only exists where a
contradiction, an aporia occurs. It is for that reason that Nietzsche speaks of
the “detonation” of the principium individuationis as well as—in easily
misunderstood adherence to terminology from the philosophy of subjectivity—of
the “grow in intensity, [which] cause[s] subjectivity to vanish to the point of
complete self-forgetting (Steigerung des Subjectiven zu völliger
Selbstvergessenheit)” (Nietzsche 1999a, 17), the “being-drivenoutside-oneself”
state of “ecstasy” (Nietzsche 2009, 10), as he later describes it, which can
only appear beyond the medial while still existing through media, undermining
and subverting its mediality; the aesthetic of difference supposes the
aesthetic of form in the same measure as it shatters it. Hence, we can only
speak of an “grow in intensity, [which] cause[s] subjectivity to vanish to the
point of complete self-forgetting” where the subjectivity of the subject as
well as the mediality of the medium are as equally salvaged as they are shaken
and transcended. The transition from the aesthetic of form to that which I call
the aesthetic of difference thus implies the desubjectification of creativity;
“subjectivity disappears entirely before the erupting force of the general
element in human life (Generell-Menschlichen), indeed of the general element in
nature (Allgemein-Natürlichen)” (Nietzsche 1999a, 120). As stated in The
Dionysian Vision of the World, “The artistic force of nature, not that of an
individual artist, reveals itself here” (Nietzsche 1999a, 121). With that,
Nietzsche anticipates with equal intensity that dictum of the “death of the author,”
which only later came to actuation via the theories of poststructuralism and
intertextuality. At the same time, however, he holds to a systematic ambiguity
or indeterminacy, because overcoming and being “sanctified” (geheiligt) are
possible for the subject only on the basis of the subjectivity of “life” and
for the artist only within the disempowerment of the Rausch. It is in the
Dionysian principle, thus, that a foreshadowing becomes apparent and, even as
the time and its expressive possibilities are not yet ripe for such an
emergence, we see Nietzsche steering his thoughts toward that end. The question
arises as to what can serve as a replacement where the subject is missing—and,
equally, what art and the artistic process can mean in those places where the
medial has tumbled right through its fracture, its Riss.
With
that, Nietzsche is aiming at every turn for something threatening in the
selfsame moment to slip out of control; only the radicalization to come later
will resolve the ambiguities between the Apollonian and the Dionysian as
artistic forms and aesthetic principles. “[I] was […] the first to understand
the marvelous phenomenon of the Dionysian,” he writes in Ecce homo (Nietzsche
2007, 46); it was he who, in utter furtiveness and solitude, presented a
“victim” in his debut work. “I found no one who understood what I was doing
then,” he adds in Beyond Good and Evil (Nietzsche 1998a, 176). Nietzsche
himself thus discarded The Birth of Tragedy as “Romantic”—not only in the
“SelfCritique” he appended to it later, which particularly castigates
“linguistic kitsch,” but also, more importantly, in his notes between 1885 and
1886 under the heading “Regarding ‘The Birth of Tragedy,’” where we find the
following remark: “A book […] with a metaphysics of the artiste in the
back-ground. At the same time the confession of a Romantic” (Nietzsche 2003,
80). It sought to pin down the Erlösung of illusion and Schein as the classic
goals of art through the force of becoming, whereby the “anihiliation of even the
most beautiful illusion (schönen Schein)” signifies the peak of “Dionysian
happiness” (Nietzsche 2003, 82). A commensurate dichotomy is constructed here
between classical and Romantic art on the one hand and Dionysian (Nietzsche
2003, 80–83) on the other, the latter endowed with the flora of a practice as
destructive as it is life-giving, as equally creative as it is destructive, one
which leaves behind the conventional aesthetic of form and representation. What
is to take its place? Just what is the meaning of “aesthetic of difference”?
I will
make a cautious attempt at accessing this. Nietzsche first removes the artist
from the art and thus thinks his way toward an understanding of art requiring
as little of the self-sufficient “intention to form”—the principle of all art
until the Romantic—as it does of the anticipatory inspiration. “The work of art
where it appears without an artist, e.g., as body […],” reads a fragment from
Nietzsche’s unpublished writings, “[h]ow far the artist is only a preliminary stage.
