Avoir Lieu * Take place

Research and experimentation on 2 axes, concerning performing arts and ways of sharing art in general:

1/ IRL Covid-compatible facilities

2/ hybrid (IRL/remote), multichannel and interactive forms of art

The change in the ways in which arts are shared with an audience, precipitated by the health crisis of 2020, corresponds to a profound change of paradigm that had already begun. Some marginal practices, in advance of taking concrete account of the challenges that are emerging today, have shown themselves to be more able to continue their work, because the teams were already working on forms compatible with the obstacles posed by the health crisis, or because they were able to quickly adapt to new constraints. All of these initiatives are valuable, because they continue to propose and envision possible perspectives, and because they are also a source of invigorating inspiration for the continued sharing of the arts.

The « Avoir Lieu » program of La Marge Heureuse aims to make these initiatives known, to encourage the continuation of this research and experimentation, and to enable more artistic, technical, mediation and communication teams, and academics, to come together to collectively grasp them and invent other initiatives together.

Our program aims at working on:

1/ IRL covid-compatible public reception facilities and devices with regard to health constraints (lower seating capacity, distance, ventilation, limitation of aerosolization and contact, wearing of mask, etc.). Whether it is a question of identifying specific arrangements that have already been implemented (drive concerts with spectators in cars, “criées” at the bottom of buildings, parades in closed streets with public on the balcony, etc.) or inventing new ones: their implementation is not easy yet and each time requires new negotiations with the authorities, specific contractual arrangements or precarious actions without authorizations: how to facilitate these procedures in the future?
We wish to collectively explore different facilities, devices or arrangements which will bounce back constructively on these constraints, and whose modalities could then be charted and proposed to the authorities to be officially validated as compatible with such crises (and constitute a kind of catalog / toolbox usable immediately in case of a new similar crisis).

2/ about the development of IRL/remote hybrid scenic works, being multi-channel, interactive and polymorphic works accessible simultaneously via different channels: IRL (near or far co-presence, fixed or mobile, direct or through store front windows, drive, etc.) and remote (via live video, applications, social networks, telephone audio, video game platforms, radio/webradio, web-based live performances, etc.). The objective is to strengthen the resilience of these works, while bringing together audiences with different communication habits and uses (especially young people) or with disabilities or geographically distant, and this while implementing real interactions with them. Particular attention will be given to low-tech solutions (for economic and ecological reasons) and to technical solutions that would help to free oneself as much as possible from the giants of the web.

The “Avoir Lieu” program is being structured since October 2020 in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

The main foreshadowing actions are being developed for spring 2021, in Clermont-Ferrand and Arcueil, with our first partners.

Other actions are currently being developed elsewhere in France and abroad (particularly in Romania) with other partners.

Certain actions, linked to the ongoing development of this website and other means of communication, will bring together people interested in our lines of research, from other territories, on broader actions. This is particularly the data collection that we will launch in March 2021, intended to identify and share initiatives corresponding to our two areas of work.

The real launch of the “Avoir Lieu” program will take place during the 2021/22 season and will take place over several years.

Nos deux axes de recherche et d’expérimentation se déploient autour de quatre types d’actions :

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  • la collecte et la mise en commun d’informations relatives à des propositions artistiques et techniques liées à nos deux axes de recherche et d’expérimentation. Une base de données permettra ensuite l’accès libre et gratuit à ces différents éléments. Cette collecte débutera en mars 2021 avec la mise en ligne et la diffusion d’un formulaire à compléter.

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  • la réflexion collective par des interactions en ligne mais aussi la mise en commun d’actualités, l’organisation de journées d’études en lien avec le milieu universitaire, ou encore de rencontres publiques donnant la paroles à des personnes partageant leur savoir, leurs compétences et leurs expériences au sujet des avancées concernant nos deux axes de recherche :

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    1. les actions concrètes permettant de réduire les risques de transmission d’un virus respiratoire (circulation d’air, contact, etc.),
    2. les possibilités offertes aux équipes artistiques/techniques et aux équipes de médiation/communication par un canal en particulier (audio du téléphone, vitrines en boutiques, plateformes de jeux vidéo, live sur réseaux sociaux, etc.) ou par les interactions en multicanal.

