By Aixcentric You may be interested in the new space opened in the Fort Saint-Jean in July. It’s called the Galerie des Officiers, the arcaded section you can see in the photo.  Each of 5 small rooms has a short film on an aspect of the history of the Fort Saint-Jean, and with …

By Aixcentric: Most museums have massive amounts of ‘stuff’ filed, heaped, mounded away in archives, basements and warehouses. The question is: what do they do with it all? It really is an issue. Marseille’s MuCEM inherited the contents of the Musée National des Arts et Traditions Populaires in Paris and now …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: Ai Weiwei and Marseille This is a highly political show – highly personal too. Much is about the artist’s relationship with his father (Ai Qing) whose ship from Shanghai back in 1929 docked right next to where MuCEM is today. Indeed it was France that inspired …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: Just announced, an exhibition of the work of Ai Weiwei, opening at MuCEM on June 20th in Marseille. Having seen his show at the Royal Academy in London last year, I expect it will be stimulating and baffling…but unmissable.  According to MuCEM, they will be adding …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: MuCEM re-opens with its expo Picasso, Un Genie Sans Piedestal: Picasso et les Arts et Traditions Populaires’ which is well worth a visit. Presented with the support of the Musee Picasso-Paris, along with other international loans, the show has 270 works …Continue reading here for details and …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: This really is one of MuCEM’s more esoteric offerings which we found a little baffling. The first few rooms are devoted to how the country was mapped, and some of the beautifully precise work by various draughtsmen. The commentary (English panels as well as French) explains …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: Practically everyone you talk to thinks that MuCEM is a thrilling building, in a wonderful site on the Mediterranean, brilliantly linked to Fort St Jean and the Panier; but how is it doing? Is it attracting visitors in sufficient numbers now that the hullabulloo of …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: …some interesting exhibitions are listed for the coming months – and indeed the next few years. The current show ‘Migrations Divines’ is on until November 16th. It focuses on 3 centres of civilisation around the Mediterranean – Egypt, Greece and Rome – and looks at …

By aixcentric What a great idea – 640 tonnes of sand to be dumped on the MUCEM esplanade to make a big beach for the summer. It will be open all day for walks, picnics at shaded tables, pétanque games, Ping-Pong and, on Sundays, dances. There will also be workshops …

By aixcentric That’s the question posed by the new exhibition ‘Lieux Saints Partagés’ at MUCEM. All around the Mediterranean, populations are either Christian, Muslim or Jewish, each with their seemingly different religious observances, rituals and places of worship. This exhibition argues that there are far greater commonalities between them than …