What does ‘subject’ mean— ?” (Nietzsche 2003, 82) Both purposes belong
together: the Dionysian as the negative—and the Dionysian as
desubjectification, as withdrawal of self-sufficiency. The notations cited
above are made around the same time that the Rausch reaches its emphatic peak
as aesthetic principle in Twilight of the Idols. If Nietzsche still spoke in
the Dionysian Vision of the World of the “Spiel with the Rausch,” for example,
he says from now on, “[f]or there to be art, for there to be any kind of
aesthetic doing and seeing, one physiological precondition is indispensible:
intoxication (Rausch)” (Nietzsche 1998b, 46–48). And what he sees as the most
important thing about the Rausch is the delimitation, the negation of the will,
which on the flip side corresponds to an “feeling of increased power
(Kraftsteigerung)” (Nietzsche 1998b, 47); one could add that “force” here is
used in the sense of an “overabundance of life.” Accordingly, Nietzsche’s
entire later philosophical body of work characterizes itself via extension of
the Dionysian principle; Heidegger tied into this in his interpretation of
Nietzsche, construing the “fill” and “feeling of increased power” as the “will
to power,” and art as its “distinctive form” (Heidegger 1991, 92), one that
designates the exact “opposite” of Kant’s “disinterested pleasure”—in two ways,
in fact: once in view of the aesthetic judgment that binds the experience of
art to receptivity, and once in view of the passivity of the perception and the
“release” (Freigabe) of that “which is” (Heidegger 1991, 109). The first, thus,
is desubjectification, or better, disempowerment of the subject; the second,
its correlate, is the centering of the aesthetic on the body. The a priori of
the lived-body (Leibapriori) does not mean that precedence is assumed by
intensity, surplus, or that which Nietzsche again and again accounts for with
the expression “force” (Kraft) but, rather, that “eccentricity” of a
positionality outside one’s self, which Heidegger, in turn, connects with a
“being embodied” (Leiben) of a “body” (Leib) (Heidegger 1991, 99). One could
say the body here induces a productivity from affect, an unintentional dynamic
touching on the phatic autonomy of an “obsession,” that is to say, on the
passivity of alterity (Mersch 2006).
Thus—as
Heidegger also emphasizes—Nietzsche asks not about the work as a result, as
place of reception, but rather, primarily, about procedures and their
implementation, their impact, about that which is not an intention and its
embodiment but instead signifies an aesthetic thinking in and through deed, as
it were—thinking not set in dichotomous opposition to action and interrupting
it but rather springing from it as its own form of recognition, a knowledge
that is non-discursive and unable to be made discursive. Thirdly—in the literal
sense of meta hodos (following a path), or perhaps even better, in the sense of
poros (a passage always traversing the material and bodily) or of metaporos or
even diaporos (which demands permeability)—a vital method for this, besides
desubjectification and the consummate pathicism seeping through every single
pore (the same word!), is what I have attempted multiple times already to
delineate as a break or interruption, the literally unfathomable depths of a
Riss. This Riss follows from the artistic production just as it passes through
it and comes to pass from it. The correlation Nietzsche draws between art and
event, established upon the aesthetics of production, is based on this
“imposition of difference” (Differenzsetzung). The aesthetic event is the
difference and follows it just as, conversely, the difference proceeds from the
innards of the aesthetic process, as it were, after a Riss has been made within
it. How can this be made comprehensible? With Nietzsche, much remains too
undefined—because, as Heidegger also states in his commentary, for Nietzsche,
“all [is] proper to art. But then art would only be a collective noun and not
the name of an actuality grounded and delineated in itself” (Heidegger 1991,
122). Clearly, the problem rests in the fact that the creative productivity
thus avouched cannot actually be understood; rather, it resembles life, the
presence of the body and its mystification, attributing to it a “will to power”
and thereby arguing no less metaphysically than the artistic concept it is
battling—especially when it comes to the artistic concepts of Plato and Hegel.
Nietzsche, in opposing both, totalizes the fill of life and stylizes its
unfolding as an artistic deed. Contrary to that, the ability to even posit any
given “event of difference” would depend on an appropriate reconstruction of
the particular strategies of artistic production—that is to say, the concrete
underlying figures of difference.
In
closing, allow me to sketch out a few further thoughts. I will use the term
‘aesthetic strategy’ in doing so. This catchword concerns artistic work and the
artistic working method and can— although it does not necessarily exhausted
itself in it—also mean working with the body; if anything, I use it with the
intention of calling to mind the conceptualization of a combination of
practices that play a central role in Adorno’s aesthetic and that initially, at
the very moment of con stellare—that is to say, a scattering or “foreordaining”
(Fügung) of positions (Stellungen)—do nothing other than to reveal their
unfitting mismatch, their gaps or (again quite literally in the German) their
“dislocated faultlines” (lit. Verwerfungen 13 ) and “misrepresentation” (lit.
