There will be fish swimming on the Promenade des Anglais…

By placing artistic creation at the heart of their projects, it is as if the ZEPA 2 partners had defined an imaginary water line between both sides of the Channel, creating artistic bridges or even cross-Channel links of a new kind.

Directed by Collective Les Plastiqueurs and under their teachers’ watchful supervision, the two groups of students have set the scene of a joint set design. To go beyond the language barrier, the use of pens and papers ; and little by little, through these drawing discussions, the plain walls of the studio get covered with sketches.

Christophe Mouchère, Atelier 231 Technical Director and former student of Le Havre Fine Arts school also attended the meeting, bringing in his experience as festival Technical Manager. An opportunity for students to consider the technical context of the venue right from the start.

« Working on the set design of such an event is very exciting, and discovering a creation centre such as Atelier 231 is also very inspiring...", highlights a UK student, still amazed that such a venue dedicated to artistic creation can exist in France.

Other cultural differences emerged over the course of the two days : ’The UK students are much more pragmatic’, ESADHAR student Eliott says. ’They consider the audience right from the beginning of the development process, whereas we generally have more of a conceptual vision on creation’.

Just a few hours after having shared and discussed ideas, the students came up with a common concept. ’Putting the ’sea’ element of the event foward just felt obvious to us all’, Les Plastiqueurs Artistic Director Fabrice Deperrois says with delight.
Posters from previous editions of the festival, with their Jules Verne-alike atmosphere, had caught the students’ eye as soon as they got to Atelier 231. But building it to the scale of the scenography of a festival will be a first.

At the end of these two days, Fabrice is pleased about the work developed : ’We managed to define the artistic concept. The main idea is to transform the space between Atelier 231’s two main building into a giant aquarium. For example there could be some fish swimming across the Promenade des Anglais, and we will also bring in some videos for other installations’

The initial concept of the set design is agreed, so is the work method. The partnership will now continue through emails, Skype, phone, etc. to meet the festival deadline, but the group is already split into several Anglo-French working groups, each working on a strand of the project. ’The virtual elements of the set will be created in the UK and material items will be built in France, at the ESADHAR workshops and the Plastiqueurs’, Fabrice explains.

The audience will now have to wait till the 29th, 30th and 31st January 2014, for the 4th edition of the Fish and Chips festival, to discover the final result.
The eight students will meet again at Atelier 231 ten days before the festival to assemble all the work. No doubt the artistic journey up to then will be exciting and the partnership stimulating !
All the best to all !

Text : Sylvain Marchand
Photos : Christophe Mouchère and Sylvain Marchand