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  • l’organisation et la coordination de recherches pratiques en groupes tripartites comprenant des professionnel.le.s des domaines artistiques/techniques, médiation/communication et universitaires. En parallèle, principalement à Clermont-Ferrand et en Île-de-France (2 groupes de travail). En parallèle, animation d’un lien d’échange avec d’autres groupes indépendants qui travaillent sur des pistes communes.

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  • la remontée des résultats de nos actions vers les autorités pour influencer les politiques culturelles et également aider à une meilleure prise en compte des réalités de terrain. Il s’agit notamment de la nécessité de faire valider officiellement certains dispositifs d’accueil public en présentiel comme « covid-compatibles », c’est-à-dire comme réduisant suffisamment le risque de transmission d’un virus respiratoire pour pouvoir être autorisés en cas de crise sanitaire similaire.

Preliminary actions (planned, update February 2021):

Sat 03/27/2021

in (place to be determined) with the Théâtre du Pélican, Clermont-Ferrand (63)

Meeting with two groups of teenagers participating in workshops at the Théâtre du Pélican, as part of World Theater Day.

Objective: initiate collective reflection on the possible links between their daily communication practices and live performance.

Mon 05/03/2021

14:30 – 17:00

in Anis Gras, le Lieu de l’Autre, Arcueil (94),

at Zaoum, espace d’artistes at Clermont-Ferrand (63)

and by videoconference

Round-table discussion « Live show and storefronts »

La Marge Heureuse and Anis Gras – Le Lieu de l’Autre are joining forces to offer a round-table discussion on the theme « Live show and storefronts » in order to give the floor to six artists and representatives of cultural structures hosting artistic proposals in storefronts. These exchanges will be the occasion for a reflection on the place of the artists in storefronts, the imaginaries which are associated with them and the context in which these artistic approaches take place. These feedbacks will provide concrete examples of measures put in place to respond to the constraints inherent in this particular space.

Wed 05/05/2021

14:30 – 16:00

by phone

(conference call)

Round-table discussion « Live show and telephone »

La Marge Heureuse is joining forces with Centre Dramophonique Le allÔ, from the theatre company La TraverScène, to offer a round table on the theme « Live show and telephone » (non-digital distancing channel via telephone audio) in order to give voice to 4 people involved in this practice: artists or representatives of a structure welcoming artists by phone (conference calls, voice servers, etc.).

Fri 07 and Sat 05/08/2021

10:00 – 17:00

in Anis Gras, Le Lieu de l’Autre, Arcueil (94)

Awareness workshop on the 2 work axes of the « Avoir Lieu » program

Organization of a working session over 2 days, in priority for residents of Anis Gras, Le Lieu de l’Autre, in Arcueil (94). Regarding the 1st axis, a working session at L’Autre Lieu – enseigne artistique, in a shop in the La Vache Noire shopping center, will focus on the face-to-face channel through a transparent wall: the storefront. We will also be working on a non-digital remote channel: phone audio. A work phase will also take place in nursing homes.

05 or 06/2021

2 days (place to be determined)

in Clermont-Ferrand (63)

Workshop to raise awareness of the two work axes of the program in Clermont-Ferrand (63): under development

Program « Avoir Lieu » 2022 (under development):

2022

Study days / Launch of the « Avoir Lieu » program

An inventory of what already exists with regard to the practices and analysis tools available for forms linked to the two axes of the « Avoir Lieu » program: updating of old practices (putting into historical perspective), popularization of practices until then confidential or the invention of creative processes specifically adapted to the health crisis. This will be the opportunity to present the objectives of the project and its progress.

Each day will take place simultaneously in two different places: in Clermont-Ferrand and in Île-de-France, with a videoconference system to link the two rooms.

Collective thinking/ experimentation / practice in public / documentation

Establishment of collective thinking sessions (in a whole group, in Clermont-Ferrand and in IDF): initiated by the intervention (accessible to a large audience, in co-presence and by videoconference) of a personality expert on the technical aspects of  » a communication channel in particular, face-to-face or distance (about a videoconferencing, conference call or video game platform, about the risks of contamination of a respiratory virus by air circulation, etc.). Each working session continues with a collective thinking session intended to identify a limited number of issues for experimentation.

