eae bed (or ‘Sometimes | struggle to explain to my friends back home in New York what makes Paris such a wonderful place to live, Compared to the vibrant neighborhoods of my old town, its convenience and its late nights, Paris seems downright elderly. Itis a city that shuts down on Sunday, values politeness above all, and is still wary of such modern wonders as the internet. | was trying, unsuccessfully and inadequately, to illuminate the essence of this el- derly city to a friend of mine, and all | could say is, well, its the culture. Culture is, of course, something that every city possesses in heaps, but in Paris itis a priority, even more than po- liteness really. The town is, of course, famously aesthetic, and the attention to detall- to facades, to maintaining flowers throughout the winter, to keeping the city looking Parisian- i's all mind-blowing in comparison to the chang- ing, rag-tag New York streets. | was feeling an overwhelming gratitude towards this lovely city after attending the opening of La Force de I'Art, the triennial exhibition of contemporary art, all created by artists who have received funding from the French state. The show, uniting the work of 40 “resident” artists on a monolithic, white maze of a structure, is housed in the Grand Palais, and is complemented by performances and virtual art happening at famous sites throughout the city, taking over the Eiffel tower and more. The scope of the art is wide, from fearful to intimate, from anti-capitalist to commer- cial, ‘One giant sculpture tured out to be a 3-storey stack of posters, each with a picture of everyday life in China on it, put on a stick and rotating like a massive kebab roast. Visitors were invited to take one of the attached knives and cut away their own piece, thus destroying the peaceful life that existed there before capitalist enterprise rapidly changed the country. Indeed, many of the participating artists were not French-born at all, and the exhibition proved to be a collection representing many different world experiences, and not just a uniquely French one. The ‘only common denominator was that all of these artist receive a salary from the government to work on their art. I's a beautiful idea, one lost in United States since Robert Mapplethorpe proved too controversial for a government agency, but hopefully one that will return. Having such a grand exhibition to show off such a magnificent idea- society's commitment to the arts- is a reminder of the grandness of Parisian society, a place that seems old-fashioned, unchanging, and slow, but remains a con- stant home for art, for fashion, and for all manifestations of beauty and culture. | only found one piece in the whole exhibition that moved me- a giant, irregular, black, box that jumped about noisily and unevenly, evoking all kinds of Kafka-esque anxiety- but | was so mesmerized, so affected by this one, that | was immensely thankful that all these artists are able to work, and in Paris, we are lucky enough to see their work, by Laura Rysman