Entstellungen14). For this, it is necessary to enable the experience of an
‘in-between.’ This “betwixt” happens in the performative by virtue of those
clefts and “chiasms,” which posit an event of difference just as the unfitting
mismatch of those foreordinations (Unfügliche der Fügungen), their self-denial,
and even the force of synthesis are opened up, eased and rent asunder
(aufgerissen). The preferred means for this is contradiction, which only allows
itself to be manifested indirectly— within intra-scenic intervals or in their
empty spaces and gaps, such as in the unwieldiness of pictures, words and tones
as well as in the disruptions and dysfunctionalities through which media reveal
their mediality. Nietszche’s “ecstasy” could be applied here—in the resolution
of contours, such as through the contrary use of figurations; in inversions; in
such a way, namely, that the materials brought into play reveal their
materiality and the techniques applied their ambiguity. To state it
differently: In what I term the aesthetic of difference, the production of
paradoxes assumes a prominent position. Paradoxes prepare the way for the
previously alluded paths, passages or even jumps, which cannot be planned or
anticipated but only tested and tried out. At the same time, they keep work
with the aesthetic in such instability as to allow that which is repressed and
unreproducible to come to light. My wish is to emphasize the word “allow” here,
which designates a possibility and not a necessity; within such
“ex-periments”—making noted reference to the actual hidden meaning of the
expression, namely, “passages” or “journeys”—artistic practice has its
exercises, i.e., its reflective asceticism. What these might be cannot be
stated in advance, nor can they be canonized, nor can they be learned; they
emerge with the full force of neutrality. What is the definition of “aesthetic
of difference”? It is the duplication of clefts or divisions; and from those
gaps and “contrasts”—literally, the contra-stare, the “composite”
(Zusammensetzung) as “opposition” (Gegenstellung)—“breaks forth” the
inconceivable, the other, without obeying or deriving from the laws of
causality—a singularity of event that simultaneously makes something able to be
seen, experienced and recognized that could not be accessed in any other way,
i.e., the “wresting” (Erringung) of preternatural knowledge that could not be
won by any other means.
In all
this, Nietzsche’s intuition remains utterly groundbreaking—a guide, if only
suggestive or indicatory, like the intimation of a nod or a slight touch in
passing. Applied differently, and again in reference to the words of Nietzsche
himself: It is not the form, the gestalt, the ‘what’ and with that, the
determinable and individualizable that appear to be crucial but rather the
undetermined, the destructive, which ‘emancipates’ (freigibt) in furtherance of
a new, other emergence (Erscheinen). Both aesthetic differences and practical
paradoxes trace the path toward that end. They signify not an end in
themselves, not an uncommitted l’art pour l’art upon which art realizes its
pleasure principle, but rather build the media of a reflective practice that
exists in the singular and whose pores and passages, in the sense of diaporos
and metaporos, resemble insinuations or directives. In their thoroughly
preliminary nature and experimental status, they induce the specifics of an
aesthetic episteme birthed from the practical itself. The artist retrogresses
behind it, understanding him- or herself in this less as one who creates or
works on effects than as an arranger of the surprising and unpredictable—in
short, no longer functioning as maître de Plaisir but rather as maître de
paradoxe.
NOTES
1
Scheinen (verb), Schein (related noun): 1. Shine, glow. 2. Appear, seem
(sometimes only superficially, as in an illusion). Erscheinen (verb),
Erscheinung (related noun): To make an appearance (as in “emerge”); or, an
appearance/phenomenon (with no illusion implied).
2
Treten: To enter into. Thus, in-erscheinung-treten means “entering into
erscheinung” (cf. previous footnote).
3 [Passage
translated from the German original by Gratia Stryker-Härtel.]
4
[Passage translated from the German original by Gratia Stryker Härtel.]
5
Übertrieb, v.: exaggerated; translated here as “drove beyond.” At its root is
Trieb, n.: 1. Instinct, impulse, urge, drive. 2. Sexual drive. 3. Plant shoot.
6
Darstellung, n.: Representation. Lit.: da: There (i.e., “Right there, before
your very eyes”) + stellen: To place, posit.
7
Rausch, n.: Ecstasy, rapture, delirious state; inebriation.
8
Spiel, n. (spielen, v.): Play, game, performance.
9 From
the Greek. Bolos (from ballein): throw; sym-: together; dia-: across, through.
10
Aufriss (n.): 1. Laceration, tear, opening. 2. Sketch, layout,
outline. Aufreissen (related v.): To
rip open, tear at, lacerate.
11
Combines un- (prefix) + heilen (v., “healing”) to create a new verb while also
evoking the nouns Unheil (“bane, disaster”) and heilig (“sacred, holy”).
12
[Passage translated from the German original by Gratia Stryker-Härtel.]
13 The
root of the German word werfen is also related to the aforementioned
zusammenwerfen and durcheinanderwerfen.
