On Saturday, May 18, 2024, the Musée Départemental Albert-Kahn will be taking part in the new edition of the Nuit des Musées (Night of Museums ), with a special program for the evening! It's an opportunity to discover this unique site by night, and spend an evening in a museum garden. If the name doesn't ring a bell, this banker and philanthropist created a company, Archives de la Planète, and employed dozens of photographers from 1900 to 1931 to immortalize the jewels of the world. They produced more than 72,000 magnificent color photos, known as autochromes, and some 100 hours of video on 35 mm nitrate film.
Why are we telling you all this? Because this collection is housed in Boulogne-Billancourt, in the banker's former residence built by landscape architect Achille Duchêne! Here, the businessman thought big and commissioned the creation of 6 magnificent gardens representing the art of gardening. Covering more than 4 hectares, they include a French garden, a Japanese garden with its tea pavilion, an English garden, a Vosges forest, a blue forest with its central marsh and a golden forest with its birch trees.
Musée départemental Albert-Kahn: the travel and photography collection
Head to the Albert-Kahn Museum to discover its newly renovated spaces. An opportunity to discover the new setting in which the philanthropist's collections are exhibited. [Read more]
"Natures vivantes, images et imaginaires des jardins d'Albert Kahn" highlights the philanthropist-banker's passion for plants.
Based on a proposal by photography historian and curator Luce Lebart, the exhibition will bring together nearly 200 autochrome photographs from the museum's collections, many of them previously unseen, as well as films, archive documents and historical and contemporary works, including creations by guest artists.
Discover the temporary exhibition, "Natures Vivantes", which highlights Albert Kahn's passion for the plant world.
On this tour, explore the convergence of science, cinema, color and poetry in a Japanese-inspired context, highlighting horticulture and a passion for gardening.
As a family, use the principle of transparency of the autochromes from Archives de la Planète to create photophores with recycled materials.
Cut and paste to liven up European Museum Night!
"While searching for images, a record sleeve intrigued me: against a white background, seated in a circle, a quintet of musicians dressed in black play for a large fern. There was no name of artist, orchestra or group, just the title Music For Your Plants, written in green capitals in serif typography.
I realized that there were several records of this kind, dating back to the 1970s.
What was this music for plants?"
In this lecture-performance, Stéphane Degoutin takes us on a journey of discovery of a musical genre apart, designed for the healthy development of plants. Scientific studies seeking to prove the sensitivity of plants is one of the themes addressed in the exhibition Natures vivantes, images et imaginaires des jardins d'Albert-Kahn.
Set up in the greenhouse of the Musée Départemental Albert-Kahn, come and listen to these unique sounds.
Reading-performance by Marcelline Delbecq and discussion moderated by Adrien Genoudet.
What traces do places retain of the events that took place there? In what form do the soil, trees and buildings retain the mismatch between the times that take place there? What does a film shot without any intention of being edited or shown, and now in the public domain, preserve of a family memory that has entirely vanished?
Marcelline Delbecq combines an autochrome image from Albert Kahn's Archives de la Planète with her own words.
Dates and Opening Time
On May 18th, 2024
Location
Albert-Kahn Museum
2 rue du port
92100 Boulogne Billancourt
Prices
Free
Official website
albert-kahn.hauts-de-seine.fr
Musée départemental Albert-Kahn: the travel and photography collection
