What do you usually do on Friday afternoons? Well, you should read the posters you go past, there's always something extraordinary happening in Chagall High School.

Last week it was "Projet Barthou 2015" opening! From my car everything looked absolutely normal. But a few steps later...  

I discovered a wonderful exhibition entirely designed, staged and guided by the pupils of the 1ère STD2A and Barthou Primary School. I'm pleased I could enjoy a guided tour of the  amazing display, the result of the enthusiastic team work between these two classes. Thank you too to Ms Gautherot, Brion, Desse and Pierson from Marc Chagall High School as well as to Ms Guyot and Ms Teixeira from Barthou primary School.

Whether in high or primary school, pupils focused on English words commonly used in French. It led to define these words and use them as a starting point to the creation of a character, whose steps you could follow with pictures, sounds, tastes and words following a cosy and mysterious itinerary.

Damien kindly agreed to explain all the process to you:

(Sorry for the bad quality of the sound, but it proves the place was crowded with visitors !)

I had never thought anglicisms, which I'm not particularly keen on, could lead to such a blast of artistic inspiration. I followed one of Mr Cool's creators, who accepted to explain the creative process and give his impressions. Thank you Damien, the tour was absolutely fantastic. Here is what I've managed to capture thanks to my phone. It's nothing like what I actually experienced there, but it'll give you an idea though.

Congratulations to all of you for the fabulous work and for making our school so lively and open to art and creativity. I can't wait until March 14th  to see more of your amazing displays.

PS: please come back and read this post after March 9th, as it may have been edited and improved with some more recordings.

On Friday night, February 13, a representation of the opera “King Arthur” created in 1691 by Henry Purcell, was held by the BarokOpera Amsterdam. It is a "semi-opera", a specific kind of opera developed by British composers in the late seventeenth century. The action was led by the actors’ play and commented by music. 

I was very curious to find out what that semi-opera was holding in store for me. An accurate depiction of the original story of King Arthur? (And what I mean is not a completely historical reconstruction): one could expect anything.

So, five artists are on stage, often together, and tell us the misadventures that cross Arthur, Christian and Breton to find Emmeline, the machinations of King Oswald, Pagan and Saxon. Their rivalry extends between Merlin the magician and the magician Osmond, who use their magic to help each king. The play keeps the original texts and the music is valued by being played with baroque instruments. 

What struck me first was...The actors!

I was very impressed and found their performance tremendous. Moreover, their voices are powerful and catchy. Furthermore they mix quite well. The actors provide them five different roles and even go as far as changing roles in the play. Then, a garment or a hat allows us to distinguish them. Indeed, the costumes are a bit minimalist but we can see this as an assumed simplicity that truly takes advantage of the staging and their acting. They are very much emphasized and it is pleasant!

 In addition, the decor is pretty sleek. Indeed, the musicians are placed on the side garden of the scene; some chairs are assembled side Court for the actors and the necessary accessories to representation from a safe in the middle of the scene. 

Frederique Chauvet, musical director, wrote: "We selected fine fragments of the original play King Arthur whose modernity has often been forgotten”. The play is synthesized to give an undeniable dynamism. Thereby, it presents itself as a modern representation; with heroic passages, yes, but mostly bold and full of humors, Shakespearian, absolutely surprising!”

It is a refreshing play that seduces us with a typical English humor and an original theatrical style, the "transparent acting". As explained by the director, Sybrand van der Werf, "the actor or singer performs his character while remaining visible himself as an individual." It creates grotesque situations, burlesque and extremely funny. 

To sum up in one word, it was great!  

A student from 1 S Euro. 

A small bridge, a wooden bridge, a huge bridge... All bridges are welcome ! 

They just have to be European.

Enter the competition by producing one or two snapshots by April 24th. 

A few weeks ago Ms Marolla, from the FRAC (Regional Contemporary Art Fund) came and presented a video art work to a European class in Chagall High School.

N.I.H.R. By Alice Anderson

Some students have written about this special moment. You'll see that although they don't all agree, they all have something to say. This video left no one indifferent:

Yesterday we saw a video presented by someone from the FRAC. I don't generally like that kind of video, but this one was very interesting. What I understood is that this video is the story of a woman that wanted to see a film, but she had to do many things if she wanted to see it. She had to pass through many similar places. This video was very stressful because the main character was speaking to a woman that was the same woman everywhere she was going. We could only see their faces, moreover we saw the same places and the music was very oppressive. At the end we saw that the woman hadn't seen the film. I felt very frustrated.

I think this video is art, because art has to give emotions like fear and this video gave us emotions.

Benoît.

Yesterday we had a special English lesson. Indeed a woman from the FRAC came and talked to us about where she works. She explained to us that the FRAC's mission was to find and keep masterpieces to spread them to people. The FRAC is in every region of France, so art is accessible to everyone. Ms Marolla goes to schools or universities to bring some to people who aren't particularly interested in art. Her mission is to raise artistic awareness among people of all generations, especially about contemporary art. I learnt a little about art in Reims because of her explanation about different festivals and events.

After that she showed us a video. It was Ms Sirot who had chosen it. The video was called NIHR. I felt bad about this video. I knew it was a work of art, but I found it very strange. I was glad to discover a little mor about art, but this video... I didn't like it. I think some people understand it more than others and I tried to do the same, but the video's atmosphere was really creepy. But I thank Ms Marolla for coming because art is very interesting and we don't have enough opportunities to learn about it.

Marie.

 Yesterday a woman from the FRAC came to tell us about her job and the museum where she works. Then she showed us a video which is a work of art from this museum.

The video was made in 2002 by Alice Anderson. It shows a girl who wants to watch a film in the NIHR, in London. After a lot of papers and cards to fill in the girl could watch the film by Leigh and another girl (always the same) asked her to follow her and she finishes outside without her personal belongings. It was repetitive, and really stressful because of the music.

This intervention was really interesting and this museum is a good thing because we can have access to works of art.

Victorine.

 More texts ?  click here.

And if you want to know more about the artist, you can watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGSVV9BK8eg