14 The
root of the German word Stellung is also related to stellare.
BELVEDERE
Discover
a selection of the world’s wines with a 360° view of Bordeaux
Located
on the eighth floor of La Cité du Vin, the belvedere is perched at a height of
35 metres. The culmination of a visit to the permanent tour, it invites
visitors to discover the Gironde city and surrounding area with a 360°
perspective.
An
invitation to contemplate, this unique panoramic view establishes natural
continuity between a visit to the permanent tour and the culmination of this
cultural experience: tasting a glass of wine from the very best wine regions of
the world.
In this
exceptional space, a monumental chandelier made of thousands of bottles and a
10-metre-long oak counter enhance the uniqueness of the location. Visitors
round off their visit by tasting a wine of their choice from a regularly
updated selection of twenty from across the world. Younger visitors can
discover a grape juice specially chosen for them.
To
ensure that a wide range of global wines are available in the belvedere, La
Cité du Vin has established partnerships with interprofessional organisations
in various wine regions across the world.
RESTAURANT
AREAS
Le 7 is
the name of the panoramic restaurant at La Cité du Vin. This constantly
bustling space serves sweet and savoury food from 10am to 11pm, and you can
also stop for a glass of wine, a coffee, or a glass of champagne, 7 days a
week. You will be treated to the most beautiful view of Bordeaux that any
restaurant has to offer. Under the direction of Bordeaux restaurant star
Nicolas Lascombes, our chefs have designed a generous menu offering regional,
seasonal products, with global influences. A perfect balance of Bordeaux
savoirfaire and inspiration from other civilisations of the world. Wine
pairings are suggested for each dish.
Being a
great wine-lover, our head sommelier offers a selection of 500 wines from Bordeaux
and beyond, covering 50 countries. The list features the 25 great Bordeaux
icons, as well as a selection of 32 wines by the glass. Small producers have
not been forgotten, and the main idea is to provide pleasure and discovery to
suit all budgets. Sunday’s menu features seafood platters, with non-stop
service until 4pm.
WINE
CELLAR
This
reference cellar will offer more than 14,000 bottles of 800 wines, including
200 from France and 600 from more than 80 countries across the world. This
exceptional range has been selected by Régis Deltil, a Bordeaux wine merchant,
and his tasting panel of key figures such as Andréas Larsson (World’s Best
Sommelier 2007) and Michel Rolland.
BRASSERIE
– WINE BAR
Open
for lunch and dinner, the wine bar offers food accompa - nied by a selection of
40 bottles from the cellar, by the bottle or the glass. This wine list changes
to match the La Cité du Vin cultural programme.
SNACK
BAR
Open
daily during the day, the snack bar offers a variety of gourmet creations and
global tapas to eat in or take away. In - side or outside next to the Garonne,
stop in for breakfast, lunch or a snack break with a large range of homemade
bread. Eight wines will be available by the glass, with the list changing
weekly.
Latitude20
is managed by the Arom group run by Didier Oudin, in association with Régis
Deltil and Christian Messaris.
Latitude20
invites you to travel and discover. The 20th parallel of latitude conjures up
an image of New World wines, ex - treme vineyards venturing between the 20th
parallel north and south. Wines from such places as Bali, India, Madagascar,
Ethiopia, Brazil and Tahiti will be available to discover in these restaurant
areas and the Latitude20 wine cellar. In addition to its clear wine reference,
the number 20 also suggests the 2.0 nature of the space.
LA CITE DU VIN: WINE MUSEUM IN BORDEAUX DESIGN BY XTU ARCHITECTURE
CHATEAU CHEVAL BLANC
CHEVAL BLANC
THE
ORIGINES :
Although
the exact location of the first vines grown in Bordeaux is unknown, the
vestiges of luxurious villas – the ancestors of today's wine châteaux – have
been found in Saint-Emilion. One such villa belonged to Ausone (Ausonius in
Latin), poet-winemaker and Roman Consul in the 4th century AD. The expansion of
the Saint-Emilion vineyards continued through the centuries, especially during
the Middle Ages. The creation and development of the port of Libourne in the
12th century, during the English occupation, led to thriving maritime trade that spread the reputation of Saint-Emilion
wines throughout Europe. They were already considered of superlative quality at
the time, with unusual ageing potential, and were often given as special gifts
to royalty and other important people. Poetically referred to as "the hill
with a thousand châteaux", Saint-Emilion has a colourful history. Skilled
and enthusiastic winegrowers have long contributed to its stellar reputation.
The appellation surrounds the eponymous medieval town on a
limestone plateau situated east of Libourne, where the Isle and Dordogne rivers
meet. Château Cheval Blanc has an altogether unique terroir in Saint-Emilion.
