FR25 HA FRAC : Visual art and physical expression

First, the students gathered in the FRAC (‘Fonds régionaux d'art contemporain’)'s Halle AP2, where a mediator presented the history of the building to them. They were told that Halle AP2 was a former prefabrication workshop (No. 2) belonging to the Dunkirk shipyards, built in 1949. After the shipyards closed in 1988, the building remained derelict for 30 years, until architects decided in 2013 to build a twin building rather than renovate it. Then, 2 other mediators presented works from the museum related to the topic of movement. After each presentation, the students were asked to perform some movements related to each work :1- After being asked about the sport depicted in a drawing, which was then explained to them, the students were invited to get into a yoga position. Work : Untitled (Yoga) 1997 by Judy Linn, a Californian artist who was close to Patti Smith. 2- Faced with a sepia postcard depicting a crowded English beach (a leaflet with eight photos of the same scene seen from increasingly close up), they were asked to list and mime the different swimming strokes they knew. Work : A Postal Card for Mother by Richard Hamilton (2011, Northend, United Kingdom) : a real postcard sent by the artist to his mother, accompanied by a photograph taken of a well-known beach on the North English coast, which he zoomed in on five times. 3- Work : The sChaise by SMARIN (2019) : an ergonomic chair designed in collaboration with posture professionals to offer a designer chair with the same function as a yoga bouncing ball. The work is accompanied by three stretching exercises. 4- Video Espacentres (the positive space) by Nefeli Papadimouli (2019) : the artist proposes to create a permanent bond through choreography. The challenge is to never let go of one's performance partner in order to constantly create empty and full spaces with the shapes of their bodies. 5- Body Pressure by Friedrich Christian Flick (1974) : this poster is the physical form of the performance. In this performance, the viewer is invited to ‘make the performance appear’ by following a protocol, which consists of pressing as hard as possible against a wall. Finally, the students were grouped together in a ‘stop motion’ workshop and divided into 5 groups from different countries : each group had to reproduce a daily or sporting activity in the form of a paper stick figure to create a GIF. 

The students discovered a collection of contemporary and experimental artworks, combining visual art and physical expression.  They developed motor skills and learned to express themselves through their bodies, producing and adapting their performances, expressing their emotions in front of artworks. They were also able to develop their creativity by creating a GIF,