The Oceanographic Museum’s new escape room will take patrons on an adventure back in time to the high seas where danger abounds and only the clever will find their way home.
The new escape room at Monaco’s most popular tourist attract, the Oceanographic Museum, is a fun-filled, action-packed adventure for kids and adults alike.
Players will be asked to imagine themselves aboard the Princess Alice II, Prince Albert I’s famous laboratory boat, which is filled with all the tools needed to carry out a great ocean expedition. They will then be transported back in time to his 1901 Cape Verde explorations, where a violent storm threatens the whole voyage. Engines stop, the wind and waves toss the “crew” about and the nets on the seabed being used to gather data are in danger of being destroyed. It is up to the players to find a solution and get the precious cargo and the people back to dry land safely!
The game, designed in collaboration with IRIS Games, with an immersive scenography created by Camille Renversade, is a friend and family-friendly way to pass some time learning, exploring and having a lot of fun.
There are two games to choose from in these races against time. The first is the 30-minute mission, designed for those new to escape rooms, and the second is a hour-long ride for the more experienced players, covering two missions.
The minimum number of players is three, and the more players in a room, the lower the price, starting at €18 for the half hour and €35 for the one hour.
The Monaco Open Air Cinema has a full schedule of amazing movies this month, ranging from family-friendly to blockbusters and everything in between.
The Monaco Open Air Cinema is a local perennial favourite that never disappoints. With a massive 220m2 screen, food and drink, including champagne, and seating under the stars for 500 including loungers, it’s a great way to pass a summer night with friends and family.
August kicks off with everyone’s favourite little yellow creatures, who are returning for a reprise in The Minions 2. Gru and the gang are together again, this time showing how it all began. For more family-friendly fun, there is the new Marvel film, Thor and DC’s League of Super-Pets,
For those who love a good thriller, Bullet Train starring Brad Pitt is a fast-mover set on a train journey filled with murder and intrigue. There’s also Nope, a sci-fi horror film riddled with scary aliens, and Beast, with Idris Elba in a survival thriller where he and his two daughters find themselves up against a murderous lion.
Top drama with Top Gun Maverick starring Tom Cruise in the long-awaited remake of the wildly popular original film with twists, turns and some pretty amazing flying by hotshot fighter pilots, Elvis, the critically acclaimed biopic of arguably the world’s most famous pop icon of all time, and House of Gucci, starring Lady Gaga in the true over-the-top tale of the husband and wife who fought for control of the iconic fashion house, ending in a “you couldn’t make this up” Mafia-style assassination.
For lighter fare, there is fantasy rom-com Three Thousand Years of Longing, starring Tilda Swinton as an academic who stumbles across a genie in a bottle who offers her three wishes, leading to consequences neither could have imagined.
The doors open at 8:30pm, with the screenings starting at 9pm and the main event at 9:30pm. Tickets are first come, first served, so arrive early to get the best seats. All films are in original version with French subtitles.
The Grimaldi Forum is hosting the Monaco Crypto Summit this week, with speakers and special guests exploring trends in the crypto world as well as announcing new partnerships and products.
The crypto world has been on shifting sands this year, with a dramatic €1.951 trillion drop since its November 2021 high, sending several crypto lending platforms and hedge funds into bankruptcy. But with the dark comes the light, and others have found new opportunities in these new conditions, receiving funding and acquisitions that are springboards for new investors.
For those already involved or looking to learn more about the world of cryptocurrencies, the Monaco Crypto Summit is just the place to check out what the latest trends are and how to take advantage of them. Hosted at the Grimaldi Forum on Friday 29th July, the line-up will include some heavy hitters in the industry as well as some special invitees.
Organisers of the event have announced that HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco and Al Burgio, the founder of the DigitalBits blockchain, are amongst the evening’s expected special guests and speakers.
The theme of the Monaco Crypto Summit, sponsored by DigitalBits Foundation, is the future of cryptocurrency. The event is expected to create a big buzz with, in addition to Al Burgio, speakers such as Brittany Kaiser, co-founder of Own Your Data Foundation, Kory Hoang, founder and chief executive officer of Stably, Lauren Bissel, founder and CEO of Immutable Industries, Bryan Talebi, founder and CEO of Ahura AI, and many others in attendance.
Burgio posted a recent community update, saying, “There are certain confidential elements under development that are due to be made public on the 29th of July,” adding an air of excitement to the event.
The event will be capped with a VIP dinner that will be hosted by the Yacht Club of Monaco where a celebration is in store for the new partnership with the Monaco virtual racing circuit.
Monaco has been hosting a number of crypto events this year, including CoinAgenda, a global conference series connecting blockchain and cryptocurrency investors with start-ups since 2014, back in May. Stars’n’Bars is also hosting a Crypto Meetup on 30th July, where organisers are inviting people to come and talk about crypto-related experiences and thoughts, including market trends and NFTs.
