France and Finland

New dance and philosophy book

2011-09-21T08:19:00.000-07:00

Frédéric Pouillaude, an assistant professor in the philosophy of art at the Sorbonne and one of the speakers at the 2008 conference in Nancy, has just published a new book on philosophy and dance:

Le Désoeuvrement chorégraphique. Etude sur la notion d'oeuvre en danse

It's available on Amazon-France:
http://www.amazon.fr/D%C3%A9soeuvrement-chor%C3%A9graphique-Etude-notion-doeuvre/dp/2711621952/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315915440&sr=8-1

A lengthy review of the book is available in English:
http://www.booksandideas.net/What-Remains-of-Dance.html?lang=fr

An English translation of the entire book is not yet available, but I understand that a major publisher is looking seriously at that option. Given the paucity of literature in this field, I hope that happens!

New journal publication

2011-09-21T08:12:00.000-07:00

The journal Aesthetic Pathways 1:2 (June 2011) has just published eight papers from the 2008 conference in Finland, including a revised version of my paper on graffiti. Here's the cover of the journal:

Here is the table of contents.

Click on the image to see a larger size.

New Book: Philosophy of Dance

2010-10-08T11:16:00.000-07:00

I am very pleased to report that the Presses Universitaires de Rennes has published a collection of papers from the 2008 conference in Nancy, France, Philosophie de la Danse. The papers that were presented in English were translated into French by Julia Beauquel, who co-edited the new book with her advisor, Roger Pouivet. Here's an image of the cover:

The link to the University Press for the book:

http://www.pur-editions.fr/detail.php?idOuv=2442

It is also available from Amazon-France.

Photos from the conference

2008-07-04T08:05:00.000-07:00

The organizers of the conference in Finland have posted oodles of photos:
http://www.helsinki.fi/jarj/iiaa/Messila2008/thumb.html

Home again

2008-06-24T22:28:00.000-07:00

I flew home on Monday. What a trip! An 8-hour flight from Helsinki to JFK and another 5-hour flight to LAX. We got in half an hour early to LAX - but then waited almost an hour for a gate. Air travel is living up to all the worst publicity nowadays. Every seat is full. I swear the seats have been pushed closer together. I don't know how really big and/or tall people can tolerate coach anymore. Meals were free on the Helsinki flight, but not on the flight to LAX.

Here's the final waiting lounge for my flight in Helsinki. We went through no less than four passport checks before getting onto the plane. I suppose any flight, especially going into JFK, is subject to serious security - another sign of the times.

For the JFK-LAX flight, my checked bag was opened, as I discovered later from the little TSA inspection label they left behind. But any jumbo jet leaving JFK with a full supply of fuel must also be suspect in this day and age.

Here is my plane, a big MD-11, waiting at the Helsinki airport. Light rain, but we took off on time.

I wonder how Europeans feel when they arrive at JFK. At the Helsinki airport, free luggage carts were outside the airport to lug your checked baggage to the ticket counter. Inside security, there were more free carts, a bit smaller, to drag your carry-ons to the gate. But when you arrive at JFK, no carts are available when you get off the plane and stand in line for passport checks. Then you get your checked bag (even if you are continuing on) to stand in line for customs, then drag it to another counter to re-check for your next flight. Carts are available -- for $3! Welcome to America!

My visits to Finland and Estonia were great, but it's always nice to be home.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Helsinki landmarks

2008-06-22T08:05:00.001-07:00

Today is my last full day in Helsinki before returning home, so I wanted to get a good look at a few more landmarks.

The University Library just north of Senate Square is a beautiful building, opened in 1840, designed by the city architect, Carl Engel.

Engel also designed this building for what is now the University of Helsinki, on the west side of Senate Square.

This 1890 building, called the House of Estates, is located just northeast of Senate Square.

This is the Palace of the Council of State, first opened in 1822, located on the east side of Senate Square. I'm told that this square was used for location sites to evoke St. Petersburg for Warren Beatty's film "Reds."

A few blocks south on Market Square is the famous Kappeli Cafe, which opened in 1867. I stopped for cappuccino.

The Swedish Theatre a few blocks west of Market Square was built in 1866.

I liked these temporary construction fences portraying a French village street.

I'm not crazy about these commercial signs plastered all over office buildings. This one is across the street from the Swedish Theatre. I'm not sure what to think about that statue, which reminds me of the Soviet Realism I saw in Bratislava last fall.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Finlandia and more

2008-06-21T13:21:00.001-07:00

With everything closed for the national holiday today, it seemed like a good time to do more sightseeing of important buildings. Töölönlahti is a huge and very beautiful lake just northwest of the Central Railway Station. It's lined with parkland, play areas, and bike and pedestrian paths that filled up with people as the day went on.

At the northwest corner of the lake is the ultra-modern Finnish National Opera House. This is the western entrance facing the street Mannerheimintie.

This is the eastern side facing the lake. Alas, no performances while I am in town. I've now seen six great European opera houses this summer, without seeing a single performance in any of them.

Here's a view of the lake looking south. In the distant right is the Finlandia Concert Hall. That fountain spewing water to the left in the lake appears to be purely decorative.

On the walk down to the Concert Hall, I saw another speedwalker with cross-country poles, which seems to be popular summer exercise here.

Here's a better view of the Finlandia Concert Hall. "Finlandia" is also the name of Sibelius' most popular composition.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Sibelius memorial

2008-06-21T13:20:00.001-07:00

Today is a national holiday, "Midsummer Day," so virtually everything is closed. Even the busses and trams stopped running until 11 am today. Colleagues at the aesthetics conference said the traditional celebration involves retreating to country houses on the lakes to celebrate the longest day of the year. I don't know if that's where everybody went, but the city of Helsinki is deserted, except for tourists.