While most of the appellation's other famous estates have limestone soil dating
from the Tertiary Period, Cheval Blanc's soil features alluvia from the
Quaternary Period deposited by the Isle. And like most of the prestigious
estates in Pomerol, Cheval Blanc's soil formation has a varied texture that
does not include limestone. However, Cheval Blanc is also different – and
unique – in that the proportion of gravel and clay is just about equal. This
gift of nature is essential in understanding the estate's history.
Archives show that wines have been grown at Cheval Blanc at
least as far back as the 15th century. Furthermore, a document dated 1546 shows
that the owner at the time leased the vineyard, and a contract from 1587
specified that the sharecropper "will live there when the sun goes down to
keep an eye on the vines...". A century later, the "Au
Cheval-Blanc" tenant farm was sold to Bertrand de Gombaud for the sizeable
sum of 1,400 francs. Two winegrowers were living full-time at Cheval Blanc on
the eve of the French Revolution. This was very unusual at the time, and
reflects how highly the terroir was regarded.
A
SUPERB REPUTATION:
The
most prestigious part of Cheval Blanc's history can be said to date from 1832,
when Jean-Jacques Ducasse, President of the Libourne Trade Tribunal, purchased
the core of the present-day estate. Over the next twenty years, the purchase of
plots belonging to Château Figeac led to the creation of the 39- hectare
vineyard as we know it today. The configuration has remained practically
unchanged. The marriage of Jean-Jacques' daughter, Henriette, with Jean Laussac-Fourcaud,
a Libourne wine merchant, opened a new chapter in the history of Cheval Blanc
that would define and consolidate the identity of this unique property.
After Henriette inherited Cheval Blanc, her husband undertook
a spectacular renovation. He was among the first people to understand the
importance of water stress to produce the finest wines, and put in an efficient
drainage system.
However, the greatest progress made by the new owners was in the vineyard. Aware of Cheval Blanc's outstanding potential, and helped by an extraordinary intuition, Jean Laussac-Fourcaud replanted part of the estate in the 1860s with a totally atypical proportion of grape varieties: half Merlot (the king of the Right Bank) and half Cabernet Franc. This replanting was finished in 1871.
Formerly known as vin de Figeac, the wine was first sold under the name Cheval Blanc in 1852. This was the beginning of a prestigious career.
However, the greatest progress made by the new owners was in the vineyard. Aware of Cheval Blanc's outstanding potential, and helped by an extraordinary intuition, Jean Laussac-Fourcaud replanted part of the estate in the 1860s with a totally atypical proportion of grape varieties: half Merlot (the king of the Right Bank) and half Cabernet Franc. This replanting was finished in 1871.
Formerly known as vin de Figeac, the wine was first sold under the name Cheval Blanc in 1852. This was the beginning of a prestigious career.
Jean Laussac-Fourcaud focused on one goal for over thirty
years: to make his wine one of the very best in Saint-Emilion and to enhance
its reputation. Cheval Blanc obtained its first medal at the 1862 Universal
Exhibition in London. In fact, a representation of this bronze medal is found
on the château's present-day label. Cheval Blanc won their first gold medal at
the 1878 Universal Exhibition in Paris, and this new distinction also appeared
on the label. In 1886, Cheval Blanc won a second gold medal at the Universal
Exhibition in Antwerp. Reflecting this series of successes and a wine well on
the way to achieving international recognition, a château was built on the
estate.
Cheval Blanc was able to realise its greatest dream in the
1880s, when it began to be considered on a par with the first growths of
the Médoc – and one of the most dependably fine wines in the world – by
the wine trade and connoisseurs. Thus, in the latter half of the 19th century,
Cheval Blanc was in the same price bracket as Margaux, Latour, Lafite, and
Haut-Brion in Paris and London auction houses. The wine's reputation earned it
a place at prestigious meals, major receptions, and state dinners.
APOTHEOSIS
:
After
Jean Laussac-Fourcaud passed away in 1888, his widow inherited the estate. She,
in turn, left it to her son, Albert, who had reversed his hyphenated family
name by this time. Albert Fourcaud-Laussac perpetuated the work undertaken by
his father and installed twelve wooden vats that were used until 1966. Major
investments were made in the vineyard and selected old vines reproduced by mass
selection.
Albert's two sons, Jacques and Joseph Fourcaud-Laussac,
continued in their father's and grandfather's footsteps. The same cellar master
was in charge at Cheval Blanc for 44 years – Gaston Vaissière poured his
talent, energy, and enthusiasm into making the most of a terroir he considered
"magical"...
