| Description | FOUR
Street entertainers and audience. Postle in the piazza. His VO says his initial reaction to the building was shock and disbelief, but that he quickly responded to its drama. View from a rising lift. Postle likes "the sound of the place": noise of crowds, birdsong, etc., but worries about its use. He gives as examples the "Forum" exhibit, and a man polishing metalwork by hand; "lavish but uninspired" exhibits such as one sponsored by an oil company; problems with accessing the picture storage system; the over-protected Yves Klein canvas; an exhibition of photographs of a Spanish gallery. Bastille Day parade. Postle compares expression of young soldiers with those of some of Beaubourg administration whom he describes as "shut down"; "polite", "bland" exhibitions suggesting government intervention. Rogers thinks the building is becoming a "political arm of the government", resulting in inflexibility. Postle’s VO commenting on the lack of sufficient seating for visitors. Street entertainer performing as a mechanical doll. Paris-Berlin exhibition; in one exhibit, "the pain and horror of war was being used to provide the ingredients for decoration". Young people demonstrating in the piazza against "government bullying". Once-shocking images "now museumised behind glass", while contemporary anger appears in drawings in the piazza which are often confiscated by the police. Jean Battellier says people are not protected from police harassment. Postle suggests that the only freedom the Centre offers is "freedom from surprise". Interior shots intercut with views of a street mime tackling "an invisible barrier". Gallery selling posters. Crowds in the Beaubourg shop. "Culture as a consumable commodity." Renault hoarding on the side of the Centre; signage outside. Rogers describing the idea of audio-visual screens that were to have connected activities inside with those outside, and both with events outside Paris, an idea that never came about because of official concerns about "control". Building and piazza. Postle’s VO describing the Centre as a "reminder of the difference between culture and art"; "art seduces, culture bullies". Street entertainers and graffiti embodying "resistance". Credits. |
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