When the busses started up, I took the #24 northwest to see the Sibelius Memorial. Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) is the country's most famous composer. The memorial by Eila Hiltunen, consisting of 600 stainless-steel tubes, was completed in 1967, after four years of work.

Some think it is reminiscent of the slender white birch trees in the country. Others think it looks like the pipes of an organ (an instrument for which Sibelius never composed).

Reportedly, there was such an outcry over the design that a separate bust of Sibelius was commissioned and installed near the Memorial. I'm not sure this helps much.

I am reminded of the outcry over the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC, which led to the installation of traditional statues of three soldiers adjacent to the much more powerful Memorial. Although the soldiers were of different races, they were all male, which led to another outcry - and the installation of statues representing female nurses who also died in Vietnam. Personally, I think these representational add-ons reflect a sad narrow-mindedness about the original works in both countries.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Tallinn walls

2008-06-20T14:15:00.003-07:00

I understand that most (all?) of Europe's old medieval cities were fortified with heavy walls and gates to provide security. Many of those old walls have been torn down, but Tallinn managed to retain most of theirs, adding to the charm of the old city.

An entrepreneur dressed in medieval garb will let you shoot arrows in front of this wall.

Cafes and vendors line other walls in the city.

Here's a typical wall with guard tower. Construction and restoration seem to be going on everywhere, so that's typical, too.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Tallinn vistas

2008-06-20T14:15:00.001-07:00

Several viewing spots provide magnificent vistas of the medieval city. Most are on the southern and western sides of the town, high on various hills and medieval fortifications. With so many tourists, you had to wait your turn to get to the front to take some pictures.

This one looks to the north, with the harbor in the distance.

This looks more to the east.

UPDATE: In the July/August 2008 issue of AARP magazine, waiting for me when I got home, Peter Greenberg recommends Estonia in his article (p. 20): "Daunted by the Euro? Try these low-cost, low-tourist locales." He says, "Estonia is still off the tourist radar. . . even in the summer." I don't know when he last visited, but tourists have definitely found Tallinn, and I paid the usual exhorbitant prices for my cappuccino (3.4 Euros - about $5). His other European recommendation: Greenland. Sorry, not on my "to-do" list.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Tallinn town hall

2008-06-20T14:14:00.001-07:00

Town Hall Square in Tallinn was the central focus of the medieval old town, the site of everything from carnivals to executions.

The Town Hall building dates from the 15th century.

This tableau of colorful buildings is on the east side of the Square. The entire town was swaming with tourists the day I visited.

Outdoor cafes line most of the Square. This view looks to the northwest corner, where I had cappuccino and hot apple cake with vanilla ice cream. Most have menus with prices in both Estonian Crowns (EKK) and Euros. The waitresses speak English, and they take credit cards.

A local military band provided mid-day entertainment, mainly American jazz and Sousa marches.

Esprit has a store on the southwest corner of the Square. A few blocks to the south, another fashionable clothier, Max Mara, has a store in the medieval old town.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Tallinn doors

2008-06-20T14:13:00.001-07:00

One pleasant surprise in Tallinn is the abundance of beautifully decorated and colorful doors to many houses and other buildings. I took 21 pictures and will only include a few here. I rummaged through tourist books and Googled but could not find any explanation for this phenomenon. Is this a centuries old custom in Tallinn? Is it widespread in northern Europe? Are there any special meanings attached to the various designs and colors? I have no idea, but will try to find out more.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Tallinn churches

2008-06-20T14:12:00.002-07:00

The guidebook to the medieval city shows 12 cathedrals and churches - Lutheran, Catholic, Russian Orthodox, and Ukrainian Greek-Catholic.

One of the oldest structures in Tallinn is the Dominican Monastery, dating from the 13th century. Most of it was destroyed during the Reformation in the 16th century, but some remains were uncovered in archeological digs after WWII.

These portals remain from the Church used by the Dominicans in the 14th century.

These tombstones were recovered by archeologists.

The Church of St. Peter and Paul, home of the only Roman Catholic congregation here, was built in the 19th century on the site of the monastery's dining room.

The most spectacular church in Tallinn is the Russian orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, built in 1900 when Estonia was part of the Russian empire. It sits high on a hill in the southwest part of the old walled city.

A few blocks to the west is the main Lutheran church of Estonia, the Cathedral of Saint Mary the Virgin, built by Danes in the 13th century.

This famous clock, the oldest public timepiece in Tallinn, is on the side of the Holy Spirit Church, built in the 14th century, just to the side of Town Hall Square.

St. Nicholas' Orthodox Church, built in the early 19th century, is on a site tracing to Russian merchants and an earlier church in the 15th century. The medieval walls of the city are visible here on the left.

St. Olav's Church in the northern end of the medieval city dates to the 13th century and once had the highest tower in the city at 159 meters. White speakers and television screens are now installed in this huge church founded by Scandinavian merchants.

The city's only synagogue was destroyed in Allied bombing in 1944. A new one outside the city walls was built in just 2007, but I didn't get over to see it. The 1000 Jews in Tallinn in 1941, when the Nazis invaded, were murdered. When Estonia was forced into the Soviet Union, Jewish organizations were prohibited, so the return of a small Jewish population has been very recent. Apparently there is a small memorial to the Holocaust at the site of the Klooga concentration camp in Estonia, but nothing in Tallinn.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Tallinn trip

2008-06-20T14:12:00.001-07:00

Today I took a 90-minute ferry ride across the Baltic Sea to Tallinn, Estonia, about 40 miles south of Helsinki. It has one of the best-preserved medieval cities in northern Europe, my seasick medicine (Bonine) worked fine, and the weather is perfect. Estonia is one of the three Baltic States (along with Latvia and Lithuania) that broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991. St. Petersburg is to the east and Stockholm, Sweden, to the west.