Cheval Blanc obtained the highest possible distinction in the
first classification of Saint-Emilion wines in 1954: Premier Grand Cru Classé
"A". This exalted rank was confirmed in every following
classification in each subsequent decade. Cheval Blanc became a member of the
exclusive "Club of 9" comprising the first growths of Bordeaux.
A page
was turned in autumn of 1998 when Bernard Arnault and Baron Albert Frère, two
old friends and lovers of great wine, joined forces to became the owners of
this fabled château in Saint-Emilion. They injected a dynamic new spirit, while
respecting the château's history and existing facilities. They also placed
their complete trust in the winemaking team to continue their good work.
The priority today is the ultimate in quality, which calls for enormous
attention to detail and precision winemaking
Furthermore,
Cheval Blanc is resolutely turned towards the future. This is epitomised by the
impressive new cellar adjacent to the château. Designed by Christian de
Portzamparc, winner of the 1994 Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1994, this was
completed in June 2011. Reflecting the desire of Baron Albert Frère and Bernard
Arnault, this building is both futuristic and in keeping with the surrounding
historic vineyard landscape listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Winegrowers
have succeeded one another at Cheval Blanc for six centuries in the context of
a "wine civilisation" some 2,000 years old. The wine from this estate
is now a joy to men and women all over the world who are aware that a great
growth such as Cheval Blanc is a treasure of voluptuousness and pleasure.
https://www.chateau-cheval-blanc.com/en/history
You may visit The Chateau Cheval Blanc Winery Desisgn by Christian de Portzamparc news to click below link.
https://mymagicalattic.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-chateau-cheval-blanc-winery-in.html
You may visit The Chateau Cheval Blanc Winery Desisgn by Christian de Portzamparc news to click below link.
https://mymagicalattic.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-chateau-cheval-blanc-winery-in.html
CHATEAU CHEVAL BLANC
BISTROT
! DE BAUDELAIRE À PICASSO
( PAST EXHIBITION NEWS )
The
exhibition Bistrot! From Baudelaire to Picasso takes place from March 17th
until 21st June 2017. Containing around a hundred works, the aim of this
exhibition is to highlight the essential role played by cafés and bistrots,
convivial spaces, in creation and society from the 18th century until our days..
At
times leaving France behind for the rest of Europe and the USA, combining
traditional media with photography and cinema, it celebrates the living,
fertile links between the world of the arts and the world of the café.
Exploring
the broad range of situations created by cafés, from solitary drinker to
pick-up scenes, from melancholic withdrawal to identity affirmation, from male
exclusivity to female advocacy, the exhibition also examines what artists were
trying to say about themselves and their time. From section to section, the
mobile geography of these urban enclaves – open to all our dreams and all our
encounters – leads the visitors back to themselves.
ATMOSPHERE,
ATMOSPHERE
Both a
space and a mood, the café has challenged artists since the age of Louis XV, from
Voltaire’s Procope to the highly popular Ramponneau, to which Fichel’s large
painting paid yet another emphatic tribute at the Exhibition of 1877. How do
you render the interaction between light, bodies and glances which must enchant
the eye of the spectator? How do you capture the atmosphere and the flow of
affects? The 18th century, which saw a rise in the number of these places that
were still inchoate, gave birth to an iconography with enduring echoes. Present
in the works of the romantic writers and already a centrepiece of Daumier’s
work, the image of the café saw a renewal in the 1860s and 1870s. The temples
of wine symbolised the new sense of urban life and met the expectations of
modernity defined by Baudelaire. This wonderful observatory of contemporary
morals gave birth to the aesthetic of transience. Whether luxury establishment
or "boozer" worthy of Zola, each place possessed its own spirit which
it imposed on the artists. All the artistic leanings of the early 20th
century, from Fauvism to surrealism had to "drink from the source"
and confront the subject. More than any other social venue, cafés and bistros,
dance halls and cabarets, even café-concerts, form the heart of our modernity.
CHEAP
THRILLS
In response to the bourgeois cafés of the Impressionists came the popularity of the workingclass pub. Zola brought his custom and his naturalist art here. In the wake of Daumier, Courbet and Bonvin, three close friends of Baudelaire, the 1880s and 1890s left a more plebeian mark on drinking taverns. However, all the images of the worker are not from the same ilk. Just as the Third Republic swung between liberalism and strict social regulation, the painters swayed between glorification and condemnation of the effects of alcohol, of which the café is the symbol, if not the hostage. Alongside these sinister watering-holes, there is a positive iconography of wine : the people’s nectar, invigorating nourishment in opposition to the idle classes’ champagne. This is the kingdom of plonk ; the wine of the barriers or the countryside, cheaper than in the city, the realm of the loose jacket and the cap. Léon Lhermitte provided the archetype in his large painting at the Exhibition of 1885, one of his masterpieces dear to Van Gogh. Wine and the people’s morale were reconciled at the shrine of makeshift cafés. In their own style, Dunoyer de Segonzac, Gromaire, Doisneau and Picasso in his "communist years" revived the worker’s drink, the red wine of simple pleasures.
