Lou Lamparo, Daily Chronicles

In Provence, the “lamparo” referred to a nighttime fishing technique, where fish were attracted by a light fixed at the front of the boat. On a daily basis, these chronicles will enlight some key moments of the program.

By Julie Bordenave, journalist specialized in performing arts, circus, and public space (Zébuline, Théâtres, La Scène…)

Merging points of view

At La Cartonnerie, an important question gripped the audience early in the morning: how does TYA tackle the challenges of the Anthropocene? Leading the session, researcher Julia Dina Hesse explained that for the title of her thesis, she had deliberately moved away from the notion of sustainability to cover the broader concept of the Anthropocene—a cultural and geological concept that helps problematize the rupture between nature and culture.

While sustainable development is increasingly taken into account in both production and dissemination of performances, artists who directly engage with this theme in their creative work remain rare. It took the irresistible energy of Sue Giles to shake things up. To discuss a creation featuring 11,000 plants arranged on stage by an eco-scenographer, the Australian

director invited a special guest to the roundtable: a green plant, carefully placed in its own chair alongside the other panelists!

This half-joke led the discussion towards the necessity of hybridization—of perspectives, of the language, and of emotions. Mentioned pell-mell: the plural language of authors Géraldine Soublin and Julie Arminthe; Pro-vivance Lab 2097, a futuristic narrative staged by Michaël Cros based on collective writings by children, imagining creatures composed of all forms of lifeo—plants, humans, and animals—in the near future…

Such so many ways of considering the living, hoping to find words to describe it, and thus better represent it (see Le détail du monde by Romain Bertrand, Seuil editions), and hoping to nurture a dramaturgy aimed at establishing new inter-species relationships, in line with the philosopher Baptiste Morizot, who was frequently quoted by the speakers. In the afternoon, during an exciting conference dedicated to the challenges of shared artistic creation, it was all about paying attention to otherness. If we consider, along with Dominique Bérody, that partnership involves “calling upon the other’s part,” then it is essential to explore all aspects of children’s participation in artistic process making. Exploring common imaginations, collective writing, interpretation… the speakers all shared their artistic processes. An incomparable “burst of emotion,” according to Sue Giles, who also talked about the still largely unexplored field of site-specific theatre: “In a public space, children become a political element, as their presence is usually regulated!” The question quickly arose about the future of such experiences: what traces should be preserved, what lasting effects remain ? According to sociologist Sylvia Girel, there is indeed a lack of research on the long-term impact of such projects on young participants who have grown up. A word to the wise!