The King and the Mockingbird

L’Alliance New York and Studio in a School invite students to discover the work of French-speaking artists and create their own pieces that will be displayed in a new exhibition in L’Alliance New York’s Skyroom.

As a lighter version of the monumental installation Les plantamouves originally created for the Centre Pompidou in Paris, this exhibition-workshop combines the tactile whimsy of mobile sculpture with interactive dance, inviting audiences of all ages to engage with more than 240 vibrantly colorful foam pieces through inventive video tutorials.

Dahomey gives voice to objects displaced from their homeland. Part documentary, part reflection, the film follows the journey of 26 artworks from the Musée du quai Branly in Paris to the Republic of Benin, from where they were taken during the colonial conquest of the Kingdom of Dahomey in the nineteenth century.

In this workshop, students learn about the scientific processes at work behind climate change. Working in small groups, students will map out the complex relationship between human activity and the earth’s climate.

A narrator begins reading Claude Ponti’s Mille secrets de poussins, but things don’t go as planned… Full of mischief, the poussins (chicks) have hidden themselves in the library and start popping out of the books to play tricks on him. Accompanied by animated videos and multimedia effects, the performer leads the audience into a playful world.

Following a class of 15-year-old students and their literature teacher François Marin, The Class explores dynamics between students and educators of a working-class Parisian neighborhood. Based on a semi-autobiographical novel by former teacher and writer François Bégaudeau, the film was awarded the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival in 2008.

A Latin expression, literally meaning “in accordance with one’s wishes or until satiety,” Ad Libitum is a piece about the desire to create, to step outside oneself, to expand. Dancer Simon Le Borgne and musician Ulysse Zangs explore the idea of molting, of emptying yourself through dance and live music. Driven by a musical score of drums, electric guitar and synths, the performance expresses the need to change skin and shed all substance, as well as the need to embody yourself, to fill your own container.