New Paris museum features items from Rapa Nui

Two recent articles discuss Paris's newest museum, the Musee du Quai Branly, which features artwork from Rapa Nui.

Sex, Birth, Death and God
An intriguing new museum in Paris helps explain Picasso's life-changing fascination with primal art.

By Christopher Dickey
Newsweek International
July 3-10, 2006 issue

Last week many of the pieces that first fascinated Picasso were revealed at the opening of the vast new Musée du Quai Branly on the banks of the Seine, along with thousands of other works from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. They make up the most spectacular permanent exhibition of non-Western art ever assembled: some 3,500 pieces are on display, with another 300,000 stored in the basement.

Read the full article:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13528596/site/newsweek/

The museum that Jacques built
By Robert Graham
Financial Times
Published: June 23 2006 10:44 Last updated: June 23 2006 10:44

Quai Branly has opted for a bold, eclectic mix of anthropology, ethnography and art history drawing on the collections of the two museums, which have now been closed. Inheriting such a huge store of objects - from a giant Easter Island sculpture to a store of 700,000 photographs - has led to a further innovation.

Read the full article:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/6a0e5832-01ba-11db-a141-0000779e2340.html

Visit the museum's website:
http://www.quaibranly.fr/index.php?id=accueil&L=1

New book parallels Rapa Nui with history of planet

Golden Phoenix Publications, a Washington State Registered, Privately Held Multi-Media Publisher, Announces Its First Book “Blue Planet & Beyond”
Press release

eMediaWire
Olympia, WA (PRWEB) June 22, 2006


Blue Planet & Beyond describes the history of Easter Island, from its geologic formation, through the period of massive stone-statue erection, to today’s efforts by Rapanui inhabitants to regenerate their society. Paralleling this discussion, the book recaps the formation of the Earth, the development of its living systems, and the role humanity plays - past, present, and future - in influencing the history of the planet.

Read the full piece:
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2006/6/emw402121.htm

More about the book:
http://www.lulu.com/content/328592

Pacific Princess World Cruise to visit Rapa Nui

Pacific Princess to Sail on World Cruise in 2008
102-Day Voyage Marks Princess' First Global Journey in More Than Five Years
Press release
PR Newswire

The vessel then heads across the Pacific to Easter Island and cruises by Pitcairn Island, before stops in Tahiti and Rarotonga.

Read the full piece:
http://sev.prnewswire.com/leisure-travel-hotels/20060612/LAM03612062006-1.html

New Zealand Green Party co-leader speaks about the lesson of Rapa Nui

Learning from Easter Island - crunch time for planet earth
Speech by Russel Norman, Green Party Co-Leader Green Party AGM, Upper Hutt
Scoop Independent News

June 4, 2006

Now, our society has its own cult of the ever-bigger statue, and it's called the cult of never ending growth in material consumption and GDP. Each year we must build an ever-bigger statue consuming yet more resources taken from the forests and quarries and factories of the four corners of the earth.

Read the full article:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0606/S00037.htm

Moai inspired playground in Detroit area

Art as playscape stands test of time
Plymouth Township sculptures created by son of Norman Rockwell feed kids' imaginations.
Doug Guthrie

The Detroit News
Thursday, June 01, 2006

The travertine sculptures appear prehistoric, like remnants of Mayan ruins. In the decades they have stood in the park, they have become as mysterious as the giant stone Moai heads of Easter Island.

Read the full article:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060601/METRO01/606010379/1006