20 September
Imagine walking along a wide path beside the Seine, towards the Eiffel Tower 
Imagine now, that the buildings disappear, to be replaced by a thick glass fence, metres and metres high and long, long, long, behind which grasses, ferns and other relatively non-Parisian growth flourish on little hillocks - well, it’s not flat, anyway. Oh and look! Above the gardens, on piles, is a building. Long, dark, not square and with an interesting system of pseudo-shutters to tame the light. Not as complex as those of the Musée du Monde Arabe but effective enough when you are inside.
Imagine now, that the buildings disappear, to be replaced by a thick glass fence, metres and metres high and long, long, long, behind which grasses, ferns and other relatively non-Parisian growth flourish on little hillocks - well, it’s not flat, anyway. Oh and look! Above the gardens, on piles, is a building. Long, dark, not square and with an interesting system of pseudo-shutters to tame the light. Not as complex as those of the Musée du Monde Arabe but effective enough when you are inside.
The feeling is that the designer of this new museum (Jean Nouvel, who once had an exhibition in his honour in Wellington
Let us choose the collections. Another curving path will take us up and away. Transparencies accompany us, perhaps some of the peoples we will be relating to, or some thoughts, or we may even have to walk through waves projected onto the floor. Now that IS a rather weird feeling. Not a straight line to be seen, not even in the hand-rail. And the light changes. We enter what is almost a tunnel, but actually just a corridor with subdued lighting. We come into the light, not bright, just brighter than dim and find ourselves still in a land removed from the everyday. The walls that delineate the sections are much more akin to an earth bank than a wall as we know it.
The first section (the visit has a direction) is Oceania , and for the Antipodean, this is probably the most interesting. The number of museums from all over the world that contributed to these collections is stunning and the variety of exhibits far wider than we are used to seeing. Starting with New Guinea and a number of exhibits from various ‘men’s houses’, we wend our way through a large number of other Pacific islands and other significant rituals or possessions, including a cloak and tiki (and other items) from NZ and some large paintings of Dreamings from Australia.
Not just glass-encased exhibits, either. There are lots of little screens where you can watch videos or a sort of power-point projection related to the culture. There are some innovative technologies too, like a hemispherical model of the Pacific with, for example, simulations of the sea currents and winds of the Pacific. Later on you can follow the voyages of the early Pacific explorers from France and England
Asia has its own section, as do Africa and the Americas
Because of the Rugby World Cup there are many special events about the participating countries and the roof has been made into a rugby field. I didn’t see it but there are photos. On the TV news I saw a short film of the haka being taught to a large class of enthusiasts. 
The bookshop is specialising in books about rugby and the windows have displays of several rugby players, including a New Zealander but my photo isn’t very good. There are two big ‘photos’ (digital images, anyway) relating to rugby or Maoridom – La bataille des nobles sauvages by Greg Semu, who was artist-in-residence over the summer, and All Blacks liés par le sang, 4 metres long, presented by the All Blacks to the museum in November 2006 to mark the centenary of the first All Black-France test match. Let us leave aside the blood and DNA of the players being incorporated in the varnish. It has been nicely sterilised and presents no risk to the viewer…
The bookshop is specialising in books about rugby and the windows have displays of several rugby players, including a New Zealander but my photo isn’t very good. There are two big ‘photos’ (digital images, anyway) relating to rugby or Maoridom – La bataille des nobles sauvages by Greg Semu, who was artist-in-residence over the summer, and All Blacks liés par le sang, 4 metres long, presented by the All Blacks to the museum in November 2006 to mark the centenary of the first All Black-France test match. Let us leave aside the blood and DNA of the players being incorporated in the varnish. It has been nicely sterilised and presents no risk to the viewer…
Anything that really stands out? Yes, and I couldn’t find it again to show Alex later in the day! A garment, a kind of coat, made out of salmon skins, treated in some manner. It was just beautiful, a light blue, and you really had to look hard to see the fishy origin. I looked for it in Americas but I guess it must be in Asia . Oh well. Next time perhaps. No photos allowed inside at all. But there are some of the outside.
Photos
