FRANCE: Flying pianos, giant water cannons and automatic-nutella-spreaders are just some of the unusual machines on display at Paris exhibition

Record ID: 553843

  • Title: FRANCE: Flying pianos, giant water cannons and automatic-nutella-spreaders are just some of the unusual machines on display at Paris exhibition
  • Date: 5th August 2006
  • Summary: DRESS-SPINNING MACHINE VARIOUS OF VISITORS TO EXHIBITION
  • Embargoed: 20th August 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAEACPI6B26AAH4S0OPIRRUSBGS
  • Story Text: The 'Girodoumdoum' [pron. Gi-ro-doom-doom] and the 'Tartapault' are just two of the hundred extraordinary machines on display in the French capital Paris.
    'Le Grand Répertoire' (The Big Repository) exhibition is made up of machines that were specifically invented for the theatre and circus.
    There is a water canon that might catch visitors unawares, but maybe not quite so much as the smell-making-machine, which creates both 'good' and 'bad' smells.
    The exhibition is the highlight of Paris' annual 'Quartier d'Eté' (or 'Summer Neighbourhood') festival, which runs from the 14th of July to the 13th of August 2006.
    A whole range of fantastic machines are on display in the glass dome of the 'Grand Palais', which was built for the 1900 World Expo, making a suitably grand setting for the unusual inventions.
    The 'Girodoumdoum' is a set of drums that are probably more spectacular to look at than they are to hear. The 'Roman-Soldier-Multiplier' means that hard-up street theatre companies could have a whole army of Romans for the price of just two actors.
    "This is an exhibition of machines that were used in theatres and shows," explains 'Coco' Jaconelli, one of the Machine Operators at the exhibition. "We show how they work. In the last scene of 'Peplum', which was a show put on by the 'Royal de Luxe' theatre company in 1994, there was a flying piano, there were basically some Romans who arrived and who catapulted a piano [across the stage]. So what we're doing in this exhibition is reproducing the machines as they were used in the show."
    Operating the machines requires both technical skill and a good dose of showmanship and humour.
    Cynics might say that the automatic-Nutella-spreader isn't really the most efficient way of preparing a snack, but then these machines aren't about efficiency - they're all about showbusiness though.
    "This exhibition really takes you into a dream world," says one visitor. "The atmosphere is easy-going, people talk to each other freely and smile a lot. It's good fun ? and besides, it's funny!"
    "I love the spirit of this exhibition!" says another. "I never imagined that street theatre could be so imaginative, curious and funny".
    The Quartier d'Eté Festival has always had a reputation for being avant-garde and this exhibition is no exception. Some of the machines have been used dozens of times, others are prototypes, but they are all testimony to the sheer inventiveness of their creators.
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