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Serendipity ~ photographs by Kim Powell
An unexpected journey in the land of serenity

The Mona Bismarck Foundation in collaboration with the University of Visual and Performing Arts, Colombo, presents an installation based on color photographs
taken in Sri Lanka by American artist Kim Powell.

from October 22, 2008 to January 10, 2009

(closed for the holiday period from December 24 – January 5th included)

Mona Bismarck Foundation
34 avenue de New York, 75116 Paris

SERENDIPITY |serən'dipitē | ...... the occurrence of events by chance in a beneficial way.

It was serendipity. When Kim Powell traveled to Sri Lanka in 2007 on a professional photo shoot, she never imagined she would begin her own artistic and philosophical journey. This installation, which touches the five senses, offers the visitor a similar chance to absorb the visual and cerebral richness of Sri Lanka.

"...one’s gaze does not know were to alight, such is Nature’s bounty...rivers sheathed in gorges...mingle and tower over an undergrowth of bamboo, vines, orchid and giant fern invaded by monkeys and colorful birds..." (Beatrice Floquet, catalogue essay)

The installation bursts with vivid color, yet exudes peacefulness and order. Powell has captured the soul of a country and people who, historically, have faced many a challenge: from terrorism and civil war to natural disasters like the tsunami. One would not expect the serenity in the faces, the peacefulness in the landscape. "Sri Lanka was not at all what I imagined." recalls the artist.

Kim Powell is an American photographer who has lived and worked in Paris for the past 15 years. She studied photography at SPEOS, Parsons School of Design and the International School of Photography, New York. In France, her work has been exhibited at UNESCO, the Logis Royal in Loches and Paris Photographique. Kim Powell’s commercial photography includes the publication Bit by Fleas, a guide to Paris flea markets.

Kim Powell has already been involved in other Mona Bismarck Foundation exhibitions photographing the Marianne North Gallery at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and providing the catalogue photography for Hubert de Givenchy’s Perfection Partagée: Mona Bismarck, Cristóbal Balenciaga. In 2008 Kim Powell was featured in My-Linh Kunst’s, Beyond Borders: Portraits of American Women from around the World.

The Mona Bismarck Foundation, created in the 1980s by the American philanthropist, the Countess Mona Bismarck, is an American foundation with a Paris Cultural Center located opposite the Eiffel Tower. The Foundation’s eclectic exhibition program, always free of charge, has mounted over seventy exhibitions in the past twenty years, many introducing emerging American artists to a European public.

Director of Programs for the Mona Bismarck Foundation: Kristina Didouan

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Video

Mona Bismarck Foundation
34 avenue de New York, 75116 Paris
Email: info@monabismarck.org
www.monabismarck.org

Days and opening hours:
Tuesday to Saturday from 10:30 a.m. – 18:30 p.m.
– Closed on holidays
Telephone: 01 47 23 38 88
Admission: Free
Metro: Alma-Marceau, Iena, Trocadéro
Bus: 72 – 63 – 94

Programs Coordinator: Kristina Didouan
info@monabismarck.org

Scenography: Christian Roy
scenographe@monabismarck.org

Graphics: Dianne Henning
www.hostingparis.com

Press Contact:
Beatrice Manson
Communication & Cie
19 rue le Peletier, 75009 Paris
Telephone: + 33 1 44 83 97 38
Fax: + 33 1 53 34 06 38
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Email: presse@comcie.com