Here is my ship, operated by the Nordic Jet Line, in Helsinki harbor. The lowest level is filled with cars, the mid-level is the main cabin area, and the top is the control level. Round-trip fare is 56 Euros.

The ship has comfortable seating, a cafe, and duty-free shops. No passports are required, as both Finland and Estonia are in the Shengen Zone ("Fortress Europe"). On the trip back, we had to walk past a police officer with a large dog, perhaps sniffing for drugs.

The harbor in Tallinn is filled with ferries, cruise ships, and a few historic vessels like this one.

The walk from the terminals south to the Old Town area is a few short blocks. This gas station along the way is advertising 18.55 EKK (Estonian Crowns) per liter. That's about $7.40 per gallon!

I checked the Yahoo currency converter, and the dollar has been steadily losing value against even the Estonian Crown this past year. We can't even hold our own against Estonia, a tiny country of 1.3 million people! I didn't bother converting any currency for the day. The cafes all take Euros and credit cards, so it didn't seem worth the trouble.

As I approched the first medieval tower protecting the ancient city, I saw two tram lines go by. They don't run in the historic city, but have several routes into the more modern town.

In a park outside the entrance to the medieval city is a huge black broken arc, with a platform with engraved names. I learned with a little Googling that this memorial is dedicated to the 852 people who died when the ferry "Estonia" sank in 1994 en route to Stockholm. It's been blamed on improperly closed doors on the level for cars. Gulp!

Here is the guardhouse you first see as you enter the medieval city.

Here is the gated entrance showing Pikk street inside.

I took 256 pictures in just this one day, so I'll split up these entries into manageable sizes. I'm glad I added a memory stick and brought an extra battery for my digital camera.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Market Square

2008-06-19T11:04:00.002-07:00

Market Square is another tourist destination - a huge outdoor market with crafts, food, and outdoor restaurants. It's right on the harbor southeast of central Helsinki, where sightseeing boats and larger vessels to Stockholm, Sweden, and Tallinn, Estonia, dock.

The gray boat on the left looks like a military vessel of some kind. To the right is a cruise ship. The overnight trip to Stockholm is apparently very popular. Among other things, locals can take advantage of duty-free shopping.

These vendors are selling potatoes and flowers from the backs of their boats.

Flower vendors in the market area added some charm and color.

Sundmans Restaurant, located on the water by Market Square, has a Michelin star. I was impressed with the two-story historic building, from the early 19th century. In the lower edge, you can see one of the bicycle lanes that are found all over the city.

I walked around the Square to the Ferry building on the east side of the harbor to buy my ticket to Tallinn, Estonia, tomorrow. Here's hoping my seasick pills work again!

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Orthodox Cathedral

2008-06-19T11:04:00.001-07:00

An amazing landmark is the Uspensky Russian Orthodox Cathedral, just a few blocks east of the huge Lutheran Cathedral on Senate Square. Completed in 1868, when Finland was part of the Russian empire, it is reportedly the largest Orthodox Cathedral in the Western world.

The Cathedral has thirteen spires, and is located high on another hill. According to the tourist books, the current population is barely 1% Russian Orthodox. I counted three huge tourist buses in the lot, and you can understand the attraction.

The interior is filled with icons and statues - and tourists.

Here's another shot of the interior.

The view of the harbor and central Helsinki from the Cathdral grounds is worth the trip, too. This one looks to the north.

At the aesthetics conference, I learned that Helsinki is spending a million Euros a year to keep the city free of graffiti. I spotted this behind the Cathedral, but have been otherwise struck by the graffiti-free structures all over the city. If I have time, I'll have to check back in a few days to see if it's been cleaned up.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Embassies

2008-06-19T11:03:00.001-07:00

I returned to Helsinki Wednesday afternoon after the conference and will be spending a few more days here for sightseeing. I like to see what the embassies look like in different cities (especially after living next door to one in Bratislava) and saw several in the central area of the city.

This is the Slovak Embassy, a rather undistinguished contemporary building on Annankantu. I don't know if it occupies the entire building, but that's the Slovak flag in front.

The U.S. Embassy is in a beautiful park-like setting in the southeast corner of Helsinki, near the water on Itäinen Puistotie. Here is one of only two pictures I have of the Embassy, barely visible behind an ominous steel fence.

I actually took several more, but a guard came out and made me delete them from my digital camera while he watched. He let me keep this one as it shows the Amerian flag, but he said that pictures showing the entrances to the complex are forbidden - yet another sad commentary on the hyper-security-conscious age we live in. The complex is quite beautiful, with several historic buildings, and a modern building on the street for people applying for visas. I also saw a huge white party tent that seems to have been the site a big party last night.

The British Embassy across the street is also surrounded by heavy metal fencing, but the U.S. guard wasn't concerned about letting me keep this image.

In a striking contrast, the French Embassy across from the U.S. Embassy is remarkably free of security gates. But I was surprised at the disappointing architecture and especially the tacky looking exterior surface.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

My session

2008-06-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

I present my paper Wednesday morning on graffiti and free speech, and look forwrd to the discussion to give me ideas for revising and expanding the project.

I will show a collection of images I took last fall of graffiti in eastern Europe that present puzzling situations to explain. Here is an image of a Slovak National Railway train car at the Bratislava Main Station.

The conference organizers will be publishing a collection of some of the papers presented, selected through a blind review process. I will probably submit a revised version of mine for consideration.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Boat ride

2008-06-17T11:14:00.001-07:00

On Monday night, we all took a three-hour boat cruise through the lake district, with a lavish buffet dinner served on board. I was a little nervous about seasickness, but the over-the-counter Bonine worked fine, at least on these calm waters.