In response to the bourgeois cafés of the Impressionists came the popularity of the workingclass pub. Zola brought his custom and his naturalist art here. In the wake of Daumier, Courbet and Bonvin, three close friends of Baudelaire, the 1880s and 1890s left a more plebeian mark on drinking taverns. However, all the images of the worker are not from the same ilk. Just as the Third Republic swung between liberalism and strict social regulation, the painters swayed between glorification and condemnation of the effects of alcohol, of which the café is the symbol, if not the hostage. Alongside these sinister watering-holes, there is a positive iconography of wine : the people’s nectar, invigorating nourishment in opposition to the idle classes’ champagne. This is the kingdom of plonk ; the wine of the barriers or the countryside, cheaper than in the city, the realm of the loose jacket and the cap. Léon Lhermitte provided the archetype in his large painting at the Exhibition of 1885, one of his masterpieces dear to Van Gogh. Wine and the people’s morale were reconciled at the shrine of makeshift cafés. In their own style, Dunoyer de Segonzac, Gromaire, Doisneau and Picasso in his "communist years" revived the worker’s drink, the red wine of simple pleasures.
EDOUARD
VUILLARD
Café au
Bois de Boulogne, v. 1897-1898
Peinture
à la Colle Sur Papier
Besançon,
Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie
©
Photo: Charles CHOPPET
HENRI DE
TOULOUSE LAUTREC (1864-1901)
The
Chap Book, 1895
Affiche
Paris, Galerie Documents
MARK ROTHKO
Composition,
1929 - 1931
Huile
Sur Carton
Collections
of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko.
Artworks
on Canvas by Mark Rothko
©1998
by Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko
YOU MAY LISTEN GAUTIER COPUÇON
ATTRACTIONS
The
promiscuity of the sexes constituted one of the typical characteristics of the
modern café, the pernicious vices of which certain artists, such as Pissarro,
decried by ideology. The fruit of lucky magnetism, or mismatched, ephemeral or
lasting, for a fee or for free, the couple penetrated the artists’ work and
gave rise to all sorts of situations, from the most sensual to the most
amusing. There were still very few women in the cafés painted by Boilly in the
1810s and 1820s. Manet, on the other hand, gave them his full attention. The
incisive Forain provided him with an excellent counterpoint. From the 1870s and
1880s on, the focus often shifted to the solitary woman. This solitude, related
or not to the theme of reading and writing, was a self-assertion, even when the
image was tinged with melancholy. Foreign artists as much as French artists
knew how to exalt this typical feature of our society and the emancipation it
permitted before and especially after the First World War. Berlin in the 1920s,
through Otto Dix’s masterpiece, provides a more extreme ground for
emancipation. Less openly acerbic and in a style close to Hopper, the two
paintings by Rothko and Guy Pène du Bois yield to the charm of elegant young
ladies, a little dreamy in their cloche hats. Photography in the inter-war
period was also besotted with women in cafés, alone or in groups, the
provocation of their number adding to the audacity of their gesture.
BOHEMIAN
DREAM
A
refuge or a stepping stone, the café can be seen as a metaphor for the artist
in conflict, a bohemian or a dandy, who rapidly identifies with these places
where atypical individuals and cultures meet. Far from being a synonym of
poverty or rejection, this temporary or fictional marginality sees itself as a
keeper of the freedom to think, create and live. Like the heroes of the
fairground world dear to Picasso, barflies become figures of the rebellious
artist, with neither a place nor a definite role in society. A sort of
paradoxical aristocracy... By closing up on the café as a sanctum and an
allegory of the condition of the modern artist, the exhibition invites the
public to question the reasons for this mythology, substituted today by the
figure of the artist celebrated by the media and the market. Why, since the
1970s, do artists and writers not feel the same need to gather "at the
café" and capture its image? In 1976, Renato Guttuso announced the
decline, but not the end of these "secular pentecosts"! Moreover,
certain artists continue to make the café one of the emblematic places of their
creation, a place that is both open and closed, where the culture of pleasure
and debate is elaborated. Eternal youth of cafés and wine bars!
https://www.laciteduvin.com/en/experience-la-cite-du-vin/temporary-exhibitions/bistro-baudelaire-picasso
CHARLES CAMOIN
La
petite Lina, 1907
Huile
Sur Toile,
Marseille,
Musée Cantini
©Photo
Claude Almodovar et Michel Vialle © ADAGP, Paris 2017
ARLES CAMOINDANIEL HUMAIR 2014 JAZZ A VIENNE
LA CITE DU VIN: WINE MUSEUM IN BORDEAUX DESIGN BY XTU ARCHITECTURE
A
CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The
Bassins à Flot site is one of the symbols of development in Bordeaux. Located
between Chartrons and Bacalan, this former manufacturing hub is in a state of
radical transformation: a huge 160-hectare construction site (including 22
hectares of water bodies, the eponymous basins) home to flourishing major
projects and buildings. This will ultimately cover 700,000 m² with a mixture of
housing, economic activity and public facilities springing up, just six tram
stops from Place des Quinconces.
