LOST IN TRANSLATION - MONDAY 23RD JUNE - PARIS

 

The artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot has taken over the Rotunda of the Bourse de Commerce with an installation which according to his description transforms the Rotunda into a space conducive to reverie, and who are we to argue?

Those white ceramic bowls float across the blue surface, generating melodious, enchanting sounds as a light current pushes them along.

The title clinamen, according to the brochure, comes from Epicurean physics and refers to the random trajectory of atoms, a concept that resonates with the work’s inevitably changing and unpredictable nature.  We spent a very cordial few hours enjoying this unpredictability and immersing ourselves in those melodious sounds, pondering as we did, the meaning of life or anything else that came to mind.

It’s quite possibly a metaphor for our very existence we thought, or more specifically one for a visit to a bakery before breakfast.  Charming, melodious and not at all predictable.

I am no linguist, but usually I arrive home with the bakery items I’d ordered all present and accounted for.  

This morning’s nasty breakfast surprise came when the brown paper bag containing the croissants was opened revealing not one single croissant, but four pains chocolate in lieu.

What trickery was this, we wondered?

Perhaps my pronunciation is so appalling that “croissant” sounds for all the world like a plea for “pain chocolate” to the delicate ears of a native.

Or perhaps, more likely Epicurean physics was at play.

Whatever the case, the pain chocolate was not a terribly long lasting disappointment.