Then, separation of the working group into several tripartite sub-groups (artistic and technical teams, mediation and communication teams from cultural organizations, universities) each having the mission of working on one of the issues of experimentation identified collectively. Each sub-group is hosted in residence by a partner venue for around a week of research associating experimentation and documentation, ending with practical implementation sharing with the public.
The documentation is notably supported by academics on two dimensions: an ethnographic approach « on the spot » of the creative processes at work and documentation for conservation. Reflexivity workshops, throughout the duration of the residency, allow artists to be associated with ways of documenting, naming and archiving their current creative processes (explanatory interviews, collaborative arrangements). Collaboration with teacher-researchers may possibly welcome the participation of students.

2022

Validation of face-to-face public reception systems known as « covid-compatible »

In parallel with the concerts and test shows held here and there in 2020, in large capacity venues and with substantial means, it is essential to:

  • develop other solutions for other contexts: devices capable of significantly reducing the risk of transmission of a respiratory virus and which are suitable for smaller structures, to be put in place inside small places or good on the outside;

 

  • write the charters relating to a selection of such face-to-face public reception systems, considered « covid-compatible »;

 

  • transmit these charters to the competent authorities, to Ministries of Culture and of Health, for opinion and validation, so that they are then transferred to the Ministry of the Interior, responsible for diffusing them to prefectures and communities.

2022

Presentation of the results of the 2022 « Avoir Lieu » program

Study day presenting the results of research in tripartite groups.

Sharing the collection.

Edition of the proceedings of the study days.

Development of new information sharing and linking functionalities via the website www.lamargeheureuse.com.

Here are some of the values ​​that we want to carry through this program :

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  • we consider as essential the possibility of sharing works in co-presence, and that even works entirely conceived for remote sharing could be enriched by inventing versions accessible via a so-called presential or « co-presential » channel;

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  • If we are talking about a shift, we prefer to think in terms of a « remote shift » rather than a « digital shift », because non-digital (i.e. « non-Internet ») remote channels, such as telephone audio or radio waves, not only offer other possibilities for creation but are often more accessible to the greatest number of people. The health crisis has simply widened the perception of a real digital divide inherent in everyone’s ability to buy certain equipment, to use it or to access the necessary infrastructure;

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  • hybridization is a concrete reality both in the interweaving of the different artistic disciplines within the works and between the skills of teams formerly thought of as operating in distinct fields : tools of the mediation and communication teams are becoming tools of creation. Cultural venues must therefore rethink their way of welcoming artistic and technical teams through the mobilization of new staff around the sharing of these new forms with the public.

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  • the simple audiovisual retransmission of shows, concerts, exhibitions is a stopgap, it is not an enviable alternative for the future of sharing arts with an audience. On the one hand, the encouragement of public authorities to audiovisual capture, beyond the cost of the subsidies allocated to it, has a significant impact on the imagination of artistic and technical teams as to how to recover from the challenge. this crisis. On the other hand, one might wonder why professional live performance programmers really need more than wide-shot capture with decent sound and video quality, as well as is it possible to do it today with an amateur camera or a smartphone? Wouldn’t be more useful funds allocated to the development of forms also accessible through the creative use of sound and video ?

 

  • we want to encourage the development of low-tech and no-code practices, making use of what already exists with creativity. The objective here is to limit the technological divide which reinforces the inequalities of means and access for artistic and technical teams as well as for cultural venues and audiences;

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  • we believe that this change in the ways in which the arts are shared with the public can also be an opportunity to work on eco-responsible practices. Without giving ourselves the illusion of a possibility of zero impact, we are convinced that many levers exist and in particular that a development of non-digital distancing, or of less greedy digital, could participate in the collective effort that is needed.

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  • when it comes to thinking about our flexibility in the health context, we believe it is essential to use the available scientific information ourselves and to define our thoughts and actions in relation to: the law, ethics and common sense. Legal decisions, whether prohibitions or authorisations, can and must be interpreted, margins of tolerance must sometimes be identified and seized, addditional precautions must sometimes accompany them

 

  • we leave some space here for the writing of other points in the future.

In writing these calls, we wanted to open up food for thought for interested people to join us in different ways. If you have an idea for other forms of participation, please let us know at contact@lamargeheureuse.com

Call for artists and technicians (live performance, visual arts, cinema, video games, etc.)

