Designed for emerging professionals and recent graduates, this workshop explores puppetry through the creation of a short performance. Four to five young artists are supported through a guided process from idea to stage, with mentorship in direction, dramaturgy and construction. Participants develop a compact work presented at a public work-in-progress showcase. The programme also offers the chance to win a fully funded four-week training placement in 2027 at Odradek, near Toulouse.
In French.
Alain Mabanckou, novelist and professor of literature at UCLA, is known for his vibrant, lyrical French and award-winning fiction, including the Renaudot-winning Mémoires de porc-épic and internationally translated titles. In conversation with journalist Pascal Schouwey, Mabanckou discusses themes of exile, identity and language, and reads from his latest novel Ramsès de Paris, exploring its humour, irony and storytelling strategies that reinvent diasporic narratives.
In French.
Fernand Salzmann leads a lecture exploring whether the Bible contains erotic magic formulas — spells used to bring a desired partner to one’s bed. Starting from the Song of Songs, a provocative short book of the Old Testament, the talk delves into ancient love magic and its social and religious contexts. Salzmann examines rituals, textual traces and the role of supernatural powers in desires and disappointments, offering historical and interpretive perspectives.
In French.
Judith Roche is a PhD candidate at the Institute of the History of the Reformation, specialising in late sixteenth-century religious history. Her Master’s thesis studied confessional controversies through the cooking-pot motif.
The lecture examines how polemical works used the cooking pot as a charged symbol—ranging from infernal instrument to emblem of communal difference—to fuel Manichaean narratives and exacerbate Catholic–Protestant tensions. Roche explores the visual and rhetorical strategies that shaped confessional identities in sixteenth-century France.
In French.
Damien Kunik presents a lecture exploring the materiality of magical practices in Japan and Asia. Drawing on anthropological approaches, the talk examines how magic functions as an applied knowledge system that identifies natural laws and proposes techniques to act upon them. In preparation for an upcoming exhibition, the lecture investigates objects and practices that facilitate dialogue with possible futures, highlighting methodology, material presence and cross-cultural perspectives.
In French.
This roundtable examines the impact of generative AI on creative practice and industry economics, questioning whether affordable AI tools risk enabling dumping that undermines creators’ livelihoods and reduces opportunities for newcomers. The discussion explores practical, ready-to-use strategies for creatives, clients and cultural stakeholders to navigate ethical, economic and quality concerns. Participants will investigate regulatory, contractual and professional responses, and highlight how different audiences can adapt workflows and commissioning practices to protect creativity and fair remuneration.
In French.
La Cour des Contes is a storytelling festival held each spring in Plan-les-Ouates (Geneva), celebrating oral narration as a vital force for social connection and cultural dialogue. Since 1995, the festival has brought together storytellers from across the world, and the 2026 edition invites audiences to journey through epics and great narratives spanning continents and centuries — from Ireland, Mali, Algeria and Australia to closer shores. Blending classic tales with contemporary voices, performances, family shows and workshops, the festival affirms storytelling as a shared, intimate and deeply human art form.
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