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France Détours, 2009-2013

Video Series

GermanEnglish

« France, the roundabout way »

A documentary essay in 3 episodes.

The starting point of the project is the series of twelve episodes Godard and Miéville made for French television in 78: “France/tour/détour/deux/enfants”.

Godard and Miéville were adapting the 19th-century school book Le Tour de la France par deux enfants by Gérard Bruno to contemporary reality: in the book, the journey of two brothers served as a pretext for discovering history and geography of France. Godard and Miéville made a journey in the figurative sense through the ways of life of the French.

Their aim was to create the theory while practising it within the mainstream media.

We have appropriated the aim of “thinking while acting on TV”, trying to show how young people think and live their lives, and see themselves, far from what the major media expect.

Planning our series, we decided not to focus on merely two children but a multitude of teenagers.

Keeping in mind that the episodes might run on TV, we are producing them completely independently, creating each time a context that associates several regional partners, both social and cultural.

Following the idea of a journey, we are creating a specific format for each episode, which deals with a particular situation in a specific territory.

« France, the roundabout way »

A documentary essay in 3 episodes.

The starting point of the project is the series of twelve episodes Godard and Miéville made for French television in 78: “France/tour/détour/deux/enfants”.

Godard and Miéville were adapting the 19th-century school book Le Tour de la France par deux enfants by Gérard Bruno to contemporary reality: in the book, the journey of two brothers served as a pretext for discovering history and geography of France. Godard and Miéville made a journey in the figurative sense through the ways of life of the French.

Their aim was to create the theory while practising it within the mainstream media.

We have appropriated the aim of “thinking while acting on TV”, trying to show how young people think and live their lives, and see themselves, far from what the major media expect.

Planning our series, we decided not to focus on merely two children but a multitude of teenagers.

Keeping in mind that the episodes might run on TV, we are producing them completely independently, creating each time a context that associates several regional partners, both social and cultural.

Following the idea of a journey, we are creating a specific format for each episode, which deals with a particular situation in a specific territory.

Video, 26’, HD color, French

FD 1 takes place at Le Mirail in Toulouse. A big housing complex where riots took place in 2005.

In one scene a teen says:

– “Many people lived there, so little kids played there, and when there were those riots or revolts, the police would show up and they’d have the young people facing them. So it’s a site loaded with history, that’s why I call it the historic centre of Bellefontaine.”

Hassan speaks also about his studies:

– “The problem is they think we all can afford to pay for private school. Me, I can’t afford to pay 5000 euros a year. And then in public school, there are so few classes, so there’s always someone better than you...”

We mix sequences from everyday life, archives from the Candillis architectural project, interviews with teenagers from the neighborhood and a narrative.

GermanEnglish

Video, 53’, HD color, French

FD 2 takes place in a small building located next to a school in a Parisian suburb where educators follow school-age children who have been temporarily expelled for bad conduct.

The adults are left off-screen but are present through their talk.

The film focuses on the body language of the children, which reveals their boredom, their indifference, sometimes their docility. It documents an educational relationship that is empty of content –knowledge is out of the picture- and reduced to a few moral principles.

Video,53’, HD color, French

FD 2 takes place in a small building located next to a school in a Parisian suburb where educators follow school-age children who have been temporarily expelled for bad conduct.

The adults are left off-screen but are present through their talk.

The film focuses on the body language of the children, which reveals their boredom, their indifference, sometimes their docility. It documents an educational relationship that is empty of content –knowledge is out of the picture- and reduced to a few moral principles.

GermanEnglish

"For many decades, from 1877 until 1950, France’s self image as “La Grande Nation” was shaped by a small book: “Le Tour de France par deux enfants” was seminal reading in schools, telling children what it meant and how it felt to be a proud French boy or girl. In1977, French film-maker Jean-Luc Godard produced a counterstatement. In his TV-documentary “France/tour/detour/deux/enfants”, ten year old Camille and Arnaud comment on notions such as liberty and equality, revolution and violence, money and on their individual dreams. What they had to say was a long way away from patriotic common sense.

Since 2009, Frédéric Moser and Philippe Schwinger have embarked upon yet another „De/Tour de France“, again in the format of a TV documentary. They follow Jacques Rancière’s hypothesis that the real has to be fictionalised in order to be thought. The youth they portray does not at all confirm the clichés that media and politics create. In fact, this reality is much more difficult. Capturing its complexity in their films, Moser and Schwinger “re-think” the notion of “France”: as a narrative and a discourse that reestablishes a space for an adolescent’s emancipation. By employing the means of fiction, Moser and Schwinger expose the forces that try to reduce the complexity and openness of social reality, that want to bring regulation and regimentation." (Text: Alexander Koch)

"For many decades, from 1877 until 1950, France’s self image as “La Grande Nation” was shaped by a small book: “Le Tour de France par deux enfants” was seminal reading in schools, telling children what it meant and how it felt to be a proud French boy or girl. In1977, French film-maker Jean-Luc Godard produced a counterstatement. In his TV-documentary “France/tour/detour/deux/enfants”, ten year old Camille and Arnaud comment on notions such as liberty and equality, revolution and violence, money and on their individual dreams. What they had to say was a long way away from patriotic common sense.

Since 2009, Frédéric Moser and Philippe Schwinger have embarked upon yet another „De/Tour de France“, again in the format of a TV documentary. They follow Jacques Rancière’s hypothesis that the real has to be fictionalised in order to be thought. The youth they portray does not at all confirm the clichés that media and politics create. In fact, this reality is much more difficult. Capturing its complexity in their films, Moser and Schwinger “re-think” the notion of “France”: as a narrative and a discourse that reestablishes a space for an adolescent’s emancipation. By employing the means of fiction, Moser and Schwinger expose the forces that try to reduce the complexity and openness of social reality, that want to bring regulation and regimentation." (Text: Alexander Koch)

  • INDEX:

Frédéric Moser & Philippe Schwinger

Textile Sculptures
Double Bodies, 2018
France Détours, 2009-2013
Farewell Letter to the Swiss Workers, 2006-2009
Schwejk Perspektiven, 2006
Times Flies, 2006
Revival Paradise, 2005
Unexpected Rules, 2004
Acting Facts, 2003
Capitulation Project, 2003
Internment Area, 2002
Affection Riposte, 2001
Videos, 1998-2000

Since 1988 Frédéric Moser (b.1966) and Philippe Schwinger (b.1961) have been collaborating, directing first an independent theatre company "l'atelier ici et maintenant" in Lausanne. Between 1993 and 1998 they studied at the Geneva University of Art and Design. They won the Swiss Art Award 3 times in a row (1998-99-2000) as well as the Providentia Young Art Prize. In 2001 they received the 6 month Scholarship from the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart and in 2002 the One Year Studio in Berlin from the Swiss Federal Office of Culture. In 2003 they were invited to the first residence program at the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw. They represented Switzerland at the 26th International Biennal of Contemporary Art of São Paulo in 2004. They participated in the exhibition “History Will Repeat Itself” held at Kunst Werke Berlin, traveling to Dortmund, Warsaw and Hong Kong in 2007. Solo exhibitions include Kunsthaus Zürich, Cornerhaus Manchester, Mamco Geneva and Bétonsalon Paris. They presently live in Neuchâtel.



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