Bruno Freyssinet, artistic director of the Transplanisphère
Bruno Freyssinet, the artistic director of the Transplanisphère, is also a designer, coordinator and teacher. In addition to leading artistic workshops with students and young adults, he also teaches at Sciences Po Paris. He obtained a certification of cultural innovation by the Relais Culture Europe in 2021.
Can you tell us how the idea of the project was born?
We have been doing European cooperation projects for 12 years and we started to think about a project that could be a new framework for the whole work of the company. We wanted to grow and to try to put in coherence our work through a project which gathers our various actions. As we work essentially on political and citizen issues, we asked ourselves what universal subject could put us in front of the necessity of the century, whereas our other projects are rather centered on immediate, decennial necessities. The question of tackling the climate crisis with all the issues related to ecology seemed the most obvious and encompassing theme. We asked ourselves the question of putting this subject at stake in the years to come by adopting a common approach on our work, our way of functioning, our own creations and our work of mediation with the public.
Why did you choose to carry out this project on a European scale?
It’s our usual playground, it’s the field we’ve been working in for several years: we automatically think on this scale, and even further, since we sometimes go beyond the European borders in the framework of our projects. Moreover, the theme of this project only works if it is approached in an international way, on a scale that has an impact. Finally, we felt that it was difficult to get started, the subject had been around for a while but we tended to put it off until later to address issues that seemed more immediate, such as immigration, the economy, the crisis, corruption and fraud. This topic seemed huge, but we had to decide, so the European approach was a way to motivate ourselves together, almost a collective therapy approach transformed into creation and creativity.
How do you see your coordination role within the partners?
We have to assume a role of stimulator, of impetus, we are there to encourage, as we also count on our partners to encourage us in return. Our role is to work together, and in doing so, to do greater things than each of us can do on our own. We want to make this as pleasant and positive as possible for everyone.
What are the most common challenges faced by the Transplanisphère in terms of ecology?
Our first challenge is the question of mobility, it is the most obvious one, because doing European projects means travelling and therefore using carbon-based transport which has a negative impact on the environment. There is also the psychological challenge of procrastination and denial. Ecology is certainly about behavioral changes but also about the recognition of a challenge that must be faced. It is perhaps even more difficult because it implies integrating these ecological issues into our work system. It is more profound than just changing our mode of transportation, and we have work to do!
What do you hope LeCAKE will bring to the Transplanisphère?
First of all a happy transition, we are going to transform the constraint and the obstacle into something stimulating for us and our partners, to make it a new way of working together in the future. We hope that this method will grow, develop and take a central place in our work, maybe even more than the company that will remain to operate this “cake”, distribute it, make it grow. In the long run we hope that LeCAKE will develop in the next few years to become the action, the showcase of all our work.
What do you hope LeCAKE will bring to the cultural sector as a whole?
There are a lot of signals right now in this sector and LeCAKE needs to continue to be a force to be reckoned with. It can be distinguished by its European approach which aims to address the issues of our practices but also our creations and our relationships with the public. It would be great to be able to do this already in our six European countries, and in the long run maybe more, to grow in the European space, and that LeCAKE contributes to this joyful effort of transformation of the artistic practices of our small agile European structures. I hope that we will be an example, but also that we will be joined, or even surpassed, supplanted: we don’t necessarily have to be a lighthouse, but on the contrary that we are more and more numerous and that we are part of a great “European team” that will make things change.
