3 March

• Exhibition: The Art of Being a Man
  From October 15th 2009 to July 11th 2010. Africa. Oceania.
  Head Curators: Christiane Falgayrettes-Leveau and Anne Van Cutsem-Vanderstraete.
  Exhibition conceived and organized by the Museé Dapper. It features around 150 works, mostly unpublished, and belonging to the finest public or private collections. As an opening act, there will be a rubric on the contemporary universe with the Sape.
  More information in French: http://www.dapper.com.fr/exposition-en-cours.php

• Exhibition: “The City Drawn”. Architecture and the Comic strip
  From June 9th to November 28th 2010. Paris (France)
  The exhibition “The City Drawn” in 1000 m2, offers the public in general, or reminds the interpreters of comic strips of the complex relationships that connect the comic strip and architecture. From its origins, comics extract part of their universe from the imaginary suggested by cities. The city can even become a character with its proper right. Let’s remember iconic albums such as “The Yellow Mark” from E.P. Jacobs (1953), where the foggy docks of London are much more than just a setting. The exhibition will approach many aspects of the interpretation of the city in the comic strip. The observation will be done in a chronological order, from the beginnings of the XX century to our current time with the presentation of specific projects that still remain to be finished. This chronology will be disrupted by references to the metropolis, places of all the imaginaries, such as New York, Paris or Tokyo. The exhibition will also point out the existing affiliations and affinities among authors from different generations.
  More information in French: http://www.citechaillot.fr/exposition/expositions_temporaires.php?id=139

• Exhibition: Artists of Abomey. Paris (France)
  From Tuesday, November 10th 2009 to Sunday, January 31st 2010
  In collaboration with Joseph Adandé, art historian at the University of Abomey-Calavi and Léonard Ahonon, manager and conservationist of the site of the Royal Palaces of Abomey. This exhibition presents the artists of the Kingdom of Danhome (1600-1894) in present-day Benin through 82 works and 8 old graphic documents. It also aims at presenting its works while questioning their role and status within current Danhome society, and more specifically, in the capital of Abomey. Indeed, the artists, chosen by the king, enjoyed great privileges while being simultaneously constrained by their allegiance to the monarch. The exhibition will explore the different functions of art in Abomey through its creations.
  More information in French: http://www.quaibranly.fr/fr/programmation/expositions/expositions-passees/artistes-dabomey.html

• Solidarity with Haiti. The Quai Branly Museum. Paris (France)
  As a result of the dramatic earthquake that devastated Port Prince and its region in January 12th of 2010, the Quai Branly Museum wishes to express its solidarity with Haiti through symbolic actions and it also shows its commitment to a cooperation policy for the conservation and reconstruction of its Cultural Heritage in collaboration with the Haitian professionals.
  More information in French: http://www.quaibranly.fr/fr/actualites/solidarite-avec-haiti.html

2 March

• Museum of Pontevedra (Spain), First Phase / UP Arquitectos
  Amplify or build a new building. What is the critical mass that converts the former into the latter? From the outset we understood that the building to be rehabilitated (the old school in C/Sarmiento, located in the historic centre of Pontevedra) should be completed with a construction that made it a unit, in a new block of the city. But such was the importance of the program required, around 10,500 m2, that it was truly difficult to balance said construction with that which existed already. And if the project were to be divided in parts, which, like a balance, gravitate around a public communication space? And what if this new element were to be an opportunity for the city? Balancing the strengths and urban nature, the gift of the Project: conserving the trees and their prolongation towards the urban area establishes a walkway through the block’s interior and joins the broadest route through the narrow streets merged with park areas of the historic center...
  More information: http://www.archdaily.com/49983/museum-of-pontevedra-first-phase-up-arquitectos/

• May 10th 2010: Annual Day for the Remembrance of Slave Trade, Slavery and its Abolition
  In January 30th of 2006, the President of the French Republic announced the fixed date to commemorate the “Remembrance of Slavery and Slave trading”: the date of May 10th was chosen to coincide with the anniversary date when the Taubira law was passed in 2001. This law, unanimously passed in the Senate, declares slave trade and slavery crimes against humanity. Mr. Jacques Chirac manifested the willingness of France to face its history-as well as that of the majority of the greatest European powers-in a speech addressed to the Committee for the Remembrance of Slavery.
  More information in French: http://www.quaibranly.fr/fr/actualites/journee-annuelle-des-memoires-de-la-traite-de-l-esclavage-et-de-leurs-abolitions.html

• Homage to Claude Lévi-Strauss. Paris (France)
  Stéphane Martin, President of the Quai Branly Museum and the group of museum collaborators, wish to express their warmest condolences for the loss of the great anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, one of the greatest thinkers of the XX century.
  More information in French: http://www.quaibranly.fr/fr/actualites/hommage-a-claude-levi-strauss.html

1 March

• UNESCO provides assistance in preserving Haitian documentary heritage
  As an outcome of a staff mission to Haiti to ascertain the immediate needs in the area of communication and information while avoiding overlaps with initiatives being implemented by other partners, UNESCO has provided emergency funding to undertake protective actions to safeguard endangered documentary items. The funds will enable the National Archives to relocate some of the most endangered documents from its damaged Bicentenaire Building to boxes as a protective measure. The transfer of these documents will enable the Archives to recommence some of its vital work relating to the management of civil status and registry documents. The funds will also permit the Archives to receive governmental records from some of the Ministries and other public institutions that collapsed following the earthquake in January.
  More information: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=29582&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

26 February

• Cardiff Castle's Firing Line celebrates 300 years of the Welsh soldier. Cardif (United Kingdom)
  A new £1.8 million exhibition has opened at Cardiff Castle to celebrate the last 300 years of the Welsh military. Firing Line is a collaboration between The 1st Queen's Dragoon Guards, The Royal Welsh and the local council, aimed at providing a modern gallery to take over the entire lower floor of the Interpretation Centre at the Castle. "Our aim is to tell the story of the Welsh soldier over the last 300 years, from the creation of the two regiments, through the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 when both regiments fought together up to Iraq and Afghanistan today,” explained Christopher Dale, Museum Director of Firing Line. "We have a mix of historical information, exhibits, a programme of living history events and hands-on activities to give our visitors an understanding of why ordinary people are prepared to do extraordinary things and carry out outstanding acts of bravery." A highlight of the new museum, which is packed with artefacts and human stories, is the story of the nine men of the 24th Regiment of Foot who were awarded Victoria Crosses for their defence of the supply depot at Rorke's Drift in 1879.
  More information: http://www.culture24.org.uk/history+%26+heritage/war+%26+conflict/art76342

23 February

• Contemplating the void: MAD - "State Fair Guggenheim" New York (USA)
  Another proposal for “Contemplating the void”. Entitled “State Fair Guggenheim”, the proposal by Chinese firm MAD uses a floating habitable balloon, located at the top of the void, to mediate between interior/exterior: “As the core of the museum, the spiraling rotunda inherits the classic relationship between human and the divine. The delicately glazed domed roof transforms the natural light into distilled radiance, allowing the visitors to feel the distance from the mystical, and reverence to the sublime. Wright designed the continuous ramp encouraging visitors to ascend, becoming closer to the light with each step; however, one would find himself bounded by the glass ceiling at the top of the ramp. The anti-climactic ending to this experience seems to hint at advancement to the future of this rotunda. ”
  More information: http://www.archdaily.com/50184/contemplating-the-void-mad/