Paris, France — Pataphysics. Not your average everyday word. But it has wended its way into an exhibition currently underway at the Musée Carnavalet-Histoire de Paris museum which traces the history of Paris from pre-historic times to the present. Entitled Philippe Starck, Paris is Pataphysical., the show explores Paris through the eyes of the iconic, world renowned designer. Pataphysics is defined as the science of imaginary solutions. The show in the temporary exhibition space of this vast museum which has been recently restored and refurbished takes the visitor on a tour through Paris through the eyes of Philippe Starck. « Paris is only a vast set decor for an opera. And all of that is obviously a fantasy, » comments Philippe Starck in a lead up to the exhibition. 

His tour of Paris re-visits tourist sites as he imagines them, like the Eiffel Tower and a journey through the tunnel beneath the Canal Saint-Martin; a seat of power the Elysée Palace (the bedroom he designed for First lady Danielle Mitterrand) and the Bain-Douches nightclub for example. The elements — wind, water — are observed as well as dreams and nightmares. There is a mysterious wax figure surrounded by mist (actually the statue of Starck in the city’s wax museum, the Grévin), an intriguing fox chimera waiting in a corner and evoking the Caffé Stern in the 19th century Passage des Panoramas, a project to retrace the course of the Seine River through Paris turning it into a sea port, an extract from the film La Tour, offering up an intriguing, somewhat harrowing view  of the Eiffel Tower. Starck explains that the summit of the Eiffel Tower is constantly moving because of the wind or the heat. Recycled materials have been used throughout the show reflecting Starck’s commitment to sustainability. This journey navigating between the real and the imaginary is running until August 27th. ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette. https://www.carnavalet.paris.fr/en