Paris - Cloud of Mist the Bourse de Commerce

A large cloud forms out of water mist in the rotunda

For our first day in Paris started with blue skies and temperatures in the low 20s. We made our way to the Palais Royal, and from there walked to the Bourse de Commerce (Commodities Exchange), which holds the Pinault Collection.

We were lucky to catch the tail end of the Fujiko Nakaya show -- the only thing going on at the Bourse de Commerce.

Visitors being enveloped in the cloud

The 93-year-old Japanese artist is best know for her fog sculptures. They aren't sculptures per se, but art installations, where water droplets are spewed into the air and create cloud-like formations. In this case it is called "Cloud #07156."

Visitors had to wait in line before being allowed to enter the circular space designed by Tadao Ando. On the floor are rows of grates on the floor in the middle shaped like a square, and they are timed to shoot out the water droplets that move from one side of the room to the other, enveloping people in the mist as they sit.

After a few of these sprayings, which is exactly the same as water mists sprayed on vegetables in the supermarket, visitors are invited to stand up and take pictures, but not to stand too close to the grates.

Ando's design contrasts the building 

The whole thing lasted about 15 minutes. It was quite the experience to be enveloped in this way, and it reminded me of when I saw the Ryuchi Sakamoto exhibition in Tokyo, where the courtyard was filled with mist!

Interestingly, the fog sculpture don't seem to affect the paintings above it. They are four paintings by four different artists, depicting the trade France had with different countries and continents, like Asia, North America, Russia and the Mediterranean.

None of the artists had been to all these places, so they were stereotypical depictions of the people represented. The paintings were all painted on canvas before they were glued onto the circular wall.

The Bourse de Commerce has an interesting history in itself all the way to today.

Built in 1763-1767, the circular building was originally used to house grain, and later became a marketplace for residents to buy and sell food stuffs. It was an open air interior courtyard that was later enclosed with a wooden dome, one of the largest of its kind in Europe.

But in 1802 a fire destroyed the dome and it was later replaced with a copper frame with glass.

The paintings above depict trade with continents

In 1854 the Bourse de Commerce became a commodities exchange, buying and selling items like wheat, rye, oats, flour, sugar, oil, and alcohol. But then in 1998 with the ushering in of the age of the internet, market activity ended in the building, and was left abandoned.

In 2016, the then Mayor of Paris, Anne Hildago, offered Francois Pinault, one of the richest men in France, a 50-year lease of the Bourse de Commerce for his art collection for 15 million euros and yearly fees, to fund the renovation of the building, which was finally opened in 2021.

Pinault chose Japanese architect Tadao Ando to design a massive concrete cylinder inside the building at the cost of US$170 million. It was quite controversial because why did concrete cost that much and what would happen to the integrity of the building?

The double spiral staircase

But it turns out it's quite interesting, smooth concrete that has holes in it to display works of art, and down below in the basement level is a small auditorium where visitors can watch videos or presentations.

Bourse de Commerce

2 rue de Viarmes

75001 Paris

Tokyo: Artist Ryuichi Sakamoto Revered

Many people lined up to see this exhibition

Today was the last day of the Ryuichi Sakamoto: Seeing Sound, Hearing Time exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo and we managed to see it on the second last day. We had gotten tickets in advance so we were able to walk past the massive queue of people who were patiently waiting. They were mostly young people, and a few with young children and a handful of elderly.

My first introduction to the Japanese artist Sakamoto when he composed the soundtrack for The Last Emperor that came out in 1987. I was impressed by his work, and he indeed won an Academy Award for Best Original Score, the first Japanese composer to do so. 

Patterns made by vibrations

Other films he worked on include Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence, The Sheltering Sky, Little Buddha, and The Revenant. Sakamoto didn't look down on anything -- he also composed music for video games and anime. 

The next time I learned more about him was in 2019 when the restaurant Araki opened in Heritage 1881 in Tsim Sha Tsui. Funded by Richard Li, the Japanese restaurant was helmed by chef Mitsushiro Araki, who made the entire dining experience a performance.

As guests filed into the restaurant, he was already there, deftly breaking down a giant chunk of tuna.

I later learned that the wooden countertop in the restaurant was gifted to Araki by Sakamoto.

In 2014 Sakamoto was diagnosed with throat cancer, and took a year long break, which led to cancer going into remission. However, in early 2021 he was diagnosed with rectal cancer, though he continued to work, even giving what was to be his final performance, Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus in 2023 before he died that year on March 28.

So we attended the exhibition almost two years to the day of his death, which explains why so many people were at the museum. It seems the Japanese still revere him and want to continue paying their respects to him, much like how Hongkongers try to commemorate Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing's death on April 1.

Fog created by the water of immortality

The exhibition, Seeing Sound, Hearing Time, demonstrates Sakamoto's interest in combining music with technology, film and art and see where it goes. There were a few exhibits we were not allowed to film, but they seemed Daoist in nature.

Perhaps he was acutely aware of how much time he had left; one was a "film" where a poem was read out that suggested that life is like a dream. Another was a long horizontal video that showed lots of lines that eventually revealed a photograph, or a moving image of waves crashing onto rocks.

A small room had several photographs and videos group together that looked like an apartment -- was it Sakamoto's? But no one was there, though the kettle was on the stove, hot water boiling, the wind blowing leaves in another video, photographs of his music studio.

Meanwhile a large dark room had large square plexiglass suspended from the ceiling with water and smoke that was projected on the floor that showed different patterns of vibrations according to the music or sounds. 

Another room had a deconstructed piano that played random notes. But the final exhibit showed him performing at the piano when he was younger, and it is projected so that it looks like he is playing a real piano in front of us, the keys pressed down. It is as he wants us to remember him, younger, vibrant and expressive.

Sakamoto playing the piano

There was one exhibit that was interactive with visitors in the courtyard of the museum. At 20-minute intervals, people could interact with "fog", jets of water blown into the air to create "smoke", but really it's water.

The "fog" is the water of immortality, that is supposed to weave together with Sakamoto's music... the fog can be overwhelming, as at times you can't see anything, but you will be able to see people right in front of you. A few seconds later the fog subsides a bit, but the jets spray more water into the air again. For Hongkongers it could trigger the feeling of looking at tear gas, but it's not at all.

At the end, visitors can return inside and use paper towels to wipe themselves down if they so wish. How Japanese.

I'm glad I was able to see this exhibition, to learn more about Sakamoto and see how the Japanese still love him as an artist and want to be closer to him whenever possible.

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Seeing Sound, Hearing Time

Contemporary Museum of Art Tokyo

4-1-1 Miyoshi, Koto-ku

Tokyo