Here is a picture of our boat, the Ainot. The days are at their longest this time of year, with the sun setting about 11 pm and rising about 3 am. It's not quite the famous "white nights" further north, where the sun never seems to go down, but close.

What magnificent views we had of the forests and lakes. You can barely see the cottages built throughout the region. They are supposed to be at least 20 meters back from the water's edge, to preserve the natural look of the forests.

We went through a systems of locks on the trip. These were once a vital commercial link to move goods in the region, but now are mainly used by tourist and pleasure boats.

Here's another view, taken from the rear of the boat. That's the blue and white Finnish flag.

NOTE: Click on any image to see it full-size.

Conference sessions

2008-06-15T00:04:00.003-07:00

The conference includes several plenary sessions with lectures and discussions with specialists in the conference topics. These alternate with smaller break-out workshop sessions with papers presented by each of the participants.

This large barn-like building is the site of our plenary sessions. Don't be fooled by the rustic appearance. Inside we have a wifi hot spot, and LED projectors to hook up to our laptops for our presentations.

Inside, the building looked like it is used for children's entertainment during the cold winter months, with playhouses, a small stage, and games. Here is the group before the start of a plenary session.

My session on graffiti and free speech is in this room on Wednesday. This is a work-in-progress for me, and I'll be showing lots of images of graffiti I took in Central Europe last fall.

NOTE: Click on any image to see it full-size.

Conference center

2008-06-15T00:04:00.001-07:00

The Messilä Manor House is a beautiful conference and resort area, with skiing in the winter and golf and boating in the summer. What a lovely setting for a conference.

This is the great view we had of the lake district from the central conference area.

This historic building in the center of the complex is my favorite. I was told it is classic Finnish architectural design. During the winter it serves as a restaurant, but it is closed up in the summer.

These little red buildings, also traditional Finnish design, are scattered all over the complex. Some serve as meeting rooms, while many others provide housing.

The complex also has a modern hotel building, where I stayed, with satellite television and wifi internet. Some graduate students attending the conference opted for rustic "camping" facilities, but I am way past the age of finding that an attractive option.

A riding complex was also on the property and seemed to be getting a lot of use.

We had meals together at the clubhouse for the golf course higher up the hill. The opportunity to talk at length with other conference participants outside the formal sessions was a great benefit to all of us in discussing our shared interests in aesthetics.

The entire conference was conducted in English (whew). The Finns typically are fluent in Swedish and English, and many also have some competency in French and German. As usual, the Europeans put us to shame in their language skills.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Train ride to Lahti

2008-06-15T00:03:00.001-07:00

I took a one-hour train ride on Sunday to Lahti, Finland, the site of the conference on "Everyday Aesthetics," sponsored by the International Institute of Applied Aesthetics, that is the purpose of my trip.

I took yet another sleek, modern, comfortable train, here waiting in the Helsinki station.

Lahti is the fourth largest city in Finland, and calls itself the Gateway to the Finish Lake District. It has a modern train station, with ramps and elevators making it accessible for the disabled and wheeled luggage alike.

A van picked us up for the short ride to the Messilä Manor House outside Lahti for the conference. 37 people are registered, including five from the U.S., as well as faculty members and graduate students from Estonia, Denmark, France, Japan, and of course Finland.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Lutheran Cathedral

2008-06-14T12:11:00.000-07:00

This country of about 5 million people is reportedly 85% Lutheran, adopting the Lutheran Reformation in the 17th century.

One of the most prominent landmarks in the city is this Lutheran Cathedral at Senate Square, built in the 1830s.

Here's the view standing at the top of that huge set of stairs in front of the Cathedral - a neatly organized market with all sorts of handcrafts and food. The elegant buildings surrounding the Square have the look and feel of St. Petersburg to me. As this was part of the Russian empire in the 19th century, and St. Petersburg is Helsinki's neighbor to the east, that's no surprise.

Here's another view of the market, looking to the southwest.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Protest march

2008-06-13T13:01:00.001-07:00

I happened upon a protest march today on a busy street in the center of town. All the signs and speakers were only in Finnish, so I'm not sure what the issues were. With so many tourists around (from the EU if not the US), it's too bad they didn't include a few English signs. From some of the demonstrators and gear, it seemed to be a protest demanding better rights for the disabled.

You can see a hearse in this shot in the demonstration.

Here's another view of the demonstrators, with a coffin covered in the blue and white flag of Finland.

Several impassioned speakers were on the sidewalk. Two police cars were parked at either end of the parade, but the police seemed just to be watching from the sidelines.

I have found handicapped access here much better than in central Europe - break-away curbs, elevators and escalators, and ramps in many public buildings. Still, the U.S. is far and away superior in handicapped access to anything I have seen in Europe, presumably because of our Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As for health care for the disabled, it's hard to imagine how any European system of health care could be worse than the mish-mash of private health insurance in the U.S.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Design

2008-06-13T13:00:00.002-07:00

Finland is famous for its contemporary design, from furniture and architecture to textiles. I especially wanted to visit the flagship store for Marimekko, a line of colorful textiles available in the U.S.

Here's the main store, which is huge, on several levels, on Pohjoisesplanadi in the center of town. They also have a smaller store two blocks down the street. The main post office even sells a line of shipping materials designed by Marimekko!

Across from this store is a beautiful park, filled with people strolling in the balmy weather in the 70s.

In the middle of the park is this statue. Notice the white pigeon resting on his head, a sight all-too-common here - pigeons, that is.

NOTE: Click on any image to see it full-size.

Railway Square

2008-06-13T13:00:00.001-07:00

East of the train station is a huge plaza called Railway Square ringed by some magnificent buildings.

