Exhibition “Baudelaire, la modernité mélancolique” (the melancholic modernity)
From 3rd November 2021 to 13th February 2022, the BnF is celebrating the bicentenary of Charles Baudelaire’s birth with an exhibition that delves into the determining role played by the experience of melancholy, “always inseparable from the feeling of beauty”, as the poet wrote.
While embracing the various aspects of Baudelaire’s work, this exhibition is above all devoted to his poetic universe. The exhibition brings together manuscripts, printed editions, graphic and pictorial works (prints, photographs, drawings, paintings) from the collections of the BnF, but also from external loans. Exceptional items are presented, such as the printing proofs of the first edition of Les Fleurs du Mal (1857), extensively corrected by Baudelaire, or the manuscript of Mon cœur mis à nu, a striking self-portrait of his revolt and inner turmoil.
https://www.bnf.fr/fr/agenda/baudelaire-la-modernite-melancolique
Exhibition “Une passion pour la justice. Dans la bibliothèque de Robert Badinter” (A passion for justice. The library of Robert Badinter)
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty in France, the BnF is dedicating an exhibition to the library of the man who was the main architect of this abolition: Robert Badinter. From September 14 to December 12, the BnF is exhibiting more than 80 documents from his personal collection, a collection that paints the portrait of a man who made humanism and his passion for justice the driving force of his entire life.
https://www.bnf.fr/fr/agenda/une-passion-pour-la-justice-dans-la-bibliotheque-de-robert-badinter
“Les Futurs Fantastiques”, the 3rd conference about artificial intelligence in Libraries, Archives and Museums
How has artificial intelligence (AI) transformed the digital world of libraries, archives and museums? How can we embrace these changes and deploy these new technologies in the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums)? Organized by the BnF with the ai4lam community, this event aims to delve into the different opportunities offered by AI in cultural institutions and to support the progress of these institutions’ skills and knowledge regarding this technology.
The conference format will be hybrid: on-site / online. The main conference will take place at the Library on 10th December 2021 and will also be live streamed on You Tube. It will be preceded by a pre-conference (8th and 9th December) as well as online workshops and tutorials.
Conference webpage: https://www.bnf.fr/en/les-futurs-fantastiques
On-site information: https://www.bnf.fr/en/agendaEN/les-futurs-fantastiques-3rd-conference-about-artificial-intelligence
Online information: https://www.bnf.fr/en/agendaEN/workshops-tutorials-les-futurs-fantastiques-3rd-conference-about-artificial-intelligence
Training sessions in preservation at the Scriptorium Syriacum in Erbil
Within the framework of the project “Safeguarding and digital dissemination of Iraqi written heritage” implemented by the BnF since 2020 thanks to the support of the International alliance for the protection of heritage in conflict areas, training sessions in preservation of books and manuscripts were organised in September by the National Heritage Institute in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan.
Running from 2020 to 2023, the “Safeguarding and digital dissemination of Iraqi written heritage” project has 5 areas of focus, tailored according to the needs of each local partner:
A partner of BnF since 2020, the Scriptorium Syriacum, recently inaugurated in Erbil, has received a grant for the acquisition of digitisation equipment and was donated preservation equipment as part of this training. From the end of 2021, its teams will digitise a collection of 79 Syriac manuscripts from the 10th to the 19th century. Those manuscripts will also be catalogued in partnership with the Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes (IRHT/CNRS).
https://www.bnf.fr/fr/actualites/formation-en-conservation-preventive-au-scriptorium-syriacum-derbil
https://www.bnf.fr/en/shared-heritage