Pour ce programme de recherche, nous proposons aux artistes et technicien.ne.s du spectacle vivant, des arts visuels, du cinéma, etc. de nous rejoindre pour, a minima :

  • come forward to publicize their own advances on (axis 1) covid-compatible public reception systems that have given rise to co-presence sharing, or that have been imagined with this objective, and / or (axis 2) on forms of live performance hybrid face-to-face / distance, multichannel, and if possible interactive (a document to be completed, currently being drafted, will be the tool of this collection, about which you can already contact us),
  • attend conferences giving the floor to people sharing their knowledge, skills and experiences about advances in our two research axes (viruses and air circulation, links with video games, etc.), accessible in person and remotely, upstream of the practical work sessions for the small group.

We are also looking for artists and technicians (writing, acting, scenography, museography, staging, costume, sound, lighting, architecture, video, production, painting, sculpture, design, computer programming, etc.) who have implemented or imagined:

  • specific face-to-face public reception systems to organize shows, exhibitions, concerts, etc. despite health constraints (eg: concerts with the public by car, auctions in building courtyards, etc.)
  • multi-channel performance / visit / sharing times, and therefore SIMULTANEOUSLY accessible via DIFFERENT CHANNELS (at least 2: co-presence, live on social network, web-based performance, telephone audio, web radio, etc.) with a desire to work on INTERACTIVITY.

We will select the members of a practical research group who will be invited to:

  • participate in collective work sessions (in Clermont-Ferrand in spring 2021 for the foreshadowing and perhaps simultaneously, or at least later during the program, in other cities, depending on progress.
  • work in residence in a reception area in order to conduct experiments around a device track identified / invented with the group (search for funding in progress to remunerate this work),
  • share / experiment with the public and the other members of the group during a restitution, in multichannel and interactive, at the end of the working time.

Contact : contact@lamargeheureuse.com

Call for structures welcoming the public or artists to their users (performance halls, museums, media libraries, nursing homes, hospitals, etc.)

The possible links between this research program and a cultural structure welcoming the public are as follows :

1 / in conjunction with the local research group in Clermont-Ferrand (first step, a priori in spring 2021) and in other cities for the following steps:

  • attend (host?) conferences giving the floor to people sharing their knowledge, skills and experiences about advances in our two lines of research (viruses and air circulation, links with video games, etc.) , accessible locally and remotely, upstream of practical work sessions for the small group,
  • participate in collective work sessions locally alongside artistic and technical teams,
  • welcome an artistic and technical team in residence to allow them to experiment on a device track identified / invented with the research group (provision of space, residence budget, sharing with the public at the end of the work)

2 / in connection with the collection of practices, relaying to us the initiatives identified concerning:

  • covid-compatible face-to-face public reception systems that have given rise to a performance or have been offered for this purpose
  • forms of live performance hybrid face-to-face / distance, multichannel, interactive

3 / in connexion with our strategic objective:

  • publicize the approach of this research group in your networks
  • support the proposal, at the end of the group’s work, of « our » covid-compatible propositions charted for evaluation by the Health / Culture Ministries and transmission to the Ministry of the Interior then to prefectures and communities
  • Promote a mode of support for creation adapted to the current situation, which highlights the necessary experimentation in this period, rather than conditioning the adaptation of artistic practices according to outdated patterns (filmed capture, etc.)

Contact : contact@lamargeheureuse.com

Call for organizations that can help finance our action

The possible links between this research program and an organization that can help finance it are as follows:

1 / in connection with the local research group in Clermont-Ferrand (first step, a priori in spring 2021) and in other cities for the following steps:

  • fund the intervention of experts during conferences (viruses and air circulation, links with video games, etc.), accessible locally and remotely, before practical work sessions for the small group
  • fund the hosting of an artistic and technical team to work by experimenting around tracks of research identified / invented with the research group (provision of space, residence budget, sharing with the public at the end of the work)

2 / in connection with the collection of practices,

  • fund the research work of master’s / doctoral students and / or a university laboratory on initiatives spotted concerning covid-compatible public reception systems in person, or hybrid forms of live / face-to-face performance, multichannel, interactive
  • fund the establishment of a platform for sharing this collection with professionals in performing arts and academia