The National Theatre is on the north side of the Square.

The Finnish National Gallery, or Atenetum, is on the south side.

On the east is a long row of outdoor cafes, with the Casino at the end of the block. I see lots of outdoor cafes all over the city, but almost everybody seems to be drinking beer or wine, instead of the espresso you see in the Paris outdoor cafes.

On the west side of the train station is the Contemporary Art Museum.

And just to the west of that is the main Post Office.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Helsinki train station

2008-06-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

The big, bustling train station is right in the middle of the city of Helsinki. The transportation options here remind me of all the things we aren't doing in the U.S. to conserve energy.

The historic station building has lots of interesting architectural details. This is the west side entrance.

Six sets of covered tracks are all on the main level, making it easier for people dragging heavy luggage.

The interior of the station has several huge, elegant windows, and beautiful architectural details.

The city's one subway line has a stop inside the train station. On the lower level here, the city transportation office sells passes for unlimited travel on the subway, busses, and trams. The clerks speak English and they take credit cards. How easy can it get!

Here's the front entrance to the train station. Several tram lines run by in front. Busses stop at the side of the building. You see a lot of Volvos here, no doubt having something to do with Finland's neighbor.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Trip to Helsinki

2008-06-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

Today I am headed for a conference in Lahti, Finland, on applied aesthetics, with a few days of sightseeing in Helsinki. No nonstops from LA to Helsinki, so I took a 5-hour non-stop flight to JFK in New York, and then an 8-hour non-stop from JFK to Helsinki.

This is the Finnair flight at the gate in New York. Every seat was full. It's no fun in coach, but with an aisle seat, my iPod, and a good book, these long flights are bearable.

The Helsinki airport is a dreary modernistic but functional building.

The signs are tri-lingual - Finnish, Swedish, and English. Finnair runs a convenient bus into the heart of town for only 5.9 Euros. It takes about 30 minutes and drops you right at the Central Train station.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

home

2008-05-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

I had a great flight home on a non-stop Air France flight from Paris to LAX (12+ hours!). I didn't do a precise count, but it again seemed to me that the French tourists headed for the U.S. greatly outnumbered the Americans coming home.

Here's my plane at the gate in Paris. They had two boarding ramps, one for coach, one for business and first class, something I haven't seen at U.S. airports.

Place de la Republique

2008-05-27T11:32:00.002-07:00

Just across a branch of the river from Place Broglie is the Place de la Republique, with several large neo-Gothic Renaissance structures built by the Germans in the 19th century.

Here is the lovely river view on the way to the Place de la Republique.

The Place de la Republique is a large park surrounded by imposing buildings. This is the Palais du Rhin, which had been the imperial palace in the late 19th century, when Strasbourg was part of Germany. That statue is a war memorial dated 1936.

The National Library is on the south side of the park.

On the walk back to Place Broglie, I noticed this statue of "Kellermann." As I have some relatives named Keller with ancestry in Germany, this seemed worth a picture. If you blow up the image, it refers to "Duc de Valmy," born in Strasbourg in 1735, died in Paris in 1820.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Opera house

2008-05-27T11:32:00.001-07:00

Strasbourg has an historic opera house, but once again I could not find any dance performances to see while in town. This is a good illustration of one of the challenges in doing research on the artform - the difficulty just seeing different works.

Here is the Opera House, at the eastern end of Place Broglie, a few blocks north of the Cathedral.

Here's another view of the Opera House, from the western end of Place Broglie, which was developed in the 18th century.

On the south side of this very pretty plaza is the town hall, once a residence of some counts.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.

Protestants

2008-05-27T11:31:00.000-07:00

France seems the quintesential Catholic country, so it is surprising to see evidence of Protestantism in Strasbourg. Given the proximity to Germany, where Martin Luther started the Reformation, I suppose this is understandable.

The Eglise St. Pierre le Vieux actually has two adjacent churches, one Catholic, one Protestant. This is just a few blocks east of the train station.

Eglise St. Pierre le June ("New St. Peter's") is on a site traced to a church in the the fourth century, at the end of the Roman occupation. Part of the church was built in the 11th century, more of it in the 14th as a Protestant Church.

The natural lighting in the church reveals the riches of the history of this lovely church, which is a couple of blocks north of Place Kleber. Here are the pipes for the church organ, right in the middle of everything.

Here is an example of the amazing paintings and etchings on the church walls.

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Notre Dame Cathedral

2008-05-27T10:16:00.001-07:00

In the center of Strasbourg is the Notre Dame Cathedral, one of the best examples of Gothic architecture in Europe. The building traces to the 12th century and took several more centuries to complete.

It's so big, and surrounded by so many other smaller buildings, on the square that it's impossible to get a clear shot of the Cathedral. Here's a glimpse of the grand entrance, with intricate stonework and statues.

It's dark inside the Cathdral and no flash is allowed, but I did get some shots of a beautiful side chapel.

Some amazing historic buildings surround the Cathedral. This is the Maison Kammerzell, a residence dating to the 16th century, now a restaurant.

The detailed wood carvings on the Maison Kammerzell deserve a close-up.

This building on the west side of the Cathedral housed the Pharmacie du Cerf, dating from the 13th century. It was the oldest chemist in France, but finally closed in 2000.

You can buy your own suit of armor at this gift shop opposite the Cathedral for a mere 2250 Euros.

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La Petite France

2008-05-26T09:03:00.001-07:00

One of the most charming and best-preserved historic areas used to be home to the fishermen and craftsmen of the city. Today it swarms with tourists, cafes, and shops.

Here is one of the many pictuesque sites in the La Petite France district.

Even the fire station for the district is quaint.