American singer-songwriter and pianist Alicia Keys took to the stage in the heart of Monte-Carlo on Monday night for the 73rd Red Cross Gala, with Prince Albert and Princess Charlene joining the concert under the stars. Here are the highlights…
The Red Cross Gala has been a Monaco tradition for 73 years, attracting big name entertainment and hundreds of glamorous guests. The 2022 edition was spectacular indeed with Prince Albert, the organisation’s president, and Princess Charlene, the vice-president, both looking on good form – the Princess radiant in a powder blue floor length gown, whilst the Prince opted for a more casual look with white trousers and a blue blazer.
Their niece, Camille Gottlieb, also attended the annual event.
The evening began with welcome cocktails on the Terrasses du Casino with a breath-taking view onto the Med before heading out to Casino Square for a live performance by Alicia Keyes.
Keyes performed her beloved hits as well as songs from her latest album entitled Alicia. The record marks her return to the spotlight after nearly a decade.
In all, 650 guests spent the evening at the dazzling event, which marks the Prince’s 40th year as president. He took over the post in 1982 after the untimely death of his mother, Princess Grace, while Princess Charlene celebrated her first full year as vice president.
Proceeds from the gala go towards supporting the actions of the Monaco Red Cross, which this year included special backing for Ukrainian refugees fleeing their war-torn country.
Since 1948, the Red Cross Gala has been a heady mix of glamour and humanitarianism attracting the good and the great from the Principality and beyond. Up until last year, the gala was held in the Salle des Etoiles, but following the renovation of Casino Square, the highly publicised event now takes place in the heart of Monte-Carlo.
Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene with Camille Gottlieb and Philippe Pastor, Frederic Platini, Bettina Ragazzoni-Janin and the Red Cross Committee, photo source: Pierre Villard/Monte Carlo Société des Bains de Mer’
For more than 30 years, a collection of art works by international artists has been created, illustrating the values of the Monaco Red Cross. Among the artists in the collection are Moretti, Arman, César, Velickovic, Paul Jenkins, Sosno, and Damien Hirst.
This year, Monegasque artist Philippe Pastor enriched the extraordinary collection with his emblematic work: Les Arbres Brûlés.
Click on the gallery for more images of the 2022 Red Cross Gala. Photos by Pierre Villard/Monte Carlo Société des Bains de Mer…
Hauser and Wirth’s new exhibition by Paul McCarthy is a timely reflection on the links between violence, depravity and masculinity, despite the 20 years that have passed since its inception.
‘Paul McCarthy. Pirates Stew Pot’ at Hauser and Wirth Monaco marks the 20th anniversary of McCarthy’s Pirate Project. One of his most important bodies of work, the show highlights the artist’s dedication to this theme across multiple strands since 2001. Originally stemming from Paul McCarthy and his son Damon’s fascination with the Disneyland amusement park attraction ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, the selection of works includes sculpture, drawing, video and photography, and explores the complex universe of the pirate theme.
McCarthy’s pirate world offers an allegory of society, focusing on a range of unrestrained behaviours or forms of resistance, from untrammelled greed, rampant commercialisation and social ostentation to sadism, perversion, anarchism and corruption. Two decades after its inception, the work continues to be relevant in the context of current global conflicts for the way it addresses the links between violence, depravity and masculinity.
Piggies, Painted – Paul McCarthy 2008/2018. Photo by Monaco Life
“Paul thinks it is very relevant to show the exhibition at this time because of the context of the war on Ukraine,” Gregoire Schnerb tells Monaco Life. “The series started in 2001 when George W. Bush decided to invade Iraq, and throughout the work of Paul, there’s been a denunciation of the American society and all its kitsch; all the positive images it conveys and the parallel with war. On the other hand, there is the image of celebrity, beauty, and wealth, contrasted with imperialism and violence.”
The exhibition in Monaco starts where the project began, with a series of large-scale Pirate Drawings including‘Large Pirate Drawing (Poop Deck)’ and ‘Cut off the Lips’ (2001). These works, McCarthy says, lay bare the psychological sources of this wide-ranging project about the imaginary world of pirate yarns. Enormous sheets of paper serve to gather associations and mould thoughts into pictorial form. Combining charcoal, pencil and marker with collage, McCarthy examines the flow of images from the consumer world and the porn industry.
“It is the second exhibition that we have here in our Monaco space and it is important for us to show the work of Paul McCarthy, to show exactly what the gallery is about,” adds Schnerb. “McCarthy is a central artist and part of our DNA. The artists that we show are linked, and he is representative of the values that we have at the gallery.”
Pig, Paul McCarthy 2003, photo by Monaco Life
Utilising playfully oversized characters and objects, sculptures such as ‘Piggies, Painted’ (2008/2018) and ‘Paula Jones, Painted’ (2007/2018) merge the fantasy Pirate world with figures from the real worlds of politics, philosophy, science, art, literature, film and television. McCarthy locates the traumas lurking behind the American Dream, presented as a Hollywood or Disney-style stage set gone wrong, and identifies their counterparts in the art historical canon.
