Writing, a liberation, an act of affirmation and emancipation – and also the source of so much tension! Digital tools can sometimes assist us, but writing remains first and foremost a singular, embodied gesture. Knowing what you want to say, and how to say it. That, only you can do.
The Maison Rousseau et Littérature will be at the heart of a week dedicated to the text: yours. The one you formulate in the form of a thesis, a pitch for a script, a description of a project, a journal – in short, what you’ve always wanted to write. You will also explore the paths the text takes when shared with a public. Sometimes, it takes the form of a performance, individual or collective; an edition project, an anthology, a program, or a facilitation.
The Maison Rousseau et Littérature is also a place of life. You will discover its literary residencies and their residents, under the eaves: another form of experience – residency – that many artists share throughout their journeys. Always in motion, we will also engage the University of Geneva, the Bains des Pâquis, and the studio of Cie Sturmfrei. If the Maison Rousseau, installed in the birthplace of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, is inhabited by the Confessions, the Social Contract, and the Meditations, the dance studio takes us elsewhere. Perhaps we will find the same books, but positioned differently? Will we face a different void? A different overflow?
This immersion into the textual universe will be accompanied by Donatella Bernardi, artist and director of MRL, Maya Bösch, multidisciplinary artist and director of Cie Sturmfrei, and Agnès Vannouvong, novelist, essayist, specialist of genre, and lecturer at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Geneva.
Writing, collective reading, and walking with intention, sharing references and methods, becoming a voice: writing is living – together, in listening, in the matter and the breath of the text.
The section may be written in French or English: - ## fr gets the original text, ## en gets an accurate English translation.
The evaluation is based on participation in the five days of the workshop and on the degree of active engagement of the student.