And even the fire trucks are small and energy efficient.

More energy efficiency: sleek tram lines cut through the center of this historic city.

And bicycles are everywhere, with their own traffic lanes in most places. Men, women, old, young tear around on their bikes. I have yet to see anyone wearing a helmet in this country.

Good thing they also have a national health care system, in which everyone is taken care of and nobody has to depend on the crazy system of private health insurance we have in the U.S. Here's the big hospital in the historic city, still a functioning hospital.

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Sidetrip to Strasbourg

2008-05-25T10:06:00.000-07:00

With the conference over, I took a regular train from Nancy to Strasbourg this morning to do a little sightseeing. It took only 90 minutes for the 97 mile trip, even with several stops along the way. Nancy is in the Lorraine region and Strasbourg is in the Alsace region. I've never visited this part of the country before, so I wanted to make the most of the trip.

This is the front entrance of the Nancy train station, a very elegant, historic building.

The Strasbourg train station was truly peculiar. On the outside it looks like an attempt at ultra-modern chic.

Alas, that silvery bubble is just an expansion of the waiting area, and completely obliterates the facade of the historic station behind it. What a shame to lose the view of this lovely historic station.

It's a beautiful day, so I explored the neighborhood. Fortunately, historic architecture is much better preserved than at the train station. This is the l'Aubette, once used by the military, dating from the 18th century, on the north side of Place Kleber.

This double-decker merry-go-round is at Place Guttenberg. The statue is of Guttenberg, who lived here from 1434-1439 and reportedly did developmental work on his revolutionary printing press while living here.

A first glimpse at the Lille River which surrounds the Old Town area. The architecture is a fascinating mix of French and German, no surprise as the city is right on the German border and was part of Germany until the end of World War I in 1918.

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Conference continued

2008-05-24T11:01:00.000-07:00

I presented my paper on the second day of the conference and was very pleased with the helpful discussion afterwards. Other speakers were Frederic Pouillaude, Sorbonne; Graham McFee, University of Brighton; Julia Beauquel, a doctoral student at Nancy-Universite and one of the conference organizers; and Mikael Karlsson, who teaches at the University of Finland.

On the third and final day, Noel Carroll and Margaret Moore, from Temple University (my doctoral alma mater) presented a paper. They're at the front of the room here.

The other speakers on the final day were Bernard Andrieu and Uwe Behrens, both from Nancy-Universite. At the end of the second day, we saw a film on choreographer Pina Bausch and another contemporary dance performance, "Pluies," performed by Aurore Gruel and Francoise Klein.

Here are Roger Pouivet and Julia Beauquel, who did such a great job organizing this conference, going back a full year now. I learned at lunch with them a few days earlier that Julia actually obtained a copy of my 1981 doctoral dissertation, "Philosophical Problems of Dance Criticism." I think that demonstrates just how limited the literature on philosophy and dance is!

I understand that they are planning to publish all the papers presented at the conference, including French translations of the papers presented in English. The onerous translation duties will fall on Julia, who also translated our conference abstracts for the program.

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Centre Culturel André Malraux

2008-05-22T21:58:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of the three-day conference, "Esthetique de la Dance: Ontologie, cognition, emotion." It is being held at the Centre Culturel André Malraux in Nancy, an interesting location in many ways.

The Centre is located in an outlying suburban neighborhood in Nancy. The conference organizers led a caravan of three cars to get the speakers to the Centre from our hotel in the historic district. Here is the entrance to the building.

Surprising to me was the fact that we were surrounded by middle-class high-rise apartment buildings in all directions, seemingly built in the unfortunate function-as-form era of the 1950s and 60s.

I discussed this puzzling location with some of the French scholars at the conference. Malraux was a national hero, the Minister of Culture as well as a celebrated novelist. He wanted culture in France to extend to ordinary neighborhoods and not be limited to elite enclaves in major cities and apparently such Centres are located in comparable locations throughout France.

I can sympathize with this political goal for government funding of the arts, but the French told me that the Centres have been less than successful at involving those local communities in the planning and administration of the Centres' activities. I noted that tourists would be unlikely to venture to outlying neighborhoods, and it was unfortunate that the Centres did not seem to be actively engaging the local communities either.

This Centre is a marvelous facility, with sunny, spacious galleries, meeting rooms, and a newly-renovated theatre where we saw two contemporary dance performances. Here is the cafe area where we enjoyed superb espresso during breaks outside the room where our conference sessions were held.

Speakers for the opening day were Roger Pouivet, the conference organizer, and director of the Archives Poincare (standing, back right); Catherine Z. Elgin of Harvard; Catherine Kintzler, Universite de Lille III, and Fabrice Louis, Nancy-Universite.

This is an exceptionally well-organized conference. The scheduling gave us the luxury of time to discuss papers in depth. Philosophy and dance is such a specialized area, it is rare to be in the same room with so many scholars who share my passion for these issues. The speakers also had leisurely buffet luncheons and dinners together, also at the Centre, allowing even more time for extended discussions.

Some papers were presented in English, others in French. In most cases, the French papers were translated into English and distributed to the audience, so we could follow along, and the French scholars were sufficiently fluent to field questions in English.

The evening performance, also at the Centre, was an American contemporary choreographer working in France, Mark Tompkins' Song and Dance. Before the performance, there was a showing of a film about the American post-modern choreographer Merce Cunningham.

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Musée and more

2008-05-21T07:02:00.000-07:00

My priority this morning was visiting the Musée des beaux-arts on Place Stanislas. Its collection spans several centuries of European art, with pieces by Rodin, Picasso, Monet, and many other familiar names.

It occupies one of the beautiful historic buildings on the square.

Once inside, you realize it has a huge modern addition not visible from the square. Here's a peek at it through the gates.

