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Discussion & Study Guide

Godzilla Meets Mona Lisa

Reflections on the Pompidou Center, the Louvre, and whom art is for?

Synopsis

What are the appropriate functions of the art museum in 20th century culture? Whom is art for? Why do people so often feel uncomfortable in museums? Ralph Arlyck's film Godzilla Meets Mona Lisa addresses these and other issues raised by France's Pompidou Center and its attempts to "democratize" art. He also looks at the Louvre and its more traditional approach to art exhibition.

The Pompidou Center ("Beaubourg") has become an important magnet for tourists. Its adjacent plaza has become the stage for a variet of local amateur talent: musicians, magicians, puppeteers, hypnotists, soap box orators--"marginals". The plaza's carnival atmosphere has prompted debates over the legitimacy of the Pompidou Center as a serious art museum. Arlyck's film surveys and compiles comments and opinions from many quarters on the success of the Pompidou Center as a public art space.

Audiences

Godzilla Meets Mona Lisa will have a particular relevance to viewers who are interested in the function of mueums, art in public spaces, urban planning, and environmental design.

Some of those who Arlyck interviews are intensely irritated by the crowds and activity in and around the Pompidou; others are excited by the accessibility it offers.

Topics

Four general topics might be suggested as starting points for the discussion of the film. They are:

• The design of the Pompidou Center.
• People and art in public places.
• What is a museum?
• Whom is art for?

The Design of the Pompidou Center

The physical appearance of the Pompidou Center makes a deliberate statement that it is a"cultural factory". Like the Eiffel Tower in the late 19th century, the structure of the Pompidou Center strongly contradicts what many considered to be the proper design for a museum or cultural amenity.

• Is the Pompidou Center a "monster?"
  
  
• The Louvre is classical in design, the Beaubourg is modern. Are both design approaches appropriate to the function of the buildings?
  
  
• The Beaubourg Plaza tries to integrate interior and exterior, and the visual and performing arts. Does it work?
  
  
• How do you reconcile the collision between old and new in an historic city like Paris and a setting like the Beaubourg?

People and Art in Public Places

The film shows that an apparently "empty " plaza can be a vital addition to the life of the city if it is next to an energizing force like the Pompidou Center. However the performers that use the plaza invade the very edges of the surrounding neighborhoods.

• What right should individuals have to choose or influence what is built in their city or neighborhood?
  
  
• What attracts people to a space like the plaza around the museum?
  
  
• Does the carnival atmosphere of the plaza clash with the art museum and cultural center next to it?

What is a museum?

When the Pompidou Center was built, it was faced with the challenge of drawing viewers in a city where a great museum, the Louvre, was already firmly established. The two museums are very different, both in their collections and their approaches.

• Does a museum need to be a "sacred place" in order to fulfill its function?
  
  
• What makes a museum work properly?
  
  
• If you were responsible for placing a work of art for exhibition, how would you decide whether the Pompidou Center or the Louvre would be the better home for it?
  
  
• How would you define the contrast between the Louvre and the Pompidou Center in terms of the "mission" of the art museum?

Whom is art for?

The premise that art has an important social function makes possible the existence of institutions like the Pompidou Center. Each viewer comes to see works of art with his/her own preconceived attitudes toward art already established.

• Who makes art?
  
  
• How do we measure people's reactions to art?
  
  
• Why do people make pilgrimages to see the Mona Lisa?
  
  
• What compells people to want to look at art?

Suggested Readings

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. NewYork: Penguin Books Ltd.,1972

Gablik, Suzi.Has Modernism Failed? New York: Thames and Hudson, 1984

Malraux, Andre. Museums Without Walls. New York Doubleday,1967

Schapiro, Meyer."On the Humanity of Abstract Painting" Modern Art:19th and 20th Centuries. New York: George Braziller 1978

Wolfe Tom. The Painted Word. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1975