3 / in connection with the sustainability of this approach

  • fund a coordinating position for La Marge Heureuse actions to help bring together, organize and communicate as effectively as possible

Contact : contact@lamargeheureuse.com

Call for professional organizations

The possible links between this research program and a professional organization are as follows:

1 / in connection with the local research group in Clermont-Ferrand (first step, a priori in spring 2021) and in other cities for the following steps:

  • organize conferences with experts (viruses and air circulation, links with video games, etc.), accessible locally and remotely, upstream before practical work sessions for the small group

2 / in connection with the collection of practices, relaying to us the initiatives identified concerning:

  • covid-compatible face-to-face public reception systems that have given rise to a performance or have been offered for this purpose
  • forms of live performance hybrid face-to-face / distance, multichannel, interactive

3 / in line with our strategic objective:

  • publicize the approach of this research group in your networks
    support the proposal, at the end of the group’s work, of « our » covid-compatible « devices charted for evaluation by the Health / Culture Ministries and transmission to the Ministry of the Interior then to the prefectures and communities
  • Promote a mode of support for creation adapted to the current situation, which highlights the necessary experimentation in this period, rather than conditioning the adaptation of artistic practices according to outdated patterns (filmed capture, etc.)

Contact : contact@lamargeheureuse.com

Progress and supports: the procedures related to the « Avoir Lieu » program were launched in October 2020.

  • the actions of La Marge Heureuse have been supported for three years by  Anis Gras, le lieu de l’autre (Arcueil, 94) which will host in May 2021 a working session « Avoir Lieu » for its residents ;
  • le compagnie La TraverScène, which has supported this initiative since its inception, provides its means of production, such as access to dedicated telephone numbers to host experiments by telephone ;
  • the City of Clermont-Ferrand (63) via municipal equipment La Cour des Trois Coquins where part of the working sessions will take place ;
  • the  Théâtre du Pélican team will involve groups of teenagers in this research in order to better understand their uses of social networks and other interaction platforms, as well as to think with them about the perspectives that this may open to live performance for the future;
  • Le Tremplin is a municipal equipment of the City of Beaumont (63), helping to professionalize emerging artistic and technical teams and supporting amateur practices in current music. Its team is joining forces with La Marge Heureuse to develop experimentation on the axes of the « AVOIR LIEU » program in the field of contemporary music, both in terms of creation, distribution and the use of communication tools. and mediation around and for shared concert times.
  • le collectif Zaoum – Espace d’artistes, including a hospital psychiatrist and several artists who regularly work in hospitals, support this research: devices, spaces, hospital habitus, (therapeutic?) effects … in order that everyone finds their (right) place for sharing with others: patients, healthcare teams, artists;
  • other cultural venues will support this research program by hosting artistic and technical teams (residencies, sessions) in conjunction with the research group. They will thus be able to experiment with an audience that must be involved in this evolution of uses ;
  • partnerships are being developed with academia, thanks to teacher-researchers from Université Clermont Auvergne, Paris 8 et Paris 3 ;
  • we are currently approaching institutions that can support this action both financially and logistically and strategically : DGCA (Mission recherche), DRAC, Région Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, Département du Puy-de-Dôme (63), etc. We also make contact with professional organizations: in particular the SNMS (Syndicat National des Metteurs en Scène) et l’antenne régionale Auvergne Rhône Alpes du SYNAVI (Syndicat National des Arts Vivants) who are very interested in this process. Contact is made with more technical partners, in particular for expert interventions on the spread of respiratory viruses by air circulation in closed spaces.
  • if you wish to accompany us, contact us : contact@lamargeheureuse.com

Coordinated by Julien Daillère, at the initiative of La Marge Heureuse, the team is being set up:

  • a tripartite steering committee comprising professionals from artistic / technical fields, mediation / communication and academics
  • two working groups (one in Clermont-Ferrand, one in Île-de-France) also tripartite
  • members of the association La Marge Heureuse, helping to collect and share informations useful to the collective, concerning the two work axes of the « Avoir Lieu » program

The structuring of this program is being built in partnership with Que fleurisse ton œil.

The team will be in charge of organizing and coordinating the actions carried out, as well as supporting exchanges at the community level of people interacting through the tools offered by La Marge Heureuse.