La Cité
du Vin is in perfect keeping with the district’s ecological philosophy: every
effort has been made to minimise the project’s environmental impact. 70% of La
Cité du Vin’s energy needs are therefore covered by local and green energy
sources. In addition, the architects have devoted considerable attention to
optimising the building’s bio-climatic performance. Air inlets low down on the
structure allow breezes to enter and create a current which ultimately pushes
hot air out via the upper courtyard areas and outlets, thus optimising
ventilation and reducing the need for air conditioning. Respectful of the
environment and the ecosystem of the banks of the Garonne (a listed Natura 2000
Zone), the landscaped areas around the building will mimic the riverbanks to
provide a touch of natural freshness and maintain a sense of continuity.
The
building fits perfectly into the dynamics of the Bassins à Flot eco-district,
and was designed to have a controlled environmental impact (in line with the
High Quality Environmental standard). Here are a few examples:
70% of
La Cité du Vin’s energy needs are covered by local and green energy sources •
The building’s compact shape enables natural ventilation in summer (gain of 5
degrees, reduced air conditioning use) and limits heat loss in winter • The
site can be reached via less CO2- heavy methods of transport such as tram,
bicycle and on foot • The interior materials have an A+ rating to guarantee
good air quality • The wood used comes from sustainably managed forests • The
rainwater recovery tank is used to water and clean the area around the building
• The composting area is used to treat waste from catering areas and organic
waste
ENERGIE
DES BASSINS
In
the fight against climate change, France has two priorities: energy saving and
renewable energy.
With
its plan for 5,500 housing units, the Bassins à Flot area will welcome more
than 10,000 new inhabitants when completed, and feature flagship projects such
as La Cité du Vin. In order to establish this area as an exemplary model in
terms of energy, a heating network is the solution of choice.
Mixener
and EDF Optimal Solutions have come together to design and install a heating
network for this sustainable district. The network operator is Idex.
Across
the territory, the heating network uses local resources: biomass, geothermics,
energy recovery units and methanisation.
These local and clean solutions will save 8,000 tonnes of CO2 from being rejected into the atmosphere. Energie Des Bassins is owned by Régal-Bordeaux, via its Mixener subsidiary specialised in innovative heating networks, and by EDF Optimal Solutions, specialising in ecologically efficient energy solutions.
These local and clean solutions will save 8,000 tonnes of CO2 from being rejected into the atmosphere. Energie Des Bassins is owned by Régal-Bordeaux, via its Mixener subsidiary specialised in innovative heating networks, and by EDF Optimal Solutions, specialising in ecologically efficient energy solutions.
LA CITE DU VIN: WINE MUSEUM IN BORDEAUX DESIGN BY XTU ARCHITECTURE
XTU
ARCHITECTS
The
Parisian agency XTU Architects was created by Anouk Legendre and Nicolas
Desmazières. Anouk Legendre trained at the Bordeaux School of Architecture. An
encounter during a study trip and a personal bond formed soon grew into a
professional partnership. Following experiences in Iceland, they began to
develop a vision of a world ‘composed entirely of movement, of shifting forms’,
where in some contexts ‘the curve has come to replace the line’. The bold lines
and angles which had dominated previous high-profile creations such as the new
Chemistry Department at Paris VII University (completed in 2008) now gave way
to rounded forms inspired by the curves of the earth. The best examples are the
Jeongok Prehistory Museum north of Seoul in South Korea (completed in 2011),
the French Pavilion for the 2015 Universal Exposition in Milan, and La Cité du
Vin in Bordeaux. Addressing each project’s intrinsic challenges, XTU’s buildings
sometimes evoke a level of futurism. Constantly striving to plan ahead, the
agency has its very own research and exploration department where intersection
of knowledge sits at the forefront. This has for example led to the development
of cutting-edge technology for photosynthetic facades which can grow
microalgae, called ‘biofacades’, for which they hold numerous patents. These
projects have been presented at numerous exhibitions and in various
publications both in France and abroad.
