Located in the heart of the Old Town, in the birthplace of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the MRL is a six-story cultural hub centered on literature. The venue features a permanent exhibition on Rousseau and engages with contemporary issues related to his works. It hosts debates, performances, and educational activities, while also offering residencies for writers and researchers. Additionally, visitors can enjoy a café within the space.
An audiovisual parcours immerses visitors in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s life and work, arguing that his writings continue to provoke contemporary debate. Through seven thematic niches, the presentation examines Rousseau’s paradoxes — from individual freedom to social critique — and invites reflection on how his ideas anticipate modern challenges. The session explores tensions in his thought and encourages critical questioning of present assumptions, revealing why Rousseau remains relevant for current political and cultural discussions.
In English at 11:30 am
In French at 2 pm
Guillaume Chenevière, former director of the Théâtre de Carouge and of Télévision suisse romande, presents a concise essay on Geneva’s shifting historical memory. He examines nineteenth- and twentieth-century narratives that alternately preserved and effaced civic memories, the changing roles of Calvin and Rousseau, and the emergence of an international identity that blurs local belonging. Chenevière traces how collective memory erodes and suggests paths for a renewed reading of the past.
In French.
An imaginative performance-lecture exploring Michel Foucault’s thought on bodies, subjectivation and objectivation. Through text, movement and poetic provocation, two performers weave fragments from Foucault’s essays and courses into a sensory investigation of how bodies become knowledge and how knowledge shapes bodies. The evening blends rigorous ideas with physical experimentation, inviting playful encounters with archives, voice and gesture. Melissa Cascarino and Martin Rueff bring their fourth collaboration to a compact, provocative rendez-vous with thought and flesh.
In French.
Invent a story title from three random words and bring it to life on the page. Children draw one or more characters for their cover using a stencil element, exploring character design, costume, posture and visual storytelling. The workshop encourages imagination, playful experimentation with colour and line, and hands-on narrative creation.
It ends with a snack and a signing session with Xavière Devos.
In French. Kids ages 6 and up.
Two round-table discussions mark the 150th anniversary of the Revue de Belles-Lettres. Moderated by David André, the first session, “Histoires de la Revue de Belles-Lettres”, looks back at the journal’s history with Dominique Kunz‑Westerhoff, Alessio Christen and Laurent Cennamo. The second, led by Anne‑Frédérique Schläpfer, presents the commemorative issue on the livre pauvre in dialogue with Daniel Leuwers, Jonathan Wenger and Natacha Allet. The evening concludes with an apéritif.
In French.
Geoffroy de Lagasnerie, French philosopher and sociologist, examines the foundations and limits of democratic theory. He investigates whether principles such as majority rule, voting, representation, popular sovereignty, parliamentarism and adversarial electoral debate remain the best means to legitimate governance. The discussion opens the political imagination to alternative, more rational and just mechanisms for legitimizing public authority.
Participants are invited to reflect critically on democratic norms and consider practical reform pathways.
In French.
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Culture, curated weekly.
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