The lobby is quite beautiful.

These are the grand stairs inside the lobby.

The Opera House is opposite the Museum. This is the entrance on the side street entering the plaza. I was intrigued with the program for the most reason season, which include Les Noces by Bronislava Nijinska, Vaslav's sister. I saw that work decades ago and would love to see it again someday.

Little streets, little cars. I haven't seen a gas station here to check out the prices, but great gas mileage would ease the pain regardless.

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Walking around Nancy

2008-05-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

It was sunny today - great for a walking tour of Nancy, a city of just over 300,000 steeped in history.

The central highlight of the city is Place Stanislas, a huge, beautiful square ringed with architectural gems designed in the 18th century, outdoor cafes, and museums. In the center is a statue of Stanislas Leszczynski, a deposed King of Poland and father-in-law of Louis XV.

The gloriously filigreed gold gates at each corner and entrances are stunning.

This is the Cafe Foy at the southwest corner of Place Stanislas, where I had lunch today with the conference organizer and a doctoral student specializing in philosophy and dance. This is one of the more specialized areas of aesthetics, and it's always great fun talking with academics who share my passion for the artform.

I ordered Quiche Lorraine. Nancy is in the Lorraine region, what else! It was fabulous. I was surprised that my hosts were not familiar with Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, where so many Americans learned how to make that quiche and much more.

South of Place Stanislas I spotted this ambitious trompe l'oiel on the side of some commercial buildings.

A sleek tram line cuts through the city. Great public transportation is not limited to large cities in Europe.

More beautiful gates frame the entrance to the Place de la Carriere, once used for cavalry drills, now linking Palais Ducal and Place Stanislas.

North of Place Stanislas is the Palais Ducal, tracing to the 13th century, although it was damaged and restored several times. It now houses the Historical Museum of Lorraine.

Northwest of the Palais Ducal is the L'église des Cordeliers, a church dating from the 15th century and the burial site for the dukes of Lorraine.

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Train to Nancy

2008-05-19T11:26:00.000-07:00

Today I took the high-speed TGV train from Paris east to Nancy, the site of the conference. The trip only took 90 minutes, on incredibly smooth tracks. Why don't we have trains like this in the U.S.?

Here are several TGV trains waiting at Gare d'est to leave for eastern France. My train was almost full, not just with tourists, but with many business people. The train itself is as nice as any jetliner -- actually, nicer!

The University is hosting the conference speakers at a beautiful little hotel tucked onto a side street. It apparently was a lovely townhouse long ago, and it is filled with historic touches, marble staircases, and elegant old furniture - along with free wifi and flatscreen cable TV in all the rooms.

Here is my view of the interior garden from an upper floor. No lift, alas.

Here is one of the interior hallways. It's even prettier in person.

It rained this afternoon, but I went for a little walk. This is the Porte de la Craffe, from the 14th century, part of the fortifications of the medieval city.

How authentically French is this! An outdoor cafe and a pastry shop where I picked up some mini-quiches and pastry.

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Shoah Memorial

2008-05-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

Last fall, I was fascinated with the way in which Europeans are still coming to terms with their history. Only in recent years have the files of the secret police of the Communists and the Nazis been opened for review in the nations of the former Warsaw Pact (including the Slovak and Czech Republics).

In France, it is astonishing that it took 50 years after the end of World War II for the French government to officially acknowledge that the Vichy French government in that era had collaborated with the Nazis to send 76,000 French Jews to their deaths in the concentration camps of Europe.

In 2005, then-French President Jacques Chirac opened the new Shoah Memorial in Paris, an extraordinary museum of the history of the Jews in France and also of the Holocaust in WWII. Visiting the Memorial was a priority for me today.

The outside wall of the Memorial lists the names of the "Righteous among the Nations," persons in France who tried to help the Jews escape the Nazis.

The entrance is on rue Geoffroy-l'Asnier. Those bars around the outside garden create a walled-in feeling of being in prison.

Admission is free, but security is very tight, with x-ray screening of everything you are carrying, metal detectors, and hand-held wands to search everybody. Even the exit process was high-security, with guards and a two-step series of locking gates, presumably to prevent suicide bombers from slipping in the exit gates. Such a sad commentary on our times!

That outdoor garden has a cylinder engraved with the names of all the concentration camps, designed to evoke the chimneys of the camps.

Sculptor A. Blatas created a series of reliefs on the wall depicting scenes of the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis.

This is the Wall of Names, with inscriptions for all the French Jews murdered by the Nazis.

Cameras are not allowed in the large museum, on several levels, telling the story of the history of the Jews in France and the Holocaust throughout Europe. Extensive documentation with photos, films, artifacts, and documents are displayed very powerfully on several levels underground.

The Memorial is located on a side street just north of the Seine and south of the Marais district. The closest Metro stops are St. Paul and Point Marie.

The English-language web site: http://www.memorialdelashoah.org/getHomeAction.do?langage=en

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l'Opéra Bastille

2008-05-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

It rained off and on today, but I wanted to get a quick look at the new opera house, l'Opéra Bastille, which opened in 1989. No ballet there either this weekend.

Here is a view of the building from across the Place de la Bastille, a busy place with numerous outdoor cafes, a farmer's market, and lots of visitors, despite the weather.

Overhead awnings sheltered diners (including me) during the rain. Smoking is banned in all restaurants now, so those sheltered outdoor areas are a final respite for the nicotine-addicted.

Here is a view with the so-called July column built to honor the victims of the 1830 revolution in France.

The English-language web site for the Opera: http://www.operadeparis.fr/visites/index.asp?lng=en

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Paris Opera

2008-05-17T23:42:00.000-07:00

The historic Paris Opera house in the center of town is swarming with tourists this time of year. Opened in 1875, this huge neo-Baroque theatre is a major tourist attraction.