The exhibition also celebrates ‘Caribbean Pirates,’ an immense two-volume artist’s book by Paul and Damon McCarthy, released in 2019. It details the ongoing endeavour of the Pirate Project, an acclaimed example of McCarthy’s multidisciplinary practice, through photographic documentation and production stills of the performance alongside a text by the artist and an essay by John C. Welchman.
The exhibition will run until the end of summer.
Click on the images below to see more works from Paul McCarthy’s Pirates Stew Pot…
You don’t have to be a shoe lover to appreciate the brilliance of the Grimaldi Forum’s new summer exhibition. Every inch of the enormous space has been used to transport visitors on a fantastical journey through the mind, and extraordinarily creative career, of the world’s most famous shoe designer, Christian Louboutin.
After the first edition at the Palais de la Porte Dorée in Paris in 2020, ‘Christian Louboutin: L’Exhibition(iste), Chapter II’ opened to the public on Saturday 9th July at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco. The exhibition, redesigned by curator Olivier Gabet, Director of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, is devoted to the work and imagination of Christian Louboutin, a shoe designer and key figure in the world of fashion. It is based around themes that reveal Louboutin’s eclecticism – couture, travel, the extremes of fantasy and innovation.
It is a fun and sophisticated odyssey through 30 years of prolific creativity, a journey in which emotion and expertise intermingle with his love for performance and a sense of humour.
But chapter two of this artistic venture goes one step further in Monaco. Louboutin the designer becomes Louboutin the curator as he showcases carefully selected art works and sculptures, and reveals his friendship with artists.
Room two of Christian Louboutin: L’Exhibition(iste) features huge stained glass windows designed by Louboutin, photo by Monaco Life
The journey begins in a room bathed in red, before moving onto a church-like space showcasing where it all began for Christian Louboutin. The black room, highlighted by incredible, large stained-glass windows specially designed by Louboutin, features the first shoes that he ever designed and made himself – ingenious, humorous shoes that reveal the boldness of those initial stages of his creative career, and that won clients over at Louboutin’s first boutique in Paris, from Madonna to Princess Caroline of Monaco.
In inventing the red sole, Christian Louboutin found his signature that was to be recognised the world over.
Then, from room to room, visitors are taken on an elaborate journey through the artistic mind of the designer; they are given the opportunity to witness his most iconic creations, chosen from a corpus which today constitutes thousands of designs – some one-offs, others templates for series that would continue for decades.
The ‘Theatre Room’ is a nod to Paris nightclub Le Palace, photo by Monaco Life
One room is a veritable treasure chamber, the circular space evoking a catacomb where the designer – who is still very much alive – becomes a deity, immortalised and revered, and sent to the gods surrounded by gold, silver, and his iconic creations. Is the blood splattered cavity with an apocalyptic pair of men’s golden Louboutins a clue as to how he came to his demise?
The journey moves from genius imagination to fantastical reality, where whimsical videos feature a mini-Christian Louboutin following the process of handmade shoe making, before it reaches a charming old granny’s house in a typical British street, in which the knick knacks, upon close inspection, reveal works of photographer Pierre Moliniere (1900-1976), who used to transform himself into a hypersexualised woman.
“This audacious ‘period room’ shows how much the ideas we have about shoes are shaped by projections and suggestions that are often a long way from reality, and sometimes more obvious,” we are told in one of the written guides that accompany each room.
The ‘Period Room’ is another bizarre journey into the mind of Christian Louboutin, photo by Monaco Life
The exhibition also reveals Louboutin’s love of music and dance, which he has had from an early age, being a child of the famous Paris nightclub Le Palace. A large number of pieces related to this domain have been brought together within a theatre set that has been specially created by Bhutanese artists in the grounds of the royal palace in Thimphu, including carved wooden elements that Louboutin devised in collaboration with the artisans.
The “imaginary museum” is a personal tribute to the artists and artworks that have been Christian Louboutin’s constant companions since his teenage years, serving as the inspiration for his eclecticism, from queer culture and Gandharan art, to photography and contemporary African art.
The tour ends as it began – a Pop Corridor bathed in red, a “passageway between two worlds”, where portraits of celebrities in music and cinema intertwine with magazine covers, extracts from television shows and social media posts, each serving as a reminder of how much Christian Louboutin’s work has been embraced by the talents of our time, all making his name legendary in contemporary design and fashion culture.
Christian Louboutin: L’Exhibition(iste) is open at the Grimaldi Forum until 28th August.
Click on the gallery below for more pictures of Christian Louboutin: L’Exhibition(iste)…
Photos by Cassandra Tanti, Monaco Life…
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