Welcome on our blog !

Dear teacher and classmates,

As explained during the English class, our project for this semester is about the exhibition "From One Revolution to Another" ("D’une revolution à l’autre"), curated by the artist Jeremy Deller at Le Palais de Tokyo. Your answers to our questionnaire showed that you would be interested in visiting this exhibition with us. This outing will take place on Friday, 12th December, 2009 at 6 pm after the class.

By the way, we can tell you more about the organization of this event. Thinking of you and guided by the original shape of the exhibition, we decided to avoid the classic “guided tour” which could be exhausting. Actually, our aim is to point some details in order that you construct your interpretation by yourself. That is why we have prepared a playful quiz that we will give you on the spot. Furthermore, we are preparing audio files, that you will be able to download in few days. These podcasts will give you more indications by our own voices.

Through this first contact by our blog, we also take the opportunity to introduce you to the way we will use it. This blog will serve as an interface between you and us. Indeed, we will post articles related to the social, historical and cultural background of this unusual exhibition. In your turn, you will have the possibility to enrich the content of the blog by writing comments, notably with your feed-back after the visit of the exhibition. It should be a productive way to share ideas. And we are sure that topics like popular culture and cultural revolution would inspire you!

We would be glad to see you in great number at Le Palais de Tokyo!

Let’s make this blog alive!

Laura, Romain, Emilie, Anna and Aurélien.

All that is solid melts into air

This title is a quotation from the Communist Manifest which evokes the capacity of capitalism to adaptation. It is not necessary to explain what do this Manifest have to do with the concept of the revolution and how it is associated with the industrial development…

The collection embraces the period since the beginning of the industrial revolution in England in 1760. One part of the documents witnesses the enthusiasms linked to the development. Another part presents (like Adam Curtis’s documentaries) the process of decline which was rather extended. Social mutations and crises it has produced still apparent until nowadays. This section evokes possible links between the industrial revolution and the musical production. In Great Britain the rock music appears at the moment of decline of the industrial development, so it can be interpreted as its natural consequence.





The part consecrated to the city of Manchester embodies this relation of transition. Once being a symbol of the industrial revolution in England, Manchester became a center of rock and punk music. Other significant examples are the genealogy of the rock singer and photographs of Adrian Street who was a miner’s son who chose to become a professional catcher. In JD’s opinion, the photo of this man, clothed as a travesty, and his father in a mine is a real provocation!

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