It was impossible to get a clear shot of the building, with so many tourists and tour buses swarming the site.

I could not get inside the theatre itself, as a rehearsal was underway, but did get a glimpse of the grand staircase.

Here's a view of the elegant lobby.

The architect Charles Garnier is honored with this statue on the west side of the building.

The little street behind the Opera House is named Place Diaghilev, a tribute to the great impressario who brought Russian ballet to the west a century ago.

According to this sign in the lobby, the Opera House will host an exciting range of ballet performances in the coming season. Alas, nothing is on this weekend while I'm in town.

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Nijinsky's theatre

2008-05-17T22:57:00.001-07:00

It's ironic that the hotel where Carrie and Alexander stayed in Paris in Sex and the City is just one block east of an historic theatre, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. This is the site of the world premiere in 1913 of the musical score by Igor Stravinsky with the ballet by Vaslav Nijinsky, Le Sacre du Printemps. The company was the legendary Ballet Russe de Diaghilev.

The audience was so unhappy with the new work that they reportedly threw rotten tomatoes on the stage, although it's unclear which they hated more - the music or the choreography. After a few performances, the ballet disappeared from repertory, although the music survived. To this day, dance historians have labored to reconstruct the choreography.

Here's an exterior view of the theatre, located on Avenue Montaigne, just east of Place de L'Alma and a short block north of the Seine.

I couldn't get inside the theatre itself, but here is the elegant lobby, which appears to be of historic vintage.

The character Carrie Bradshaw and the real life actress Sarah Jessica Parker are serious balletomanes, and Mikhail Baryshnikov, who played her boyfriend, is often compared to Nijinsky. Is it really a coincidence that the producers of the HBO series chose the hotel next-door to this historic theatre?

Here's the Theatre's web site: http://www.theatrechampselysees.fr/

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Sex and la Cité

2008-05-17T22:51:00.000-07:00

The movie version of Sex and the City opens May 30 in the U.S. and May 28 here in Paris. As any lover of the HBO series knows, Carrie Bradshaw spent two episodes in the final year living in Paris with her boyfriend Alexander Petrovsky, played by the great dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov.

I saw these advertising signs for the film all over Paris. I took this a few blocks to the west of the hotel where Carrie stayed. She would have had this spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower. Several elegant sidewalk cafes are out of view on the right.

The Hotel where Carrie stayed with Alexander was the Plaza Athénée on Avenue Montaigne, just east of the Place de l'Alma. The nearest Metro stop is Alma Marceau. The Seine is a block to the south.

When I asked the bellboys standing in front if location shots were filmed in the lobby, too, they smiled and rolled their eyes. I was obviously not the first tourist to visit the site.

This is the check-in desk in the small, but elegant lobby that appears in the HBO series.

One of the bellboys offered to take my picture in the lobby. Here I am looking very un-French with my Burberry coat and Coach bag.

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Energy innovation

2008-05-17T22:33:00.000-07:00

I have been paying about $4.00/gallon for gas in the U.S. and energy conservation is once again a hot topic. The French have mastered so many energy-wise approaches to life that we have yet to grasp.

Excellent public transportation gets people out of their cars. Gare de l'est in Paris is the departure station for the high-speed TGV trains leaving for eastern France. I'll be on one of these in a few days for the trip to Nancy.

The taxis outside the train station are much smaller than you see in the U.S. But unlike their Slovak counterparts that I saw last fall, they leave the engines idling while they wait. The Slovaks turn off the engines, and push the cabs forward, an energy saver I have never seen anywhere else.

Motorcycles seem to be everywhere, zipping in and out of traffic and getting, presumably, great gas mileage. Special parking areas are available all over Paris.

The city of Paris is trying to encourage more bicycle-riding for short trips in the city. These rental bikes can be picked up in one place and left at another. I saw these all over the city, although it takes a fair amount of courage to ride a bike in the French traffic here.

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Paris in the springtime

2008-05-16T16:03:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Paris today, to spend a few days sightseeing before heading to the conference in Nancy. I have visited Paris before, so I've seen the famous tourist sites. No ballet performances while I'm here, so I want to focus this time on some sites important in dance history. I also want to look at some things that caught my attention in Slovakia last fall -- energy efficiency, remembrances of World War II, influences of American culture.

I left Los Angeles Thursday afternoon. The jammed waiting area was for a nonstop KLM 747 flight to Amsterdam, and my 777 wide-body Air France flight to Paris.

My impression was that the tourists were overwhelmingly Europeans returning home from a cheap vacation in the U.S., taking advantage of the weak dollar against their currencies. The Euro is going for $1.56 as I leave the U.S. Ouch!

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Travel Plans

2008-05-04T06:06:00.000-07:00

I am very fortunate to be presenting papers at two academic conferences in Europe this summer. This blog will post information and photos of my travels for family and friends.

I am an invited speaker at a conference in May on "Esthetique de la danse: Ontologie, cognition, émotion" in Nancy, France. The conference web site: http://centremalraux.com/redirect.php?unevar=3&idprog=1051

In June, I will present a paper at a conference on Everyday Aesthetics in Lahti, Finland, sponsored by the International Institute of Applied Aesthetics (IIAA). The conference web site: http://www.helsinki.fi/jarj/iiaa/engindex.html

I tried mightily to figure out how to add visits in central Europe, especially to Bratislava, Slovakia, where I had such an extraordinary experience last fall as a Fulbright scholar. Alas, commitments at home in California made that impossible this summer. Hopefully, next year! For my blog on the Fulbright: http://vancampfulbright.blogspot.com/