A dose of Asian culture in Nice

Today was yet another glorious, sunny day on the French Riviera. The original idea had been to go skiing, but alas, we had a bit of a lie-in, so decided to do something else. Why not a bit of culture ? We'd driven past the Musee des Arts Asiatiques near Nice airport the other day, and reflected upon the fact that we'd not been there for quite some time. So, we decided to head over there.

As the weather was magnificent, we decided to cycle down there. What better way to get there, than cycling by the beautiful Med ? So, off we went, on our velo bleus. The museum itself is a pretty cool architectural feat, designed by the Japanese architect Kenzo Tange (who's probably most famous for his peace memorial in Hiroshima). It's a very Japanese structure, with very simply and pure forms, blending in perfectly with the adjacent pond, which the museum shares with Parc Phoenix.

There were two exhibitions on, apart from the rather small, but interesting, permanent collection (that we'd already checked out). On the bottom floor, there was a rather interesting exhibition depicting the history of theatre in Asia through history, leading up to Mata Hari (what does a World War I spy got to do with any of this? She performed oriental dances...). The exhibition was rather excellent, showcasing beautiful costumes, mostly from India, China and Japan. So now we know the difference between Peking Opera, Bunraku (Japanese puppet theatre), No (traditional Japanese theatre) and Kabuki (a more popular, "light-weight" kind of theatre...). Interesting stuff, really!

On the top floor, there was a pretty cool exhibition on the works of Kinji Isobe, a Japanese artist who works with Washi, a type of Japanese paper (Wa means Japanese, Shi paper in Japanese). Making the paper is a rather laborious and manual process (actually the paper and the process of making it is a Unesco Intangible Heritage "object"), and results in a paper that's rougher but also sturdier than ordinary paper. Kinji makes good use of the paper, I particularly liked his panoramic depiction of a forest.

All in all, a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon! And what's best, the museum is free!